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| GEO�S STORY AS TOLD BY THE WORLD |
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| Intimidated journalists in Pakistan
cannot exercise press freedom |
| June 09, 2014 |
| Press freedom no longer exists
in Pakistan. Journalism is under constant threat with
both broadcast and newspaper journalists being intimidated
into silence.
The treatment of the popular Urdu-language channel,
Geo News, is but the latest example of the way in which
the authorities are seeking to close off any hint of
criticism.... |
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| Leading Pakistani Geo TV channel is ordered off air |
| June 06, 2014 |
Pakistan's Electronic Media Regularity Authority has suspended the licence of the country's largest and most influential TV station for 15 days.
Since April, the Geo TV channel has been embroiled in a defamation row with the powerful ISI intelligence agency... |
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| Concern At Spate Of Attacks On Pakistan’s Largest Media Group |
| June 03, 2014 |
| Freedom Network [FN] is deeply concerned at the spate of attacks on journalists working for Jang and The News and Geo News channel with the latest victim being the resident editor of daily Jang in Multan, Zafar Aheer, on May 31, 2014..... |
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| Newspaper trucks, latest target of anti-media violence in Pakistan? |
| June 03, 2014 |
Reporters Without Borders condemns the appalling climate of intimidation reigning in Pakistan after an attack on provincial newspaper reporter Zafar Aaheer on 31 May and several attacks on newspaper distribution trucks in the past few days. |
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| Pakistan and state failure: Waiting for justice |
| June 03, 2014 |
| Here is a shortlist of recent horror stories from Pakistan, for which there is no government accountability or action and little public protest out of fear generated by an ever-widening range of Islamic extremists, who carry out acts of terror with impunity. |
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| Pakistan must investigate Inter-Services Intelligence over attacks against journalists |
| May 29, 2014 |
| Pakistani authorities should immediately investigate the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the military�s premier spy agency, over its alleged involvement in journalist attacks, said Amnesty International on the third anniversary of the abduction and killing of journalist Saleem Shahzad. |
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| Malicious campaign undermining media freedom: HRCP |
| May 19, 2014 |
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has voiced concern over a malicious campaign seeking to close down a media channel and called for unity among media ranks and de-escalation of the situation to protect media freedom and reduce risks for journalists. |
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| Any action against freedom of media �unacceptable�: CPNE |
| May 25, 2014 |
QUETTA: The Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) Standing Committee has announced that suspension of licence of any TV channel and declaration of any newspaper would be intolerable, Geo News reported.
The CPNE committee issued its statement after meeting here Sunday. It asserted that any action against freedom of media would be unacceptable at any cost.
The meeting deeply reviewed the situation, emerged after attack on Geo News anchorperson Hamid Mir.
It expressed concerned over coverage pertaining to DG ISI and called upon all the media organization to ensure implementation on code of conduct.
The statement further says despite the plea of Defence Minister was being heard in the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), cable operators had shut down Geo TV transmission in various areas, adding hurdles were being put in the circulation of Daily Jang newspaper as well.
The CPNE termed all such actions illegal and demanded action against those responsible.
The meeting also showed its concerns over media houses infighting. |
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| About the Geo-ISI episode |
| May 14, 2014 |
Supreme Court Media Commission member, former federal information minister and senator “At no point whatsoever does the commission allege that the Jang/Geo Group has secretly received funds from overseas or Indian sources. Nor does it record a suspicion that this group or any other group is anti-Pakistan or disloyal to the country. From long interaction with both its owners and its team for about 45 years, one is convinced that they are as committed to the security and well-being of our country as anyone else, civil or military.”
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| Geo TV's face-off with ISI spy agency � a subplot of a larger tussle in Pakistan |
| Apr 27, 2014 |
Pakistani journalists protest over the shooting of Hamid Mir, Geo TV's star anchor. There are claims that the ISI spy agency was responsible for the attack. Photograph: Arshad Arbab/EPA
For decades Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence was the spy agency that could not be named, let alone publicly criticised. The media would refer only to the "agencies", the "establishment" or, even more coyly, "the angels"....
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| Hameed Haroon, the President of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), has expressed concern that the freedom of press envisioned in Article 19 of the Constitution of Pakistan is now facing the gravest threat it has encountered in the past decade, and if press freedoms are allowed to deteriorate further, an irreversible damage will be inflicted on Pakistan’s democracy and the constitutionally stipulated freedoms associated with it.... |
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| The Hamid Mir case: 'In Pakistan, they used to censor journalists – now they shoot us' |
| Apr 23, 2014 |
On Saturday in Karachi, one of Pakistan's most famous journalists survived being shot six times. Soon after, the TV news channel he works for blamed the feared Inter-Services Intelligence agency for the attack. Author Mohammed Hanif reports on a fourth estate under siege...
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| Javed Jabbar says private members of PEMRA staged �tamasha� |
| May 21, 2014 |
ISLAMABAD: Former information minister Javed Jabbar criticized private members of the Pakistan Electronic Media Authority (PEMRA) for what he said staging a ‘tamasha’ (commotion).
He said that the private members of the watchdog had openly violated PEMRA ordinance and the government could sack them for the illegal act.
He said that vital decisions could not be taken if the quorum is not complete.
Jabbar said that as to why the PEMRA failed to notice propaganda being carried out against Geo by other channels. He asked whether it was right to disrupt broadcast through exerting pressure on cable operators
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| Media Commission didn�t allege Jang/Geo receiving funds: Javed Jabbar |
| May 14, 2014 |
ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Media Commission member, former federal information minister and senator, Javed Jabbar said, �At no point whatsoever does the Commission allege that the Jang/Geo Group has secretly received funds from overseas or Indian sources.
Nor does it record a suspicion that this group or any other group is anti-Pakistan or disloyal to the country.
From long interaction with both its owners and its team for about 45 years, one is convinced that they are as committed to the security and well-being of our country as anyone else, civil or military.� |
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You want Geo on its knees, once, twice, three times: Asma |
| May 30, 2014 |
LAHORE: Human rights activist and former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Asma Jahangir has said she supports freedom of expression and the independence of the media, and punishing any TV channel is not an act of any pillar of the state but of dictators.
Addressing a lawyers gathering at the Aiwan-e-Iqbal here on Thursday, Asma said whatever Geo did was not fair. No journalistic ethics permit putting the picture (of any official) on the TV screen for hours over mere allegations, she said, adding that there was nothing new in this, however, as “Geo as well as all other TV channels have done it to us all in the past”.
“You may fine it (Geo) for the mistake, you may force them to apologise”, but what is this attitude, she asked. “You say no pardon, you say you will bring this organisation to its knees, once, twice, thrice, and there seems to be no end to it,” she added. She said if the army rulers believe they can strangle the freedom of expression in this country, they are mistaken.
Asma said when the judiciary indulges in politics instead of providing justice, we criticise it. “We did it earlier, and we do it even today,” she added.
Asma regretted that the media have started dictating even to lawyers. “They say a lawyer must ask them (the media) before taking up any case. If they will permit, you take up a case, and if they don’t want you to, you don’t go for it,” the lawyer leader said.
Asma said the government claims that their heart bleeds at the misuse of public money. “If it is public money then why have you provided six employees at government expense to the former CJ, whose son is still staying in the guest house,” the rights activist asked. She also questioned the appointment of Faqeer Hussain as the director general of the Federal Judicial Academy after his retirement as the Supreme Court registrar, and termed it in violation of merit.
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Media: the threat of
co-option |
| May 08, 2014 |
AROUND this year’s World Press Freedom Day (May 3) the Pakistani media received considerable attention at home and abroad, and it must calmly address some of the issues raised concerning its rights and responsibilities, and the challenges it is facing...
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�Mystery� banners |
| May 28, 2014 |
BANNERS, posters and graffiti containing defamatory, incendiary and provocative material are nothing new in cities across Pakistan. But when banners inscribed with defamatory material targeting a sitting judge of the honourable Supreme Court ‘mysteriously’ start popping up across Islamabad, supposedly the most secure and watched city in the country, there is reason for concern. ...
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Media: the danger from within |
| May 19, 2014 |
THE already deeply worrying events in the media landscape have taken a frightening turn with the reaction in several quarters to the Geo morning entertainment show debacle. The Geo programme, Utho Jago Pakistan, made a critical error of judgement by trying to fuse sensitive religious material with crass entertainment. ...
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PTI�s perplexing protest |
| May 09, 2014 |
POLITICAL protests, rallies and movements are the democratic rights of the people and their representatives and, especially given the paucity of democracy in this country’s history, ought never to be impeded or blocked, so long as the programme stays within the parameters of the law. Yet, while it is well within the PTI’s right to launch...
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ISI and media infighting |
| Apr 24 , 2014 |
IN the bizarre, whiplash-inducing fallout of the Hamid Mir shooting, an alarming new twist has occurred: the Ministry of Defence — really, the army/ISI leadership — has petitioned Pemra to cancel the TV licence of Geo News while also calling for action against the Jang group’s flagship newspapers under the defamation and press laws of the country...
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Another attack on the media
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| Apr 21, 2014 |
THE murderous attack on Hamid Mir, one of Pakistan’s most recognisable faces in the TV news industry, may have been shocking, but is anyone truly surprised? The media is specifically under threat and the spate of attacks culminating with the one in Karachi on Saturday against Mr Mir may only be the beginning...
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Document - Pakistan: Open letter to the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif: Joint statement of shared concerns about attacks on journalists in Pakistan |
| May 29, 2014 |
Dear Prime Minister
Three years ago today, journalist Saleem Shahzad was abducted a short distance away from his Islamabad home and later found dead, his body bearing marks consistent with torture. We, the representatives of the undersigned group of civil society organisations working in human rights and media, call on you to fulfil your promise to end the impunity enjoyed by individuals...
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Who will save the system? |
| May 30, 2014 |
THE attacks on the government are increasing day by day and the greatest cause of dismay in the speedily shrinking democratic lobby is the combatants’ lack of appreciation of the threat to the democratic polity. ...
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| Pakistan's Geo TV resorts to self-censorship |
| May 30, 2014 |
Geo TV was once the most popular channel in Pakistan. But today, the military accuses it of defamation, religious leaders say it's blasphemous and government opponents say the channel helped rig last year's presidential elections. It all began in April, when Geo accused Pakistan's military spy agency ISI of trying to kill its star journalist, Hamid Mir. This week, the channel apologised to the ISI for its coverage of the attack, saying it was "excessive" and "emotional".
Programme prepared by Narimène Laouadi and Elise Duffau....
View full video report:
http://www.france24.com/en/20140527-focus-pakistan-danger-journalists-geo-tv-hamid-mir-attack-censorship-isi/
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| PRESS BATTLE IN PAKISTAN FEEDS INTO
LARGER CONFLICT: GOVERNMENT VS. MILITARY |
| May 26, 2014 |
| A spat over the shooting of
a talk show host, followed by the government’s reversal
of a ban on the station, has exposed tensions between
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and top officials. - |
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| FROM TRAITORS TO BLASPHEMERS? |
| May 26, 2014 |
| Now the media is a deep, deep
purple, reflecting shades of darkness, a silent oath broken
as we watch Pakistan’s media violently self-destruct….
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| URDU.DAWN.COM |
| May 26, 2014 |
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| ANALYSIS: TAMED MEDIA TO HURT PAKISTAN |
| May 26, 2014 |
| Why was the media giant targeted,
how has it been felled and what does it signify? |
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| THE BATTLE FOR PAKISTAN’S GEO
TV |
| May 26, 2014 |
| At 5:13 p.m. on April 19 this
year, I was sitting in my car when I got a text message
from Mir. Two years after our first hello, I had become
Mir’s producer for special shows he hosted when
he came to Karachi. My phone pinged and the message read:
&q… |
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| ONE PEN AND SIX BULLETS |
| May 26, 2014 |
| At 5:13 p.m. on April 19 this
year, I was sitting in my car when I got a text message
from Mir. Two years after our first hello, I had become
Mir’s producer for special shows he hosted when
he came to Karachi. My phone pinged and the message read:
&q… |
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| TORTURED, SLAIN, NOT SILENCED: PAKISTAN
JOURNALISTS UNDER SIEGE – NBC NEWS |
| May 26, 2014 |
| ISLAMABAD, Pakistan –
Journalists in Pakistan live under the constant threat
of murder, torture, and violence against their families
in what has become one o… |
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| Risky gamble by media group
sign of shifting power in country where once unassailable
military being increasingly challenged … |
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| THE SILENCING OF THE LIBERALS |
| May 26, 2014 |
| Mr Mir’s most famous
interviewee THERE was a time when Hamid Mir, Pakistan’s
most famous journalist, had little reason to fear his
work might put his life in… |
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| The Hamid Mir case: |
| May 26, 2014 |
| On Saturday in Karachi, one
of Pakistan’s most famous journalists survived being
shot six times. Soon after, the TV news channel he works
for blamed the feared Inter-Services Intelligence agency
for the attack. Author Mohammed Hanif reports on a fourth
estate under siege |
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| ASSAILED FROM ALL SIDES |
| May 24, 2014 |
| The army, the mullahs and
Imran Khan try to close a popular television station |
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| STATEMENT ON KASAB WAS MADE AFTER CONSULTATION: GEN DURRANI |
| Asked why he had issued such a sensitive statement, Mahmud Durrani said, “I am not a fool. Before giving the… |
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CPJ CONDEMNS
MOVE BY PAKISTAN |
| New York, April
22, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists is
greatly concerned by actions brought by Pakistan’s
Inter Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) against
Geo Television today. In its complaint to the Pakistan
Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, the ISI accused
Geo’s parent company, the Independent Media Corporation,
of conducting a “false |
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A verbatim
threat from Pakistan, and more – Blog –
Committee to Protect Journalists |
| Here is a cut
and paste email message sent to staffers at The News,
in Islamabad. We have their explicit permission to use
it. Actually, they requested that we use it, in the hope
that publicizing it will somehow protect them…. |
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Am I a
traitor? – Blog – Committee to Protect Journalists |
| EDITOR’S
NOTE: Hamid Mir, the executive editor of Pakistan’s
Geo Television, survived an April 19 assassination attempt,
but was badly injured. The shooting came a few weeks after
the Pakistani government pledged in a meeting with CPJ
to address the insecurity plaguing the country’s
journalists. Shortly after the attack, some… |
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| Risky gamble
by media group sign of shifting power in country where
once unassailable military being increasingly challenged |
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| Attempts to silence
the press will fail. The army’s latest intimidation
campaign is a sign of weakness, not strength |
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PRESS
FREEDOM IN PAKISTAN HAS DEADLY CONSEQUENCES –
KANSASCITY.COM |
| “Just four
months into the new year, six Pakistani journalists have
been killed, putting 2014 on track to become one of the
most deadly years for reporters in Pakistan,” writes
Zahid Gishkori, an Alfred Friendly fellow who is spending
five months at The Kansas City Star. |
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ATTACK
ON JOURNALIST STARTS BATTLE IN PAKISTANI PRESS |
| Accusations that
the country’s spy agency was involved in the attack
have led to a divisive debate and demands that a television
station be shut down. . |
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| On Saturday in
Karachi, one of Pakistan’s most famous journalists
survived being shot six times. Soon after, the TV news
channel he works for blamed the feared Inter-Services
Intelligence agency for the attack. Author Mohammed Hanif
reports on a fourth estate under siege . . |
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