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Posts tagged with: Media
Oct 29, 2009    |       13 comments

Different Flavors of Public Protest in India and Pakistan

india-pakistanIndians and Pakistanis are discussing the leadership crisis in their respective countries, but for different reasons and with different implications. India’s inability to wield influence on the world stage is being blamed on the lack of good leadership. In Pakistan, people feel that the political leaders have failed to instill confidence and provide direction when the country is consumed by the threat of terrorism. Are these leadership demands signs of widening and maturing democracy in the two countries? Or are the Indians and Pakistanis wanting to re-live the hope and optimism characterizing the era of Nehru and Jinnah? Whatever may be the rationale, the demand for better leadership is showing different traits of the public in India and Pakistan.

Dawn Columnist, Cyril Almedia wrote a timely article, “Where are you, our leaders”, on the October 23, 2009. The opening lines of his column are illustrative of what many Pakistanis are thinking:

As the country burns, parents agonize over whether to send their children to school or not, offices of businesses local and foreign ramp up their security measures, the average citizen thinks twice before venturing into crowded locales or government buildings, a simple question for our leaders: where are you? Where are you, President Zardari? Where are you, Prime Minister Gilani? Where are you, Nawaz Sharif?
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Sep 4, 2009    |       54 comments

Discussion with one of the UniLever’s Reality Show particpants, an eye witness to Saad Khan’s tragic death

This report was posted by Fahad Siddiqui the admin from the Facebook Group Say NO to Reality Shows

Saad Khan with friendsAs promised, we are now publishing a conversation with one of the contestants / eyewitness of the Clear Man show. For confidentiality purpose we can not disclose the names of the people who were involved in this conversation; however, we can assure you that the content of the entire discussion has not been exaggerated nor over-hyped while we are sharing it with all of you.

Read, digest & share your thoughts on this tragic incident which could surely have been avoided if basic precautionary measures could have have been taken while organizing the deadly stunt which took Saad Khan away from us.

Q: How was your relation with Saad Khan during the time you were together?

Participant: We were good friends since the time we met each other. Saad bhai was a great person; we got close in a very short time. He even told me his life story from his struggle to the upward trajectory of his career. We used to hang out together and have fun and play pranks with other fellows. In short it was a very joyful experience spending time with him.
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Aug 30, 2009    |       7 comments

Important questions regarding the death of Saad Khan during Unilever’s Clear Men reality show

Saad Khan Tragically dies in a Unilever reality show recording in ThailandFarrukh Ahmed, a fellow blogger and a close friend of Saad Khan has drafted a more detailed report on the the tragic death of Saad Khan during the recording of a Unilever Reality Show in Thailand – he asks some pertinent questions which need to be answered

Unchained / Farrukh’s Blog: As a representative of the grieved family & friends, I would like the following questions to be answered:
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Aug 11, 2009    |       21 comments

Rehman Malik [Dakait] had a head bounty Rs. 50 Lakh – Jang News fumbles another news item

It seems that the Jang Group [the leading Urdu news paper in Pakistan] is getting a little rustic around the edges of news reporting, a few days back it had inadvertently made Twitter as a Microsoft blog and more recently it has fumbled another hilarious blunder on the local front.

rehman malik or rehman dakait

The blunder comes when a news item was published early Monday morning on the Jang website where it reported that a gangster leader Rehman Dakait [Dakait means robber in urdu] was killed in a police encounter along with his three accomplices. The overall report was generally spot on until the very last sentence where the editor accidentally spoke his heart out to say…
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Aug 7, 2009    |       2 comments

“Microsoft Blog called Twitter” DDoS’d – Jang

jang logoToday at 8:00pm Pakistan Time Twitter.com service went offline due to a massive DDoS attack on its servers. DDoS attacks are an attempt to make a website inaccessible by technically overloading the servers with millions of instantaneous requests from hundreds of computers scattered across the world.

Twitter a very popular suffered this attack and was literally conked out for over two hours until they slowly recovered their servers to normalcy. The DDoS attacks were definitely worrisome but what really tickled us here in Pakistan was the fact that Jang News had a very unique and interesting twist to this report.

Jang, the local Urdu newspaper, In an effort to explain to its viewers or even in a surge of sheer stupidity they explained Twitter as “Microsoft Blog called Twitter” now that is a joke in its own self. For a fact twitter is not a Microsoft entity and is a Micro-blog and quite definitely not Microsoft’s blog.
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Jul 12, 2009    |       6 comments

PEMRA Blocks Dawn TV’s show We Are Soldiers

We Are Soldiers - Marines | Dawn News TVLate Friday night I received a couple of SMS’s alerting me that PEMRA had suddenly pulled and banned a much popular military show called ‘We Are Soldiers’ off-air. This news came a day before the episode on Special Services Group and Marines was to be aired on Saturday at 7:05 pm, but according to a PEMRA [Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority] this show was unacceptable for public consumption and hence needed to be taken off-air

A flurry of twitter and SMS messages followed but late Friday night no further development was reported apart from the initial set of messages which mostly read – “WE ARE SOLDIERS” the first documentary on the PAK ARMY on @DAWNNEWS TV has been banned by PEMRA – The following day [Saturday] discussions across the board revealed that the show was initially designed to cover the Marines which is an organization under the jurisdiction of the Pakistan Navy. The episode as customary was sent to the Army headquarters, despite the fact that it is shot under careful supervision of the ISPR to ensure that Wajahat and his news team does not go over board. The DVD reportedly was also forwarded to the Naval Chief who incidentally blew a gasket, accusing Dawn for not coming for approval well before the airing date but instead the Naval team called up PEMRA and had them issue orders to block the entire Dawn News show “We are Soldiers”
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Apr 20, 2009    |       55 comments

Nazir Naji caught Abusing Journalist

Ahmad Noorani, a senior editor of The News from Islamabad while investigating a story regarding illegal allotment of plots to some journalists by the federal government calls up Nazir Haji on Friday 17th April later Nazir Haji calls back Ahmed Noorani twice and gets a mouthful of profanity, in response I must applaud Ahmed Noorani to have maintained his cool. Listen to the rated three part audio clips on PkPolitics, while the land scam investigative article can be read on The News website

Apr 13, 2009    |       3 comments

Press Conference at KPC against the Vandalism @ Arts Council [4:30pm] | Shanaakht

shanaakht festival

Press Conference at Karachi Press Club

Vandalism @ ArtsCouncil
Karachi Press Club, 4:30pm – TODAY (Mon 13 April 09)

BE THERE !

You need to do ALL of the following:

  1. Come to the Press Conference at Karachi Press Club (KPC) at 4:30 pm, sit in the audience and watch the panel reading out the Statement (petition) and explaining: what is wrong with attacking a public space, to journalists and the public.
  2. Sign petition, and ask people to sign petition: Inquiry into Vandalism at Arts Council Khi 08Apr’09
  3. Join, and ask poeple to Join the googlegroup CultureSOS
Apr 5, 2009    |       3 comments

An evening on Media and Activism – Goethe Institute, Karachi | 7th April

AN EVENING ON MEDIA AND ACTIVISM
DATE: 07 April 2009,
TIME: 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm
LOCATION: Goethe Institute, Karachi

Do media and activism always go together. How does an activist media fill the gaps. How do the new technologies fit in this picture. What does this increased access to information mean for our complex culture and society.

  • Rob van Kranenburg observes the present age of acceleration. Concerning the role of the artist in an ever more complex world full of radicalism, he dares to ask: what does this mean for the disruptive qualities of art if disruption becomes the default
  • Suzanne Hogendoorn presents her film on European activists at the G8 Summit 2007.
  • Awab Alvi gives us a behind-the-web look at citizens covering the Long March in March 2009 using internet & cellphones.
  • Faisal Qureshi will ponder the important question of what we out to to gain from the new technologies along with every other thing, in order to get somewhere.
  • Faisal Hasnain Zaidi will talk about how journalists actually use new media in their work – while looking at possibilities not yet taken.

Discussion on linkages on these themes will follow.
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Mar 14, 2009    |       12 comments

Presdient Zardari orders GEO shutdown: Letter by MIR

Geo News, Pakistan’s highest viewership TV channel, is not being seen by most of the country due to orders by President Zardari.

Orders have been given to all cable operators to shut down GEO News transmission and or to place the channel towards the end of the cable frequency where most of the TV sets don’t have access to the channel.

During the Musharraf Emergency, Geo Network lost more than 25 million dollars when all its channels were shut down for almost 3 months.

President Zardari had sent messages to Geo Management that if the Network wanted to r ec over its past losses through its pending court case, and avoid future loss, then it should stop supporting the movement for the restoration of an independent judiciary.
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Jan 1, 2009    |       85 comments

PTA Blocks websites with Salman Taseer’s pictures ‘Harmful for the integrity of the Country’

Its being reported that PTA has recently blocked six specific URL’s in Pakistan deeming them “harmful for the integrity of the country“. These websites are blocked for carrying a certain set of pictures containing Salman Taseer, The Governor of Punjab & his family.  The PTA is said to have complied upon the request from the Inter Ministerial Committee which has prefered to monitor and block anti-Pakistan, blasphemous, and pornographic web sites.

The alleged pictures had started making rounds on the Internet in early November and consequentially did find its way on a few specific websites, we too did share a couple but preferred to ignore the remaining as they were definitely too personal for public consumption.

Though on a personal level we exercised self-restraint in choosing not to publish the private pictures of his daughter, but I am shocked to see the official bureaucracy go begging at his mercy deeming these websites as harming the national integrity of Pakistan, quite definitely a far fetched lame excuse at best. I am sure there could have been other effective legal measures to bring down these pictures, which would then have been a better representative of a democratically elected government but it seems they still choose to rule by the dictatorial stick. All said, I am definitely shocked to see how easily PTA was eager to comply to this lame excuse on the whims of certain individuals and hope that they quickly revert their decision to block these websites
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Dec 31, 2008    |       15 comments

Kashif Abbasi – Impact of talk shows in creating Political Awarness in Pakistan

Kashif Abbasi, from ARY One World was invited to an interview with ABN Chicago to discuss the role of Political Talk shows in creating Political Awareness among the Pakistani masses. It is definitely worth listening at least to the first hour of the show

[audio:ABNKashifAbbasi.mp3]
Direct Download

The discussion was to revolve around the following points

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Dec 9, 2008    |       121 comments

10 lessons all Pakistanis must learn

Guest Post by Hassan Baig


“Mulk khud hi chalta rehay ga” (approximate translation: the country doesn’t need our contribution to thrive) is a sentence many Pakistanis are prone to saying. I confess that till a few years ago, I myself was confident of this misleading notion. Misleading and dangerous – especially in today’s volatile climate. As Pakistanis, it is imperative that we come to terms with the fact that no heavenly Manna will alleviate our country’s plight. The job rests squarely on our own shoulders; with the destiny of a whole nation tethered to our will and to the execution of that will. And so as the clock ticks and the prophets of doom raise a foreboding murmur from East to West, it is high time for us to learn some crucial lessons. Lessons without which our collective slumber will only deepen:


1) Extremism always overcomes moderation. History is fraught with examples of moderate majorities ruled and controlled by extremist minorities. Therefore unless we are extreme in our moderation, our endeavor – any endeavor – is doomed to be highjacked by powers which know more meticulous passion. From the radicalized Islamic cleric who preaches bigotry and hatred to the Neoconservative-backed Christian televangelist who sermonizes the urgency of preparing for an ethnic genocide pithily called Armageddon, we today live in an increasingly polarized world. And since Pakistan exists on the very fault-lines of this burgeoning conflict, our problems are exacerbated. Regardless of what stance we take or which side we pick, our country will remain on the receiving end for the foreseeable future. And regardless of how hastily we disregard conspiracy theories, the extreme forces on all sides will continue to augment their belief systems with hybrid religiopolitical prophecies. Prophecies which have a way of snowballing into self-fulfilment. Therefore it is critical that we take our moderate stance to be more of a proactive doctrine rather than apolitical aloofness. Our very existence depends on it.
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Nov 22, 2008    |       19 comments

Finally we are breathing

Guest Blog by Farrah K Raja

When I came across” Teeth Maestro” I thought well how healthy my teeth are? The answer is always the same the one which Cinderella’s step mom used to get from the mirror.

I do not believe in cosmetic surgery or going under knife so I do not spend much time in front of the mirror but I do spend a lot on my computer.

In today’s world where now Obama will be addressing the Nation through internet, so that message is not limited to USA alone but to the whole world. The impact of internet cannot be ignored and I am so glad Teeth Maestro is one blog from Pakistan which very responsibly is providing an alternative for people to express and connect as compared to stereo type Print and Television Journalism.

I personally believe past ten years were extremely important in the history of the world and in the history of Pakistan.

We were led by a true statesman, Mr.Musharaff, the only thing he was lacking was he did not come through voting process. By God people of Pakistan have proved who ever does not come through this process is never going to rule us even if he delivers moon and the stars.

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