Saturday August 12, 2006

List of websites blocked by authorities gets longer

Reporters Without Borders has condemned the decision of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on 26 July 2006 to add 34 new web addresses to the list of sites to which it blocks access. For the most part they were Baluch nationalist sites, online radio stations and sites relating to the Sindhi minority. "We deplore these latest filtering measures and we insist, yet again, that it is not the PTA's job to decide whether websites should be blocked," the press freedom organisation said. "We believe that such decisions should be taken by a judge, after equitable legal proceedings, and definitely not by an entity under government control."

http://www.ifex.org/alerts/layout/set/print/content/view/full/76253/

Amitabh off billboards

Authorities in Karachi have ordered the removal of billboards showing Amitabh Bachchan in front of the national flag, promoting a telephone quiz contest opening on August 14 – Pakistan 's Independence Day. “We are not enemies of Mr Bachchan. But his picture on our national flag was an objectionable act and we ordered them (company managers) to remove his picture from the flag,” Mirza Asif Baig, a government official told Reuters on Friday.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\08\12\story_12-8-2006_pg7_6

Govt to facilitate skill building of journalists, says Tariq Azeem

The media is enjoying unprecedented freedom and there is no government interference in its affairs, said State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Tariq Azeem Khan on Friday.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\08\12\story_12-8-2006_pg11_6

Fm Listening: What countdown shows on FM lack

Millions of songs are released every day, and this more than anything else has made it impossible to keep tabs on all that is going on for those who wish to keep themselves up-to-date with the latest happenings in the music industry.
http://www.thepost.com.pk/Arc_IsbNews.aspx?dtlid=53856&
catid=17&date=08/12/2006&fcatid=14

LETTER TO EDITOR:

Cable TV

It has been more than four months since I paid the charges for cable TV connection. It has still not been installed and no one from the company has contacted me.
http://www.thepost.com.pk/Arc_LetNews.aspx?dtlid=53834&
catid=4&date=08/12/2006&fcatid=14

Website

Surfing local websites sometimes makes for interesting reading. While browsing the official website of the Government of Pakistan, one comes across a number of mistakes. Some of the listed departments are incorrectly spelled, erroneously or incompletely named and/or are simply meaningless.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/arc_news.asp?id=11

SOURCES :

The News: http://jang.com.pk/thenews/

The Nation: http://www.nation.com.pk/

Daily Times: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/

The Dawn: http://www.dawn.com

Spider: www.spider.tm

BBC South Asia : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/

Herald: http://dawn.com/herald/

Aurora : www.aurora@dawn.com

The Economist: www.economist.com

IFEX: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/158/

Jang: http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/

Nawa-i-waqt: http://www.nawaiwaqt.com.pk

Khabrain: http://www.khabrain.com

Daily Development News: http://asp.isb.sdnpk.org/

The Post: http://www.thepost.com.pk/

Business Recorder: http://www.pakistanpressfoundation.org

Asia Media: www.asiamedia.ucla.edu

PEMRA: www.pemra.gov.pk

States Man: http://www.statesman.com.pk

Frontier Post: www. frontierpost .com.pk

Compiled by , Sajid Gondal Media Monitor, Internews Pakistan .

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)