Saturday November 11, 2006

A daily review of media coverage of media and communications issues

Regulator suspends Sindh TV while correspondent gets death threats

RSF has called on the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to immediately rescind the orders it gave to cable TV operators to stop retransmitting Sindh TV, the second most popular channel in the southern province of Sindh. The organisation also voiced concern about threats against one of its correspondents, Pervaiz Narejo. "The PEMRA is not helping press freedom by suspending a privately-owned TV station without giving any reasons," RSF said. "The authorities should avoid any meddling in the development of Pakistan's broadcast media. At the same time, Narejo should get special protection, and the police and judicial authorities should step in and arrest those responsible for threatening him."

http://www.ifex.org/fr/content/view/full/78959/

IFJ concerned over deterioration of press freedoms and journalists' safety

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is deeply concerned by the rapid disintegration of press freedoms and journalist safety in Pakistan over the last six months, which has seen four journalists killed (with all four cases still unsolved), four journalists detained and tortured by intelligence agencies, the child brothers of two journalists brutally murdered, and scores of other violent incidents and threats to journalists.

http://www.ifex.org/fr/content/view/full/78876/

Channel suspended on interior ministry orders: Brig Shakeel

The forced suspension of the transmission of the private Sindh TV was ordered by the federal interior ministry, an official told Daily Times Friday. Head of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Cable Television (CTV) Policy Making, Brigadier Zahid Shakeel Ahmed said that Sindh TV's permission to telecast programmes was taken back on a request received from the federal ministry. "It is an issue pertaining to security clearance. We received a call from the interior ministry asking us to shut their transmission because they had violated the clearance," Ahmed told Daily Times.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\11\11\story_11-11-2006_pg12_2

Banning TV channel against democracy: Khuhro

Opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuhro condemned on Friday the suspension of the transmission of a Sindhi language TV channel, Sindh TV “by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA)”. Speaking at a press conference at his assembly chambers after the assembly's session, Khuhro said that proceedings of the provincial assembly without proper coverage of the media was called “in camera”, and the house could not be termed “in order” when a TV channel's transmission was banned for its viewers.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\11\11\story_11-11-2006_pg7_14

Pemra slammed for suspending Sindhi TV transmission

Suspension of a Sindhi TV channel's transmission by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) is denounced by Pakistan People's Party (PPP) that describes the move an indication of current military regime's attempt to suppress freedom of speech and media.
http://www.thepost.com.pk/Arc_IsbNews.aspx?dtlid=67796&
catid=17& date=11/11/2006&fcatid=14

PPPP takes exception to banning Sindhi TV channel

The Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) on Friday took exception to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority's decision to suspend Sindh TV transmissions. “The Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians condemns the harassment of journalists and demands that the government abstain from banning the channel's transmissions,” PPPP Central Information Secretary Sherry Rehman said.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\11\11\story_11-11-2006_pg11_7

Govt invites ministers' CVs for their ‘TV shows'

The government has directed around 35 federal and state ministers to submit their curriculum vitae (CVs) for short-listing before constituting a ministerial media team to project the soft image of country, sensitise the issue of women emancipation and promote the idea of enlightened moderation by condemning terrorism and extremism. After short-listing, the profiles of the ministers, along with relevant information, will be sent to private TV channels like GEO, ARY and AAJ as well as state-controlled channel, PTV.

http://www.thepost.com.pk/Arc_Fb_ShortNews.aspx?fbshortid=
1356&fcatid=14& date=11/11/2006&bcatid=14&bstatus=Archive

LUX Awards premier at Cineplex

The fifth LUX Style Awards premiered at Cineplex late Friday afternoon with the three and a half hour show shortened into a two-hour show. Premier show was viewed by an audience of 50, with special appearance by Reema and Meera alongwith a host of fashion and entertainment journalists present on the occasion. Apart from these two queens of Lollywood, there were no other famed actors or actresses. Viewing it on the small screen, the vibrant and tantalizing performance of Runa Laila, with Meera dancing to the tunes, did astonishingly well, with thunderous applause from the floor.

http://nation.com.pk/daily/nov-2006/11/nationalnews8.php

Lux Style Awards feature cine celebrities

“This is the only acknowledgement that we get to receive for our performance and yet the only way to judge where the quality of our work is going,” commented some of the top showbiz personalities at the premiere of the Sony-Ericsson Lux Style Awards (SELSA) at Cineplex here on Friday evening.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/arc_news.asp?id=4

Daily Times reporter grieved

Chaudhry Muhammad Siddique, father of Daily Times staff reporter Sajid Chaudhry, died in Rawalpindi on Friday after a protracted ailment. He was buried in his ancestral graveyard in Jhanda Chichi, Rawalpindi, after Friday congregation. The deceased, 78, is survived by two sons and three daughters.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\11\11\story_11-11-2006_pg11_9

LETTERS TO EDITOR

Books as companions

Sir: In a country where the youth would much rather engage in roadside brawls and chat on the Internet, books stand completely forgotten. In America and Europe you can see people at bus stops, airports and railway stations engrossed in books but you never see that happening here; instead you see teenagers outside pan shops and restaurants, armed with mobile phones, cigarettes dangling from their mouths.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\11\11\story_11-11-2006_pg3_7

COMPILED by: Sajid Gondal, Media Monitor, Internews Pakistan (www.internews.org.pk)

DISCLAIMER: The contents, including news and headlines, in this newsletter are reproduced from their respective publications ad verbatim as a public service. Internews does not author the contents and these, therefore, do not necessarily reflect organizational policy.