Waqas Naeem

Waqas is a journalism instructor and former journalist. He has previously worked as a news reporter at The Express Tribune, the Scripps Howard News Service, and the Columbia Missourian. He has taught journalism and communication courses as an assistant professor at the NUST department of mass communication. Waqas completed his MA from the Missouri School of Journalism and was trained in data journalism at the National Institute of Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR). His research interests include digital journalism practices, political economy of the news media, and the concerns related to the rights of access to information and freedom of expression. Waqas in Media Matters for Democracy is leading a data and investigative journalism project, that aims to produce public interest journalism content mainly using Right to Information as an information collection tool. As a part of this initiative, Media Matters for Democracy is also demonstrating the potential of RTI as a tool for journalists. The initiative is primarily aimed at creating a demand for data journalism in news consumers and inspiring mainstream journalists to incorporate data elements into their stories and to access public data through RTI.