Wednesday October 25, 2006

A daily review of media coverage of media and communications issues

Highlighting the mediafolk's dilemma

There are books containing less material on the issues being faced by the working journalists, especially those working for the electronic media. The late Zameer Niazi was a man who left no stone unturned to highlight journalists' problems and also the role of the successive governments towards the print media. In his books, he not only underlined the ways of working and methods the media-men used to make people updated about the ‘developments' on the part of the rulers but also kept rejecting the policies of the dictators and the rulers either in military regimes or civilian governments. Zameer Niazi, in his books (such as Press in Chains) also described the details of victimisation of journalists by reporting and producing the bad incidents either infringing up the right of people (to know and seek information), politicians, human right activists and journalists as (freedom of expression).

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

FM LISTENING: Reviewing Ramazan transmissions

Ramazan is getting over and with that people look busier in planning the forthcoming festival which is Eidul Fitr. Everywhere there is a lot of hustle and bustle. People are active in Eid shopping, buying things for themselves or gifts for their dear ones. And so the hype of the big day can be felt even in the themes of the programs on FM channels. Although during the holy month of Ramadan the theme of shows was to some extent slow. Among these were things like presenters advising listeners to remain cool and calm while fasting, to be patient and to keep up the high spirit for the month.
http://www.thepost.com.pk/Arc_IsbNews.aspx?dtlid=65409&
catid=17&date=10/25/2006&fcatid=14

Cable operators' equipment seized

The inspection team of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) NWFP region Tuesday conducted surprise visit to several cable networks in Peshawar and seized the equipment of those cable operators who were relaying proscribed channels. According to the PEMRA sources, the authority had received several complaints about relaying of banned channels in Peshawar by the different cable operators.
http://www.thepost.com.pk/Arc_NatNews.aspx?dtlid=65427&
catid=2&date=10/25/2006&fcatid=14

Men using mobile phones at increased infertility risk

A new study shows a worrying link between poor sperm and the number of hours a day that a man uses his mobile phone, according to a report in the Daily Mail. The report said that those who made calls on a mobile phone for more than four hours a day had the worst sperm counts and the poorest quality sperm, according to results released at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual meeting in New Orleans .

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\10\25\story_25-10-2006_pg7_9

Pakistanis will send about 500 million Eid SMS

About 30 million Pakistanis will use the Short Message Service (SMS) to send about 500 million Eid greetings across the country, say telecom sector experts. GSM providers have reduced cultural values to the size of pre-paid and post-paid SIMs and each subscriber is supposed to send and receive about 20 Eid SMS in average on the eve of Eid and on Eid.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\10\25\story_25-10-2006_pg13_5

APNS decides on two Eid holidays

The All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) has announced two holidays for newspaper staff on Eid, meaning newspapers will not publish for two days, according to an APNS press release. Earlier, the APNS had decided that there would be one holiday, on the day of Eid, but changed its decision on the request of newspaper hawkers.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\10\25\story_25-10-2006_pg7_3

LETTERS TO EDITOR

Musharraf's book

President Mushrraf's book In the Line of Fire per se is both informative and enthralling and keeps you glued for quite some time. However, the name of the game is to read this book as if you didn't know Musharraf at all, i.e. to keep all biases at bay. This is exactly what I did and trust you me I found this book to be a great work. The bad thing about this book is that it indulges mostly in self-praise, and plays to the gallery of the West, especially the US . I found the chapters 1 through 11 to be the most interesting, as it took me to my youth days. The other chapters are a good and painstaking account of the recent history after he assumed power in the country, nicely put together in much detail.

http://www.thepost.com.pk/Arc_LetNews.aspx?dtlid=65423&
catid=4&date=10/25/2006&fcatid=14

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.