About IMC

Institute of Media & Communications (IMC) started in 1993 in Islamabad as a training ground for print and TV journalists. It was the first such initiative outside public universities which only offered masters degrees in journalism and mass communication. Wali Zahid, formerly the Editor of The News, Lahore, Pakistan's largest-selling English-language daily, is the founder President.

In 1996, IMC brought ICFJ Knight Fellow from USA to train Pakistani journalists based in Islamabad.

Later, IMC moved into Train The Trainer in journalism area after Wali attending a TTT in IIJ Berlin, Germany, with first TTT for Pakistan Press Foundation (PFF) and PPI news agency in Karachi in 2001.

In 2002, attended a South Asian Editors Conference on Media Self Regulation in Colombo, Sri Lanka, at the invitation of Commonwealth Press Union (CPU) London, and contributed to CPU book on Imperfect Freedom: The case for self-regulation in the Commonwealth press.

In 2006, led a Media Management workshop for Telenor/GrameenPhone Bangladesh's general managers in Dhaka.

In 2008, led a 10-day media outreach workshop for Pakistani and Bangladeshi TV anchors and media people and civil society organisations with Search for Common Ground USA (SCG) in Kathmandu, Nepal

In 2009, Afghanistan's media giant, with grant from UNDP, engaged IMC to develop a manual for investigative journalists in Dari and deliver Train The Trainer in investigative journalism.

Since 2013, when China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was launched, in collaboration with China Center, much of IMC's efforts moved to provide authentic information about CPEC projects and deal with fake news about the project. Later, BRI, BRICS and SCO were added to its list of interests and expertise.

In 2016, Project Ignorance was launched to deal with massive WhatsApp forwards and photoshopped images on social media as a fact-check initiative.

In 2018, spoke at a global media think tanks conference in China.

In 2020 and 2021, IMC prepared authentic data about coronavirus pandemic and dealt with fake data.

During 2023-2030, IMC will aim to extend Project Ignorance's reach and fight fake news in Pakistan.