Long before when the term digital media was not known and traditional media outlets were the only sources on which people relied on for information about daily happenings, a select few were working on changing the entire picture.
Back then, nobody had the slightest idea of what potential digital media and social platforms like YouTube hold. Many who pursued this line of work were termed as outliers and were thought to fail in their journey ahead. Some may have given up, but not people like Zeeshan Aziz, who carved a path for themselves, even when many others had failed to do so.
One of the leading digital media journalists, and the Group Manager of UrduPoint, Zeeshan Aziz is known to be a YouTube expert in Pakistan, having a major experience on YouTube content, content strategy and YouTube revenue generation. Choosing journalism as a career is not an easy job, and sometimes it can prove to be a hard nut to crack when your efforts do not bore the fruit you desire. But if you have the required passion and a true knack for it, you can go a long way. That is exactly what Zeeshan had.
Aziz is a hardcore journalist, having over 5 years of experience in digital journalism on current affairs and international politics along social issues. But he didn’t stop at just being a journalist in the main stream media. He knew there is more potential to digital journalism if pursued through the right channels, especially YouTube.But was he considered as a YouTube expert when he started working in the digital media field? Or was he termed an outlier like the owners of UrduPoint when they began their journey back in 1998.
While talking during a talk show Zeeshan shared that when UrduPoint came into being people used to say that nobody will opt for reading news online when they have newspapers coming daily in their houses.
Knowing what possibilities it holds, Zeeshan became an early adopter of digital media, the field that later expanded from being a small unit of the field of journalism to becoming an equal and important branch. Now, when many are struggling to catch up to this field, Zeeshan is recognized among the leading names in the local industry when it comes to digital media, and video content creation. That is not it, he is an expert in graphics as well, which are termed as a key component that determine the success of any content.
Today, digital media platforms are termed as sources where an individual can learn about issues not being highlighted in the mainstream media. While highlighting the same thing Zeeshan shares that the reason why he decided to take on this career path was so he could “contribute towards breaking the traditional biases in which the main stream media had started to operate”.
The renowned columnist and author Molly Ivins once said, “It is the stories we don’t get, the ones we miss, pass over, fail to recognize, don’t pick up on, that will send us to hell”.
Making the general public the utmost priority, Aziz wanted to get factual information to the masses in real time and make them aware of all that was happening around them. In his opinion “empowering the people with the right information is the first step to fixing our problems and initiating change that we are desperate to see in our society”.
Now with the digital media boom in the entire world, prominent individuals and even mainstream organizations are now turning towards digital platforms including YouTube to reach mass audience and gain more following. And Zeeshan, who was among the first few who entered in this domain is invited into events and seminars to teach the younger generation on how to use the digital media platforms effectively, for their benefit.
In 2019, he attended the Sahafi Summit at IBA, a skills youth summit in Multan, interviewed by Qasim Ali Shah Foundation and public speaker at COMSATS University Lahore. The same year, he also represented his media house at Google’s headquarters in Singapore for the Pakistan Image Day.
On March 16 this year, Aziz was also invited on the Morning Show of Public TV, as a digital media pioneer to talk about the importance and impact of the medium
