Hamid Mir and Jang Group’s somersaults on freedom of speech – by Aamir Mughal
Former president of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists Mazhar Abbas said that on the whole media’s role in the entire episode left a lot to be desired. “We go by the official version and don’t even use words like ‘alleged’. We (the media) must be very careful when an allegation is being levelled against someone,” said Mr Abbas. He said that the electronic media totally ignored these guidelines and did not even express regret if someone had been cleared by court or law-enforcers through an inquiry. “Throughout his ordeal, Faiz remained quite confident but we were devastated. We spent sleepless nights since Sunday when it all began,” his family members said.
‘Therapy shoes’ passenger mulls action against ASF
By S. Raza Hassan
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ISLAMABAD: Some elements in the federal government have hatched a grand conspiracy to malign and blackmail the Pakistani media and top of the list is the Jang Group of Newspapers and Geo TV. This grand conspiracy was noticed last Friday when a federal minister made allegations in the National Assembly and said that they have not paid huge amounts of sales tax. Most of the figures presented in the National Assembly were not correct. The same afternoon, a top government minister told this scribe that “enough is enough” and now they can teach a lesson to Jang Group any time. He claimed ….
You can read Aamir Mughal’s full article at the following link:
Mr. Mazhar Abbas, that is exactly the problem. The media must be held accountable for its follies and there are many. GEO believes in only being first no matter what. Recently they ran a Washington datelined story that the Indian PM had been invited to Pakistan and he had accepted the invitation. And they got ‘experts’ to comment on it and all hell broke lose. Their Washington correspondent had to call them and clarify the situation and the story disappeared–without even an apology.
Then we have the medical centers and doctors. No sooner has someone died it is “Breaking News” that the patient died of ‘a wrong injection’ or lack of proper attention and the center or the doctor, by name, is defamed without a question being asked. Is it not relevant to ask; what was the condition of the patient when he was brought there? Was he already in his ‘last stages’? Who and how can one say it was ‘a wrong injection’? The relatives of the dead? they can never, I repeat NEVER, be good judges of the issue–they are the aggrieved and grieved and not in their proper frame of mind. So how can you rely on them to destroy a centers reputation or a doctors career? You Mr. Mazhar Abbas know how the media bosses even blackmail the government to not announce the wage board award. Please do something about this as you still have a voice if not an office.