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RESOURCE CENTER - MEDIA MONITOR |
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Tuesday May 08, 2007
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A daily review of media coverage of media and communications issues. |
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Media Regulations
FM channels allowed to broadcast news |
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Private FM channels can broadcast news and current affairs programmes. There are no restrictions from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra). But the condition is the news that will be aired should cover local issues, said Pemra spokesman Mohammad Saleem while talking to The Post Monday. He said that Pemra would not object those private FM channels who would broadcast news and current affairs programmes according to the terms and conditions prescribed by the regulatory authority. However, the regulatory authority would take action against the channels that would try to violate the authority’s code and ethics. Talking about the monitoring of the content of the private radio channels he said Pemra was actively monitoring the content of all FM channels. “And we have issued notices to all the FM channels that are exceeding the limit of the foreign content as allowed by the authority which is 10 percent. Not only to them, but to those channels too that are not operating according to the set rules by the Pemra.” Saleem added recently Pemra had issued a license to the Kinnaird College, Lahore, for the FM station. “With this, the current figure of licences issued by Pemra is 103 out of which 70 FM channels are in operation.” However, it is estimated that by the end of this year there would be around 150 FM channels operating across the nation. This includes both private and state owned FM channels.
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http://www.thepost.com.pk/IsbNewsT.aspx?dtlid=96103&catid=17 |
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Pemra blocks Buraq FM-104.4 transmission |
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Following reports of gross violation of the Pemra rules and illegally earning millions of rupees, the authority closed down a famous relief radio station, Buraq FM-104.4, in Abbotabad and Thandiani and confiscated its equipment. Well-placed sources told The Post the Interactive Communications, the owner, while operating a radio station in the name of relief radio, had so far illegally earned more than Rs 15 million through advertisements, branded and sponsored programmes and the case was likely to be referred to the NWFP National Accountability Bureau for further investigation.
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http://www.thepost.com.pk/IsbNewsT.aspx?dtlid=96126&catid=17 |
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Blockage of TV transmission in Sindh
National Assembly to debate blockage of TV channels today |
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The National Assembly will debate on Tuesday (today) the blockade of transmissions of various local TV channels in Sindh and parts of the Punjab, covering live the caravan of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on its way to Lahore on Saturday. The mainstream opposition parties in the Lower House of parliament, the Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarian , the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal moved adjournment motions on Monday, asking the speaker to hold a thorough debate on the suspension of the TV transmissions. Khwaja Saad Rafique of the PML-N, Asadullah Bhutto of the MMA and Yousaf Talpur of the PPPP said in their adjournment motions that on May 5 and 6 transmissions of four private TV channels were blocked in Sindh and parts of the Punjab, while they were telecasting live the caravan of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The PPPP also staged a token walkout, when the speaker did not allow Talpur to speak on the subject. However, later the speaker allowed the opposition to move the motions and
(Nawa-i-Waqt-8) (Jang-1) (Khabrian-3)
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http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=7704 |
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NA speaker deferred debate on blockage of TV transmission in Sindh |
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The National Assembly Speaker deferred debate on the suspension of some private TV channels’ transmission in Sindh during Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s visit to Lahore to address the Lahore High Court Bar Association. Due to absence of information minister Muhammad Ali Durrani and his deputy Tariq Azeem, the speaker deferred debate on the suspension of private TV channels’ transmission. |
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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\05\08\story_8-5-2007_pg7_6 |
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Opposition files four adjournment motions in Senate |
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The combined opposition on Monday filed four adjournment motions with the Senate, including one about the government’s advice to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry not to travel to Lahore by road for his address to a lawyers’ convention. The motion about private TV channels noted that rumors were rife that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement asked the cable operators to shut down the transmission. The operators were allegedly asked to keep the telecast off-air until the end of the chief justice rally. This is against the rights guaranteed in the Constitution and is against the wishes of general public as well as unethical, it said. Those who signed the motions are Mian Raza Rabbani, Prof Khurshid Ahmad, Asfandyar Wali, Ilyas Bilour, Farooq Naik, Mehtab Ahmad, Dr Safdar Abbasi, Abdul Rahim Mandokhail, Dr Babar Awan, Enver Baig, Latif Khosa, and Saadia Abbasi.
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http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=7706 |
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CPNE slams blackout of private transmissions |
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The Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE) criticized on Monday the “illegal” action against the private TV channels, whereby the transmission of the channels were interrupted and blacked out through cable operators. The Sindh committee of CPNE in its meeting held here with convener Qazi Asad Abid in the chair, through a resolution declared that the CPNE members would resist all attempts to undermine press freedom. CPNE Secretary General Wamiq Zubair briefed the meeting about the detail of the blackout of private channels through cabel operators in several cities of Sindh, including Karachi, and the explanation given by the Pemra, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and other spokesmen to the effect that they had not carried out the action.
(News-9) (Khabrian-3)
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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\05\08\story_8-5-2007_pg7_20 |
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Media groups denounce taking channels off air |
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The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) and Pakistan Broadcasters Association – a group of TV channels – on Monday denounced the move to take off air three private news channels for covering Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s rally on May 5. Geo, Aaj and ARY One World were taken off the air in major cities of Sindh and Punjab during the CJP’s drive from Islamabad to Lahore. Aaj TV News Director Talat Hussain told RSF that, “Cable operators told us they had been ordered to stop transmitting the channels covering the CJP’s rally.”
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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\05\08\story_8-5-2007_pg7_21 |
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People Movement protested blocking of transmission |
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Pakistan Peoples Movement has initiated holding of countrywide rallies to protest bars on electronic media. Pakistan Peoples Movement is considered a pro Mushrraf party. In first rally, to mark the protest Pakistan Peoples Movement’s Chief Ashfaq Chudhary walked bare footed from foreign office to parliament house. Rally demanded to register cases against party that was responsible for the blocking of TV transmission in Sindh.
(Khabrian-8)
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Ummat Editorial against blocking of TV transmission |
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Ummat Editorial “propaganda versus Public Opinion” (propaganda bamuqabla zabane Khaliq) terms the blocking of channel a big mistake. It is an age of communication and such hurdles can’t stop the flow of information to people.
(Ummat-Editorial)
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Pakistani media comes of age |
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There has been a major escalation in the incidents of attacks on media in general, including government attempts to muzzle the media, in Pakistan during May 3, 2006, to May 3, 2007, but the broadcast media in particular wrote a chapter in defiance by asserting itself despite the rising intimidation it faced, according to the Annual State of Pakistan Media Report 2006-07 released by Intermedia.
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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\05\08\story_8-5-2007_pg7_7 |
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Media Miscellaneous
Speakers want award in Khan Sahib’s name |
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Participants at a reference for Ahmad Ali Khan, former editor-in-chief of Dawn, urged the president of Pakistan to confer upon the legendary figure of Khan Sahib a posthumous award befitting his status and service to the homeland, adding that it was a fact that he had never accepted any such recognition during his lifetime. “This will not only be an honor to the departed genius, but also an honor for the whole nation,” said a resolution unanimously adopted by the participants at the reference held at the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, on Monday. The meeting noted that the faculty of journalism was highly indebted to Khan Sahib for his outstanding contribution to modernising the print media. “With his fund of experience and vast expanse of thought-provoking ideas, the late Ahmad Ali Khan had reshaped Dawn that emerged as more than a newspaper. His innovative contributions to the mass communication discipline are torchbearers for the media professionals,” said the resolution.
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http://www.dawn.com/2007/05/08/local24.htm |
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Friends pay tribute to late Ahmed Hasan Alvi |
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Colleagues, friends and family members paid rich tributes to deceased veteran journalist Ahmed Hssan Alvi during a condolence reference held at Rawalpindi press club on Monday. The condolence meeting was chaired by vetren journalist Minhaj Barna. Others who spoke on the occasion include Resident Editor Dawn Zaffar Abbas, kunwar Iqbal, Shahid Rehman, ishaque Chudhary, Shamim Ikramul haq and office bearers of Rawalpindi Islamabad Union of journalists.
(Dawn-19)
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Sunni Tehrike supports freedom of press |
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Local leaders of Sunni Tehrike Rawalpindi has expressed their solidarity to media community and condemned all attempts to curb freedom of expression. Sunni Tehrike has firm belief in freedom of expression and supports it. They showed their full solidarity to media for their struggle for protection and freedom.
(Express-2)
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Television
Column Coverage of parliament and public protests by M. Ismail Khan |
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When a parliament loses touch with reality, when legislators stop representing the public interest in the house, and when the flow of information from the public to the parliament and from parliament to the public fails, politicians find other means to communicate with their constituents. Then the forum for dialogue moves to the streets. The criticism on private television channels for a partisan approach in the coverage of the chief justice's unique long march to Lahore rings hollow, especially when heard in the backdrop of the long standing restrictions on access of private channels to the parliament.
One really does not have the stomach to debate the constitutionality of the political uprising spurred by the ongoing stand off between the government and the chief justice, but to expect that the media will remain aloof to a controversy of such magnitude is simply unjustified. Journalists are part and parcel of the civil society, and as sensitive social intermediaries they are entitled to not just inform the public of the continuously unfolding events, but also help them understand the dynamics of change towards a better future.
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http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=54747 |
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Theater
Cheap justice and frightened moderation |
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‘Freedom is just like mobile phone, kya pata kab chin jaye?’ ‘The president has moved from enlightened moderation to frightened moderation’ Most of Karachi’s glitterati could be seen at a local hotel on Saturday evening to attend a play called “Kabhi Al-Qaida Na Kehna”. The hour-long play was written by Imran Aslam in his well known style that melds social satire and optimism and banks on a hilarious combination of English, Urdu and Punjabi. It touched on topics ranging from issues such as the chief justice of Pakistan and Lal Masjid to increasing homosexuality and Pakistani cricket. Lines such as “Freedom is just like mobile phone, kya pata kab chin jaye (who knows when it is snatched)?” and “Andhe qanoon ka kana hi raja” were much appreciated and so was Benazir Bhutto proclaiming that, “the president has moved from enlightened moderation to frightened moderation”.
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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C05%5C07%5Cstory_7-5-2007_pg12_9 |
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Music
Taliban ban music in N. Waziristan |
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The local Taliban Shoora on Monday imposed a ban on sale of CDs and cassettes and music in buses and passenger coaches in North Waziristan. The Shoora also ordered owners of music and video shops in Miramshah to wind up their businesses immediately. Armed volunteers raided music centers and CD shops in the town and asked the shopkeepers to stop playing music. Eyewitnesses said the militants stopped passenger vehicles on the Miramshah-Mirali road and removed cassette and CD players. Locals said that the militants, who virtually control the region, also asked people not to play or listen to music at public places, including Miramshah Bazaar. The Shoora announcement said that anybody violating the order would have to face ‘consequences’. Anwarullah Khan adds from Khar in Bajaur Agency: Most music shops and hair-cutting salons here have been closed and their owners have switched to other businesses.
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http://www.dawn.com/2007/05/08/top5.htm |
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Film
European film festival kicks off |
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A European film festival, titled “Windows on Europe” organised by the Consulate General of Federal Republic of Germany in association with other EU member state consulates kicked off here at the Goethe Institute with screening of German film “Herr Lehmann” with English subtitles. The European film festival is being held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the EU while a total of 16 films from EU member states will be shown until May 16. The Consul Generals from EU member states including France, Poland, Italy, Netherlands, UK as well as Russia and government functionaries attended the opening ceremony of the film festival.
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http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=54888 |
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Telecommunication
Letter to editor “Mobile phone ads” |
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M Khayyam Siddiqi “Advertising is a tool to sell products or services. but advertisers should avoid giving messages that have an adverse impact over society. The regulatory authority is not even taking any notice of this continuous foul practice on TV channels. This is a serious matter of concern for all of us as our future depends upon what we do right now, and no doubt our growth does not lie in talking on the phone. I request all these companies to take an ethical stand and join hands to make this nation stronger adopting a positive approach.”
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http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=54736 |
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Internet
Broadband internet connectivity within one year: PM |
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Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has instructed the Ministry of IT and Telecom to ensure that all the cities and towns having a population of 200,000 and more should have access to broadband connectivity within a year so that people of rural and low income urban areas have access to fast and reliable internet services. |
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http://www.thepost.com.pk/CorpNewsT.aspx?dtlid=96051&catid=8 |
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Announcement
Inter-Media sports festival from 15th |
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An Intermedia sports festival under the auspicious of Rawalpindi Islamabad Union of journalists (RIUJ) will commence here on May 15, 2007. In the first round, inter media cricket tournament will be organized. Football, table tennis and badminton matches will be played in second and third round of the festival. RIUJ sports committee chairman shaharyar khan has asked all mead teams to submit their entries to the committee at RIUJ camp office by May 10.
(Dawn-18)
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DISCLAIMER: The contents, including news and headlines, in this newsletter are reproduced from their respective publications ad verbatim as a public service to media observers. Internews does not author the contents and these, therefore, do not necessarily reflect organizational policy.
Updated at 11:00 PST (06:00 GMT) |
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