Saturday November 25, 2006

A daily review of media coverage of media and communications issues

Authoritative govts suppress media freedom: experts

The speakers at a consultative meeting on media freedom were of the view that countries run by the authoritative governments and military tyrants, had never been good times for freedom of expression and the means that facilitate exercising it. At a consultative meeting, titled “Ban on Sindh TV's Transmission and the Myth of Media Freedom”, organised by the ActionAid Pakistan, experts were of the view that contrary to much trumpeted claims, military government in Pakistan had been taking measures which, in one way or the other, prove detrimental to the citizens' right to know and abridge freedom of expression.
http://www.thepost.com.pk/Arc_IsbNews.aspx?dtlid=70005&
catid=17&date=11/25/2006&fcatid=14

Daniel Pearl murder case

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday adjourned hearing of appeals filed by Ahmed Omer Saeed Sheikh and three co-accused against their conviction by the anti-terrorism court in Hyderabad in 2002 for the kidnapping and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl working for the New York-based Wall Street Journal. A division bench of the SHC comprising Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery and Justice Yasmeen Abbasey adjourned the hearing of the appeals to December 11 as the father of one of the three co-accused appeared before the court and told the bench about non-availability of the counsel for his son for the day.

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

PBC's Central Production to present folk musical programme

Central Production of Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) will present a programme on folk music from Cholistan Rohi.
These indigenous songs are passed down from generation to generation so they never lose their authenticity and originality. The songs are from Thar, Rajasthan and Maarvar. These songs give a natural touch of the undulating sands and vastness of the desert. The songs also reflect trends and culture of the area.

http://www.nation.com.pk/magazines/nationplus/2006/25-nov/page4.htm

Journalist's wife robbed

Four bandits deprived a woman of her ornaments while she was returning home in a rickshaw after dropping her children to their school in Block-3, Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Thursday morning. Mrs Azra Khalid, wife of Dawn's senior reporter, Khalid H. Khan, said that bandits, riding two motorcycles, intercepted the rickshaw. One of them held the rickshaw driver at gunpoint and the other deprived her of bangles, ear-rings and rings before fleeing.

http://www.dawn.com/2006/11/25/local17.htm

LETTERS TO EDITOR

Ban on Sindhi channel

On November 8, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) banned a popular Sindhi private TV channel (Sindh TV) under the instructions of the government. The channel was telecasting programmes through satellite and cable since October 2004 from Bangkok.

http://www.thepost.com.pk/Arc_LetNews.aspx?dtlid=69976&
catid=4&date=11/25/2006&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.