Broadcasting of two TV stations suspended, copies of national dailies burned

Transmission of two privately-owned TV stations, Geo News and Ary, was suspended in several major cities on 8 August after they reported that a man threw a shoe at President Asif Ali Zardari during Zardari’s visit to Birmingham, England, the previous day. Gunmen also attacked newsstands and a distribution truck on 8 August, burning copies of the national dailies The News and Jang. Transmission of other TV stations that carried reports of the shoe-throwing incident, such as Samaa, Aaj, Express and Dunya, was not affected. Why were Geo News and Ary singled out? Punjab governor Salman Taseer, who is also a leading member of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, had an explanation. Referring to one of the channels, Taseer said: “Neither the government nor the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulation Authority nor World Call (a TV cable company owned by Taseer) were part of the decision to block the TV channel’s broadcast on cable. Rather, the ban was the result of a tussle between the locals and the TV channel, which had hurt the sentiments of the Pakistan People’s Party workers by highlighting the Birmingham story.” Taseer added: “The act is part of the mission undertaken by the channel to destabilise the government…it (the channel) wants to be a state-within-state and is observing no code of conduct for journalism.” Reporters Without Borders accuses the authorities of direct involvement in these reprehensible reprisals against news media and regrets that Governor Taseer defended them. It is hard to imagine that they were not involved in the blocking of the two TV stations and were not at least partly to blame. Taseer thinks the two TV stations are responsible for what happens to them. The governor’s comments, which are unacceptable coming from a senior official, will do nothing to defuse tension. Even if one recognises that The News and Jang take an extreme stance and are radically opposed to the current government, a newspaper’s political position never justifies censorship. Reporters Without Borders urges the leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party to come their senses and to urge party members to act with restraint. The PPP cannot invite or allow its members to target a news media on the grounds that it holds different views or has shown a politician in an embarrassing or humiliating situation. The attack by a group of gunmen on a truck carrying copies of The News and Jang took place in Sindh province. The Geo News website reported that copies of the newspapers were seized from newsstands on the orders of President Zardari and information minister Qamaruzaman Kaira. A group of PPP activists put the papers in a pile and set fire to them, all the while denouncing their criticism of the president. In several parts of the country, journalists working for Geo News and Ary have been wearing black armbands in protest against the censorship.