KARACHI: Seasoned journalists, during an interactive session held on Thursday at Hamdard University (HU), described social media as the biggest challenge being faced by the mainstream news organisations today.

The session was part of the concluding day of a media convention.

Senior political analyst Mazhar Abbas and authorcum-academic Dr Tauseef Ahmed Khan both agreed that the country needed a debate over whether or not social media should be included among the recognised media sources.

According to Mr Abbas, the most serious challenge faced by the mainstream media today is how to stop fake news and separate disinformation and opinions from facts.

Explaining the problem from yet another standpoint, he added: `The number of journalists is increasing but journalism is shrinking [in Pakistan].

For his part, Dr Tauseef Ahmed Khan said that the media was closely related to democracy and politics.

`In Pakistan, the media organisations could not grow and develop as much as they should have because democracy itself was not allowed to flourish in the country,` he said.

During the next session, Andeel Ali, the head of the National Incubation Centre (NIC), Karachi, explained that his centre had been launched with the aim of helping startups attain maturity and sustainability through training and provision of facilities.

So far, the NIC Karachi had inducted 299 startups, of which 133 had graduated successfully, he added.