Hissan Gul designs and delivers hands-on training for newsrooms, universities, NGOs, and communication teams across Pakistan. Five programmes: ethical OSINT and verification, AI in journalism, audience analysis, mobile journalism, and social media strategy. Every course runs ethics first, method second, tools last — with live practice, not lectures. Cohorts are capped so every participant performs each step under supervision.
What I train
Ethical OSINT & Verification. Public-source research and verification method for journalists, researchers, and NGO teams. Covers the ethical and legal line, provenance habits, the two-source rule, documentation, and search discipline. Public sources only, always. Formats: half-day awareness · 2–3 day practitioner workshop · embedded coaching.
AI in Journalism. AI literacy and limits, newsroom policy and disclosure, prompt discipline for journalism tasks, verification in a synthetic information environment, and production workflows with human sign-off. Includes Urdu and regional-language testing that imported courses skip. Formats: 2-day foundation · newsroom workflow build · university module.
Audience Analysis. Turning platform data, social listening, search behaviour, and first-party records into a channel, language, and budget decision. Built on the 5S diagnostic and the LBYL rule — Listen Before You Leap: no spend until the audience evidence is in. Formats: 1-day intensive · team workshop · campaign-embedded coaching.
Mobile Journalism (MOJO). Reporting, shooting, and editing on a phone: kit, stabilisation, audio, interviewing, and a publishable package by the end of the course. Formats: 3–5 day intensive · university module.
Social Media Strategy. What holds attention in Pakistani feeds — format, hook, language, and the discipline of measuring what worked. Built on the Smart Spend Model: spend follows evidence, not habit. Formats: 1-day workshop · strategy sprint for comms teams.
How I train
Live practice over lectures. Every participant performs each step, screen-shared, while I watch — online or in the room. Cohorts stay small enough for that to be true; past fifteen to twenty people, “hands-on” quietly becomes theatre. Assessment is a live exit task, not an attendance certificate. Every engagement includes a follow-up window, because skills installed in a workshop decay without supervised use on real work. Delivery runs in English and Urdu.
Formats I offer
Trainings and workshops — skills built through live practice. Brainstorming sessions — for teams working through a specific communication challenge. Focus groups — structured discussion to surface what a team or audience actually thinks.
Who I train
Students — hands-on workshops in AI, mobile journalism, and verification; practical skills they can use immediately. Management officers, faculty, and administration — strategy and audience-analysis sessions, particularly where internationalization and digital engagement are the goal. Newsrooms — desk-specific workflows, plus the written policy that sits underneath them. NGOs and INGOs — communication and verification training under the same evidence duty, because credibility is a development organisation’s licence to operate.
Track record
Lead trainer for The Independent’s Indy In Campus programme, mentoring 50+ newly graduated journalists in advanced search operators and AI-assisted content production. Multiple workshops delivered for Bahria University students, in coordination with the Alumni Liaison Office.
Frequently asked questions
Do participants need a technical background?
No. The raw material is curiosity and rigour. Search discipline and verification method are trainable; a technical background is not required for any of the five programmes.
Do you train online?
Yes — on the same condition as in person: live practice, not recordings. Screen-shared walkthroughs paired with participant tasks performed live.
What does training cost?
Cost is driven by the number of days, cohort size, customisation to your sector, and the follow-up support included. Tell me the team and the outcome you need, and I’ll quote against it.
How do I book?
Through the contact form. Tell me who the participants are, what they should be able to do afterwards, and your timeframe.
Tell me the team and the outcome. I’ll tell you honestly whether training is the right instrument, and what it would take.