“Who is Who” in the Editorial Boards of Pakistani Media?

With the advent of 21^st century, Pakistan saw the new industry of privately owned Electronic media booming, which has now flourished into a strong and ever-growing industry encompassing all genres of information. Although the way the NEWS Channels have risen as the top watched TV channels in Pakistan is astounding! Given that the real backbone behind a strong news enterprise is its impeccable editorial quality and the people involved in the editorial process who make it possible.

A very important part of a the entire editorial board of a news channel is its Chief Editorial Head; let us have a quick lookat Pakistan’s media groups and their editorial heads.

Mian Amer Mahmood- Dunya News:

In 2008, Mian Amer Mahmood launched Dunya News, a television network, and since then he has been tightly connected with it and to-date, enjoys the role of editor-in-chief. Mian Amer hails from a business background and studied the same in college. He later launched a number of universities and has been strongly connected with the education sector, but does not hold any degrees in journalism.

Salman Iqbal- ARY News:

ARY Digital Network was founded by Haji Abdul RazzakYaqoob, owner of the famous ARY Group. He began the media enterprise network of ARY in 2000 alongside his brothers in 2000 and since then the creative control has stayed in the family. The current editorial head of ARY Digital Network is Salman Iqbal, son of Haji Mohammad Iqbal.  Following in his father’s footsteps, Salman Iqbal is quite the businessman and he took the reins of ARY Digital Network from his father, but similarly, he also doesn’t have a journalism background, but rather, a business one.

Kamran Khan- BOL Network:

Kamran Khan is one of Pakistan’s most experienced and respected journalists. He was affiliated with GEO/Jang Network for a period of 32 years during which he amassed a great fan following and a fantastic reputation which even gained international attention. Currently, he is the president and editor-in-chief of BOL Network. Having been a journalist all his life, Kamran Khan is extremely well suited for this job.

Mir Shakil Ur Rahman- GEO:

Mir Shakil Ur Rahman inherited the reins of GEO/Jang network from his father Mir Khalil Ur Rahman and has since been in-charge of the media enterprise and it many domains. Despite having some qualified journalists in their ranks, Mir Shakil continues to enjoy creative control over GEO/Jang group as the editorial head and has complete directional control over all content.

Sultan ali Lakhani – Express Group:

A businessman belonging to the infamous Lakson group and previously known to have served as a parliamentarian (from 1988 – 1994) , Mr. Sultan Ali Lakhani serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Express & Express News Channel (Pvt. Ltd.)

The common aspect in most of the aforementioned editorial heads is the fact that they are lacking in journalism backgrounds and qualifications (with the exception of BOL Network’s Editor-in-Chief, Kamran Khan). A news enterprise – with the all-important responsibility of reporting the truth - should always have a journalist at the helm to assure integrity in its reporting. Moreover, this also serves as a gesture of appreciation for the hardworking journalist community to have one of them placed on the supreme decision making position of the editorial board.

However, with owners/ CEO’s having such a huge input in what goes on, the quality and integrity is bound to be compromised; similarly, this is what has been happening with Pakistani TV channels. Here’s for hoping that the culture of putting an experienced journalist by BOL as an editorial head can change this trend in Pakistani media and outline a better future for all media enterprises.

The Mysterious Case of Geo Network’s Ridiculously Exaggerated TV Ratings

Let us go back a couple of months when Geo News publicly criticized the Pakistan army during the Hamid Mir assassination attempt case. Pakistani TV Audience and masses voiced their severe displeasure at GEO Network’s antics over libel towards Pakistan Army and ISI and recommended it should be banned.  As per the ground realities, GEO Network faced a mass boycott by majority of Pakistani Public refusing to further tune into Geo. Even Geo itself cried to the officials regarding Cable TV Distributors all over Pakistan not airing their channel transmission.  However, the viewership ratings for the GEO Network (both Geo News and Geo Entertainment) continued their stable trend astonishingly without any difference or losing any eyeballs!

Interestingly, soon after this, Geo News was banned intermittently; it was made sure by authorities that Geo News was not aired by any cable provider in Pakistan. But again, the ratings received through People Meters System under the name of TeleControl ran under a company, MediaLogics showed that Geo Network’s ratings had no effect whatsoever of the nationwide blanket ban and it was still ranked as the most watched channel in Pakistan.

Perplexed by this, I looked back even further and remembered the backlash Geo TV received from local advertisers and media industry because of the highly negative perception among the target audiences regarding Geo’s anti-Armed Forced behavior. If the ratings as per the Medialogic reports were “as high as the previous months” for Geo News programming then it leads to believe only either of the TWO possibilities:

Possibility A: The rating system technology, which currently is being taken as the authentic measure of media viewership in Pakistan, is seriously flawed and generating highly inaccurate results – hence misdirecting the advertisers and promoters.

Possibility B:  Geo Network and Mir Shakeel ur Rahman have once again managed to use their corrupt ways and lobby-pressures to keep the ratings in their favor by bribing and influencing the concerned officials to tilt the actual ratings at Geo’s side. 

If the latter turns out to be true, it raises some serious questions about the integrity of all those involved as well as another check in Geo Network’s book of dark deeds. This also raises a major concern for the Advertising community in Pakistan as the knowledge they are basing their campaigns that are worth Millions of Rupees can end up in smoke due to these flawed system/ratings!  

Disregard for Sentiments Lands Geo Network in Hot Water

Jang Group's channel Geo TV is banned in many cities of Pakistan including Lahore due to public demand. After a huge social media campaign, it seems like PEMRA took action and stopped Geo TV transmission in major cities of Pakistan. People are very happy on this news because Geo was portraying bad image of Pakistan worldwide.

Many Pakistanis are in the impression that that Geo is Anti-Islamic, Anti-Pakistani and Anti-Pakistan Army channel. Geo is supported by India, Israel and America and shows Katrina Kaif's & Deepika's birthday as breaking news. Pakistani people do not want to see all this crap and that's why they demanded to ban Geo TV permanently in the whole country.

Geo TV is working as an agent in Pakistan to divide the nation and make them feel insecure about their own country's armed forces, ISI and Pakistan Army. They are continuously blaming ISI for the attack on Hamid Mir without any solid proof, just to destroy ISI's image in the world. We as Patriotic Pakistanis request you NOT to watch Geo Network's channels. Avoid purchasing anything related to Jang Group including their Newspapers, Magazines and Books.

Geo TV seems to be changing the basic concepts of young Pakistanis by spreading slogans like "Perhany Likhnay Ke Siwa, Pakistan Ka Matlab Kya". We want to stick to our roots & religion and we as a Nation are proud of our country's base which is "Pakistan Ka Matlab Kya? La Illah Ila Allah."

It seems as if Geo Network is making things really hard for itself by stepping on so many toes at the same time. If it does not rectify its ways, it might soon find itself in very hot water and possibly with no way out. If Geo Network wants to have a decent reputation again, it will have to gain back the trust of the Pakistani people.