News Report on “World Television Day”

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ISLAMABAD, Nov. 21(APP): Television in Pakistan started in 1964, and the first live transmission of Pakistan. Television began on November 26, 1964, in Lahore.

Originally a private sector project in 1961 by prominent industrialist Syed Wajjid Ali who signed a joint venture agreement with Nipon Electric Company (NEC), leading Pakistani engineer Ubaidur Rahman was appointed by Wajjid Ali to head the television project. By 1962, after a series of pilot transmission tests, the project was quickly taken over by the Ayub Khan Government in 1963 for the “greater national interest of Pakistan”.

Television is the result of technological developments of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Television net work began in the 1930s, Rapid growth of programming came about following World War-II.

The idea to establish television in the country was supported by the report of the commission on National Education set up by the Ayub government in 1958. The commission concluded that television was necessary for educational, economic and social set-up of the country. Interestingly the major emphasis was on education and hence the television was introduced in the name of education, initially television was set up with the help of UNESCO, Colombo plan and Japanese government.

The electronic media has touched every sphere of the human aspect. In the present times, information and technology are interwoven with the society’s economic progress. The evolution of electronic media has had an overwhelming impact on the society. The Opportunities of communication have broken all barriers across national boundaries and have led to the germination of new ideas through the cross pollination of cultures.

The role of media especially the electronic media in Pakistani society is tri- dimensional; that is informing the public, educating the uninformed and providing entertainment. It can be termed as Fourth pillar of the state. It has recorded tremendous growth in a limited time period in Pakistan.

The electronic media in Pakistan has made rapid progress. Only three or four decades ago, radio and state owned TV was considered to be the main sources of information. Today, we have more than 77 Satellite TV Channels, 2346 cable operators, 28 landing TV Channels from abroad like BBC, CNN, Sky, Star etc. and more than 129 FM Stations (on air and in some cases licenses issued) including 46 Radio Channels.

The media can give direction to social change, and positively guide the society towards the desired goals. The electronic media may be successful in stimulating the change in the tightly held ideas and rigid attitudes to bring desired change.

It is also used by the state / society /organizations to promote educational activity.

Along with this we have seen the Pakistani electronic media have made some progress towards the area of consumer awareness, especially in the case of television, there are movements underway to enable the television viewers to beam a mere educated and more aware and critical user of programming with the help of radio and television discussion programs, talk shows, morning shows, where a progressive discussions on such subjects as  violence, drugs ,death, morality, human relationship, the women liberation movement, politics, religion and art & culture.

Mobilization of public opinion in support of a cause is the prominently known feature of the electronic media in Pakistan as we saw in Chief Justice Iftikhar Ahmed Chaudhry’s termination by the former President Musharraf, created a storm in media scene as well, the media supported the movement and played a vital role in creating a favorable public opinion for the movement, they mark this struggle for the sake of democracy and reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

The electronic Media was primarily and popularly used by our previous regimes as tool of self propaganda, the quality of news poor, unreliable and un-imaginative presentation of events and stories, ultimately losing the confidence of general public. Introduction of Satellite TV, Cable and Private Channels and Dish widened the scope of awareness of people. The Government of Pakistan realized the sensitivity and potential of private electronic media which could not be avoided through State controlled TV only. The governmental policies regarding electronic media took a different direction, to regulate this sector.

The objectivity of media is becoming increasingly questionable, the coverage of issues of national interest demand care and restraint. The media in Pakistan is devoid of objectivity, and just telecast such incidents that sometime are not factual. In order to improve their ratings and enhance viewership, the tool of sensationalism is used. What is important is to think as to what is being done to own sensibilities and social and moral values.

We are a highly polarized society, segmented along ethnic, sectarian, ideological and gender issues. Without achieving economic solvency and the promise of a better future, our national cohesion will remain under stress. We need to launch a sustained media campaign to bring this pressure down. This is one area in which media can play a pivotal and non-partisan role.

The Pakistani society is in transition so the electronic media should help to develop a harmonious society, bridge gap between reality and the distortions. The media should project objective analysis of the events. The media should present the events by avoiding biases, prejudices and negative perceptions of various groups operating in the society.

The loosening of state licensing controls greatly expanded the reach of TV in Pakistan. Beginning in 2002, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) effectively bisected the television market between terrestrial TV broadcasting (dominated by the state-run Pakistan Television network, or PTV) and new privately-run satellite and cable channels. The PTV remains the only free terrestrial TV network in the country, with channels offering news, entertainment, regional language programming, programming for Pakistanis abroad and the AJK-TV channel that broadcasts in the Kashmiri language for the people of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Although PTV dominates broadcast television in viewership, PEMRA has allowed the expansion of the satellite and cable TV markets. By the end of 2009, 77 national and regional satellite and cable television channels had been licensed. PEMRA cites two main factors for the increase in satellite channels; the relaxation of cross-media ownership restrictions by the Pakistani Legislature and the recent boom in national advertising revenue, especially of fast moving consumer goods.

However, amid political turmoil in the fall of 2007, the Pakistani government headed by former leader General Pervez Musharraf imposed a state of emergency and silenced all privately owned television channels, both foreign and domestic. General Musharraf accused channels such as Geo TV, Aaj and Ary One World of sowing discord and misrepresenting facts.

During the state of emergency, which ended in December 2007, PEMRA rewrote the “voluntary” code of conduct for electronic media without consulting with Pakistan’s long established Federal Union of Journalists or the Pakistani Broadcasters’ Association.

PEMRA then required all media outlets to sign on to the new code of conduct in order to resume broadcasting. All the blacked-out channels signed the code by the end of January 2008

Since the loosening of licensing controls, the number of households with access to either cable or satellite TV has also increased substantially. According to PEMRA, some 8 million Pakistani households now have access to cable TV. PEMRA itself can be partly credited for the recent boost in cable TV access, as it has continued to freely license local cable TV systems, which totaled 2,346 by the end of the 2009.

APP/Sahar/farah