Fine

Media Ethics is an abstract concept. In ideal terms, media ethics should not be implemented, or enforced. Rather, it should work the way most businesses work in market i.e. if your product is according to the society's demand your company would be more competitive in the market. Individuals should be aware enough to differentiate between reporting and propaganda and diligent enough to respond to what in not right and truthful. The only ethic a regulatory authority like PEMRA should enforce is the TRUTHFULNESS.

THE NEW YORK TIMES



Attack on Journalist Starts Battle in Pakistani Press

By DECLAN WALSHAPRIL 26, 2014

LONDON — For a time, Pakistan’s journalists were seen as messy champions of democracy: brave if sometimes flawed truth-tellers who helped oust the military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf and held up a critical mirror to their tempestuous country.

But a vicious gun attack last weekend on Hamid Mir, the country’s most famous television newscaster, seems to have changed everything, setting off a divisive media battle in which the truth itself has become bitterly contested.

At issue are claims aired by Geo News, Mr. Mir’s employer and the largest station, that the military’s powerful spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, was behind the April 19 attack in which Mr. Mir was shot six times as he traveled to a Karachi television studio.

Even staunch ISI critics thought the station’s personalized attacks, which singled out the ISI spy chief as the culprit, were hasty and premature, especially at a time when Islamist militants were also targeting reporters.

But rival stations took the controversy a step further, using it to cudgel Geo and question Mr. Mir’s motives — one station even suggested he engineered the shooting as a publicity stunt — at a time when the ISI was formally trying to have Geo shut down for good.


The vituperative exchanges have exposed troubling aspects of Pakistan’s oft-lauded media revolution: Along with the military’s concerted campaign to muzzle the press is the heavy hand of querulous media barons who, driven by commercial concerns and personal grudges, may be endangering the sector they helped create.

“The way this has played out is extremely disturbing,” said Zaffar Abbas, editor of Dawn newspaper, one of the few media outlets that have stayed out of the dispute. “I’ve never seen the media like this, really going after one other. If better sense doesn’t prevail, whatever we have earned in press freedom will be lost.”

The stakes are high on all sides. Since 2007, when television coverage played a key role in fanning the street protests that led to the ouster of General Musharraf, the news media has grown into a powerful factor in Pakistani society. Television news has widened public debate and exposed abuses, but it has faced sharp criticism for shoddy reporting and for giving a platform to Islamist extremists.

The exploding market has also turned prime-time talk show hosts like Mr. Mir into powerful figures, and made fortunes for a handful of newly minted media tycoons.

For reporters, however, it has been a perilous time: Some 34 journalists have died in the line of duty since democracy was restored in 2008, said Mustafa Qadri of Amnesty International, whose report on media freedom is due to be published April 30.

“It is supremely dangerous to be a reporter in Pakistan,” he said.

The military, in particular, has squirmed under the media’s relentless scrutiny. Tensions have been bubbling for some time between the Jang Group, the country’s largest media conglomerate, and the ISI. Jang is owned by Mir Shakil ur-Rehman, a reclusive editor who lives with his two wives in Dubai, where he keeps a tight grip on a media empire that includes Geo News, several sports and entertainment channels, and a stable of newspapers in Urdu and English.

Last fall, Mr. Rehman came to believe that the ISI was sponsoring a new television station, Bol, to dilute his commercial and political clout. His newspapers ran hostile reports about Bol, prompting competing media organizations to hit back with stories that painted Geo as sympathetic to Pakistan’s old rival, India.
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Senior figures at Geo claimed the spat had put their lives in danger. In November, Mr. Rehman’s son Ibrahim, who is chief executive of Geo, said he had received warnings of an attack by “the ISI or one of their proxies.” Mr. Mir claimed the ISI tried to lure him away from the station, and had threatened his life.

The tensions erupted publicly after last weekend’s attack on Mr. Mir. His brother, Amir Mir, who is also a journalist, accused the ISI of orchestrating the shooting in an emotional denunciation that was broadcast for hours on Geo, often against a backdrop of a photo of the ISI director general, Gen. Zaheer ul-Islam.

The ISI leadership, stung by the unusually open challenge, reacted angrily. On Tuesday, the military leadership sought to have Geo shut down and its editors prosecuted for “a libelous and scandalous” campaign that it said violated the country’s media law. On Thursday, television viewers in major cities found that Geo had disappeared from its usual position on their cable television sets. And on Friday, posters appeared across central Islamabad that praised the ISI and carried glossy photos of the spy chief, General Islam, a first in a country where many citizens fear to say the letters ISI out loud.


Few doubt the ISI, which has a dismal record of attacks on the press, is capable of such an attack. The spy agency’s media cell, infamous among journalists, is known to bribe select journalists with money, vehicles or other inducements. Critical reporters have been subjected to harassment, abduction and torture. In May 2011 the body of an investigative reporter, Saleem Shahzad, was found in a canal south of Islamabad after he was abducted by presumed ISI agents.

But other groups are also targeting journalists, in particular the Pakistani Taliban and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the dominant political party in Karachi, according to Amnesty International. Both of those groups have infiltrated Geo.

In 2012, the militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi recruited a junior reporter at Geo to help plan the assassination of a news editor and a prominent talk show host at the station, said a former Geo manager with direct knowledge of the case. The plot was foiled when the reporter confessed.

A second Geo employee was identified as a militant after the Taliban assault on Karachi’s Mehran naval base in June 2011, the former manager said. The station also believes that insider information played a role in the death of Wali Khan Babar, a Geo reporter who was killed by the M.Q.M. in 2010, a current Geo manager said.

The controversy over Mr. Mir’s shooting is unlikely to be resolved. In the past two decades, Pakistan’s courts have produced convictions in just two fatal attacks on journalists: Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter killed in 2002, and Mr. Babar, the Geo reporter.

“Even if we discover who pulled the trigger on Hamid Mir,” said Mr. Qadri of Amnesty, “it’s very unlikely that the people behind them will be found out.”

Unlike in the Musharraf era, when journalists united against military attempts to muzzle them, virulent rivalries between the businessmen who own the major stations have pulled the news media apart.

Mr. Rehman of the Jang group has a rancorous relationship with Sultan Lakhani, who owns the smaller Express media group, which includes a television station and several newspapers. (One of those papers, the English-language Express Tribune, prints The International New York Times in Pakistan.) A third station, ARY, is owned by a family of gold dealers that has little love for Mr. Rehman.

“The control of the owners and their say in what happens has increased tremendously,” said one editor, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “No editor or journalist can take a stand against them.”
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The turmoil has partly obscured the plight of Mr. Mir, who has an ambiguous history with the ISI. He shot to prominence after interviewing Osama bin Laden in 1998, and was initially seen as sympathetic to the pro-jihadi agenda of the Pakistani military and the ISI. But in recent years he has championed the cause of Baluch nationalists, angering the army, and highlighted human rights abuses during military operations.

He is now under close protection at a Karachi hospital, where flowers are piled outside his door and doctors report a steady recovery. In a statement issued through his brother, Mr. Mir vowed to “continue the fight for the rights of people till my last breath and last drop of blood.”

Other journalists, however, worry that something greater is at stake: Pakistan’s hard-won press freedoms. The furor over Mr. Mir’s shooting could result not only in the closing of Geo, but also in greater restrictions on the entire media.

“A lot of us liberals feel a dilemma,” said Abbas Nasir, a former editor at the BBC and Dawn newspaper. “We’re disgusted with the way Geo has behaved in recent years. But we also know the consequences of letting the boots shut down the media. And that’s got to be the bottom line.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/wo...ress.html?_r=0

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When you try, you risk failure. When you don’t try, you ensure it.

I was going to write a big account on this topic but I thought I should read the previous comments first.
Gypsfield and Artmes has done a great job..They are right..All others are just writing overwhelmed by their emotions...All these people must watch PTV only..It suits them...I think if there was only PTV he should have declared uptil now Karachi as the most peaceful city in the Universe and a most suited place for honey moon.....Shift your Paradigms..Army,ISI,Media..All should be held accountable for any of the act they made or they are accused of.

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If I am what I have and if I lose what I have, who then am I?

Muhammad Hanif notes an interesting point about the incident:

"It has become fashionable now to lecture GEO. I am not a big fan of GEO. They are like any news channel. They are not much different than Fox News in the United States. They are very profit-driven. They want to make money from news. But for any honest, decent journalist to say that the ISI is not accused of anything—there are hundreds of court cases in Pakistan, where people from the ISI and the army have been accused! But the Pakistani media has never covered these stories. Hundreds of cases.

But it is not covered. It has never been covered. Hamid Mir did, for a bit, try to cover these stories, and he was shot."

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/1...lists-pakistan

Geo News and all the related channels of Geo including Geo Taiz, Geo Super, Geo Entertainment etc should be banned immediately for its Anti Pakistan service. All those who are still in support of Geo will soon realize the reality of Geo Group. Just keep watching ARY News for some more days...

Diplomacy and warfare are tools of politics which inhibit in each and every institution . These tools are applied carefully in democratic society just to evanesce the toxic effects.Previous year , govt tried best to re frame the editorial policy and Media owners wanted an independent editorial board in turn.In Pakistan media is immersed into bloody warfare parallel to army . The hip hop of Geo banning and attack on Hamid Mir is thrilling to the extent , even both GEO and Hamid Mir has enjoyed the title of being Perfidious by quoting long list of leaders who owe these titles : A.K.fazal ul Haq ,Hussain Shaheed Sehrwardi who raised their voices for Bengali , Faiz ,jalib ,Bugti , Z.A.Bhutto , B.N.Bhutto with the inclusion of new list which have tapping of Hamid Mir , Nisar ,Imtiaz ,Asama Jehangir and Najam Seithi .

What I figure out from above rhetoric is : Tools to make the opinions just and hide the facts . Attack on Raza Romi who is famous journalist of leading liberal Newspaper Express Tribune is gone unnoticed . The Express media also has ties/conflict) with Jang Media which accelerated further events .Personally I do like Raza Rumi , he is nice soul indeed . Who is sponsoring the big show which is hidden? Who wanted Geo should be banned ? Express and Dawn Group ? Because I have seen conflicts between these two major groups where one is liberal and other is conservative to some extent . Our media has been monopolized by religion and politicized by current government .

Geo has again fictionalized the two most important institution :Army and government ,the same game is being repeated which is endangering democracy . Musharaf`s trial is the root cause of this situation . The strife between Mushaaraf and Hamid Mir has animated ISI and intelligentsia .

That`s why Noam Chomsky has rightly said that free speech should have limitation.Neither conservative nor liberal groups should be allowed to cross the assigned limits .Question is : has govt designed editorial policy ? Why not it would have by licensing each channel .The policies which envisaged each channel to give license were outdated after privatization . Editorial policy should be needed to tackle the issue . Banning is not solution but will escalate other issues. But Media pundits previous years refused to accept new editorial policy or new make-over which should be re framed by all Pakistan `s journalistic society. Another problem is : In Pakistan PEMRA & information ministry has twisted policies . Either Pakistan should have media regulator or just information ministry .

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"Wa tu izzu man-ta shaa, wa tu zillu man-ta shaa"

Enough said about limitations. The problem here is who decides the limitations? They want to tell media that you can criticize this institution but not that, him but not me! As for now anyone but not judiciary or army. Once the precedence is set on limiting media criticism in the name of national interest, it would be why the P.M, why the ministers? Why foreign office, why interior ministry? Aren't they key institutions or significant and sensitive too?

Army needs to realize that respect is not something you demand, it is something you earn. When Wali Khan Babar was shot, all fingers were pointed to MQM, when Express office came under attack it was TTP; it is almost always obvious who has grievance against a particular reporter or media house. If agencies do not want anyone reporting dumped bodies in Balochistan why don't they address the issue and make sure there aren't any. We are a nation that has learned nothing from Bangladesh tragedy.

The public is told Pakistan is under siege and everyone goes insane against a media house. But this in not helping Pakistan. This is not even helping security establishment. Hamdi Mir previously went public regarding threats and published phone numbers. He was later contacted by agency and told not the agency itself but some individuals were involved in this act. Now is the good time for agency to come clean and tell what was done against those individuals involved. Neither the banning, nor the orchestrated lash out from an opportunist political setup, nor the show of solidarity by some banned outfit is the answer. The allegations have been here for quite sometime now and they will remain unless until answered.

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"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."
Helen Keller

I have not said against media channels yes about limitations , why : there are some facts which can not be ignored and bears a stamp on their lapdog roles .I will shed a light with a few examples :

1. On 11 May 2013 the role of Geo channel should be questioned . It was against the election policy to leak the results so of one poling station out of 100 before 5 O` Clock . People sitting in TV lounges carried these influential waves enough to change their Voting sign . It helped political activist to change the result of pole before announcement . For example League member could not get majority votes in 99 poling stations out of 100 . But made its victory through one poling station. There is a big question mark on the role of Geo : revenue earned after elections helped in inauguration of Geo Super as well as Geo Kahani . Geo Proved itself best by picking over other leading channels . Coverage of rigging by Geo is like a clown telling some mischiefs of
their counterpart .

2. Mubashir Luqman & Hamid Mir both are controversial figures & bad masks of Media channels . In 2012 one Video of M. Luqman got fame ; earlier he refused to get dictation by ARY owner in capital talk , then agreed to get dictation in a famous case , of a leading business man ( forgot his name , might be raja Imtiaz or else ) . It was set earlier question would be asked according to the choice of Culprit / accused . This role is really misleading .

3. It was off course Taliban who attacked on Rumi but every one knew who is behind Taliban (ISI + Conservative faction ) . Hamid Mir policy is to channel media is like a chameleon : on one hand he has linkages with Taliban (proved ) , he criticized them also just to show he is doing best . His criticism on army is true as well as on judiciary , it should be allowed but to whom ????? who is working for his own interest ? He is getting 26 lac previous year monthly salary which we can not get even in years . Mubashir Lucam 18 Lac and other anchors according to their prestige .

4. What is done in capital talks : An anchor provides us stories full of farce and buffoonery just to rate high the pro grammes . We have rating agency which check which show have highest ratings give ads to the channels . Who says media faces are telling true , they are trying best to compete each other to get highest rewards .

5. Single drama/ show per hour is allowed to have 15 mins ads to be aired . All channels aired 30 to 35 mins ads for why ?

Media often present melodramas and nothing . I am not against the freedom of media . In fact we suffered a lot when you tube was banned . I initiated the the thread that it should not be banned . It was banned due to elections , after elections it was unbanned . Similarly Geo or other channels should not be banned . Pakistan has become dangerous city for journalist . Reporters have issued their own dailies and periodicals to tell truth . Most of the reporters remained unpaid.

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"Wa tu izzu man-ta shaa, wa tu zillu man-ta shaa"

Prove it that ISI is backing TTP. Conservative faction of our society is with TTP but ISI is not with those terrorists.

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Main tu aik Baab hn Tareekh mein Likha jaon ga