Results matching “pakistan newspa”

Pakistan is set to get a new English-language newspaper focusing on Pakistani news and business, under an alliance between the International Herald Tribune and Century Publications. The launch date is tentatively set for March of this year, and the paper will be distributed inside the IHT.

Publisher of the yet-unnamed newspaper Bilal Lakhani told Media Mughals that Pakistan needs "a credible and authoritative news source" because of the social and political turmoil the country faces.

McClatchy is considering making changes to its foreign coverage that could see bureaus opening and closing, Editor & Publisher reported. Although no decisions have been made, one possible scenario would close bureaus in Jerusalem, Nairobi and Caracas, and re-open one in Mexico City. Bureaus in Cairo and Beijing would remain and McClatchy would open another in either Afghanistan or Pakistan.

Washington bureau chief John Walcott, who oversees McClatchy's foreign coverage, told E&P that there were likely to be some changes, but "the only bottom line that is clear is that we are positioning in the places that are most important to the country and the readers of our newspapers."

Madiha Sattar, HuffingtonPost contributor, wrote a passionate opinion piece about how the media plays a crucial role in the fight against extremists. The writer said that Pakistan is unique in its region because it has a "news media that relentlessly pursues the country's failures, with journalists routinely speaking out against the government, extremists, and the notion of a theocratic state, among other things."

Najam Sethi, Editor-in-Chief of Friday Times and Daily Times in Pakistan, has been awarded the 2009 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of the World Association of Newspapers.

Mr Sethi, whose newspapers advocate liberal and secular ideas in a country too-often torn by religious extremism, was honoured for his outstanding defence and promotion of press freedom under difficult circumstances and constant personal danger.

In 24-hour news cycle, the public becomes aware of news items instantaneously.  At the same time, within the context of 24-hour news, it become increasing difficult to protect those who need to remain out of the spotlight.

Recently, the focus has been on war correspondents for news organizations - those who get kidnapped in areas such as Somalia and Afghanistan.  After an abduction, most news organizations request an embargo on all information out of a given country if one of their staff has been kidnapped, as means of protection.

According to several sources, the Commonwealth Press Union will cease to exist as of December 31, 2008.

An internal memo from the October 15 meeting stated:

"It was unanimously agreed by the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Press Union that the CPU Secretariat in London would cease operation on 31 December 2008.  

"It was unanimously agreed that the name, mission and future work of the organisation would be handed over to the Commonwealth Press Training & Education Trust (CPTET) together with any funds, to continue this work as deemed appropriate by the Trustees."

The Editors Weblog is running a series of exclusive interviews about the future of journalism with top editors at leading newspapers around the world. Here is the latest installment with  Jonathan Landman, deputy Managing Editor of The New York Times in the US.

The list of upcoming interviews will be updated as they are published (click here to view all interviews in this series). Among the other titles that have been asked to participate in these interviews are:

- The New York Times - Jonathan Landman (US)
- Financial Times (UK)
- Guardian (UK)
- Washington Post - Jim Brady (US)
- Globe & Mail - Ed Greenspon (Canada)
- The Times (UK)
- The Economist (UK)
- Gazeta Wyborcza - Jaroslaw Kurski (Poland)
- Le Monde (France)
- Die Welt (Germany)
- The Hindustan Times - Pankaj Paul (India)
- Asahi Shimbun (Japan)
- JoongAng Ilbo (South Korea)
- The Age / Fairfax - Mike van Niekerk (Australia)
- The Nation - Pana Janviroj (Thailand)
- Punch (Nigeria)
- El Tiempo (Colombia)
- Clarin (Argentina)
- Gulf News - Abdul Hamid Ahmad (UAE)

Questions: "News, journalism, newspapers: same past, different futures?"

1 -      How long do you think you will define your company as a newspaper company or a print company?

We're a news and information company, not just a newspaper or print company. We own newspapers, obviously, and they remain extremely important. But we also own Web sites, not only www.nytimes.com but also www.about.com and www.boston.com and others. The Web sites are growing smartly. They are also contributing a steadily increasing share of the company's revenue -- 11 percent at the end of 2007.

 2 -    At this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, a panel of futurists claimed that print newspapers wouldn't exist by 2014. To what extent do you agree with this?

I doubt it. Big U.S. papers like The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal still have a lot of loyal readers who like the feel and experience of a newspaper. I imagine newspapers will survive until the perfect electronic substitute comes along and combines the portability and readability of a newspaper with the connectivity and multimedia capabilities of the Web.
When will that happen? Place your bets.
 
3 -     In journalism's multi-centennial history, do you view the emergence of digital journalism as part of the continuity, or as a complete breakaway with previous forms of journalism?

Both. Digital journalism combines brand-new things with time-tested old ones. The most pronounced change is in the realm of reader interaction -- technology has made it possible for journalists, outside experts and other readers to talk to each other, to collaborate on news-gathering and analysis, to fact-check and to distribute journalism in new ways. It has pulled the newspaper package apart, allowing people to acquire and consume their journalism one piece at a time or to customize it to fit their needs. It has altered the journalist's relationship with sources and introduced new visual forms like the interactive graphic. It has picked up the journalistic pace.

Those are big changes. Still, the things that haven't changed are just as important as the things that have. Good journalists must still know their subjects. Ambitious and resourceful reporting are as essential to good news video as they are to good news writing. News judgment -- shorthand for a complicated, unscientific and very human professional assessment of what's most important, interesting, surprising, funny, educational and otherwise worth knowing about -- retains its value.

4 -       Do you believe in the increasingly active role of the user in the news process, and is it a threat or an opportunity for professional journalists?

An opportunity. See above. For us, figuring out how to mobilize our sophisticated, curious and well-informed audience in constructive ways is both a challenge and a high priority.
 
5 -       Do you consider the Golden Age of investigative journalism is already past, or just beginning?

There's no doubt that financial pressures have driven many newspapers to cut back on investigative work. But that is distinctly not the case at The New York Times. Here are (also here, here, here and here) just a few important examples to illustrate the point.

The decline of investigative reporting at newspapers can't be a plus for democracy. On the other hand, the Internet has made public records and other documents much easier to find, expose and examine. It has made it easier for fine independent journalists like Joshua Micah Marshall to find an audience for excellent investigative work that would otherwise not gain wide public attention. And it has made it easier for whistleblowers and others to find and reinforce each other.
 
In those ways it has expanded opportunities for professional journalists to work with other people to expose wrongdoing and explore important issues. I'd say this form of collaborative investigative journalism is still young and has much potential.

6 -       Can journalism survive newspapers? (And maybe can newspapers survive journalism?)

Commentators and prognosticators have been predicting the imminent demise of newspapers for at least 15 years. A famous example: In 1993 in Wired Magazine, Michael Crichton wrote: "To my mind, it is likely that what we now understand as the mass media will be gone within 10 years. Vanished, without a trace." The New York Times, he said, will be the GM or IBM of the 1990's, "the next great American institution to find itself obsolete and outdated while obstinately refusing to change."

Nine years later, the media critic of Slate, Jack Shafer, noted that Crichton had been wrong and took a stab at explaining why. His concluding paragraphs:
"As the wise man once said, if you're going to make predictions, make a lot of them. Folks will forget your misses and remember your hits. In that spirit, Crichton writes, 'Sooner or later a lot of people are going to say, "You know what? An editor is worth the money. Because time is money, and my time is wasted combing through this junk. I'll pay someone to do it." And it'll happen.'

"To my ears, though, that still sounds like the New York Times."


Stay tuned for more in our interview series: the next installment will feature Financial Times' Managing Editor Dan Bogler.

The rapid growth of electronic media is changing Pakistan's print-heavy traditional media, said panelists at the recent National Endowment for Democracy conference in Washington, D.C.

Media censorship, epitomized by President Musharraf's 2007 law, and a illiterate rural population made it impossible for news to reach the masses, reports the International Journalists' Network. Now, however, "everyone can watch or listen," which is "mobilizing the people" said Sami Abraham, senior correspondent and producer of GEO-TV in Washington.   
Pakistanis are giving citizen journalism a shot with blogs and other online tools, paralleling current trends in the Spanish-speaking world. Cell phones and texing are also coming into play.

Interest in news is not just limited to the online domain. Although the number of newspapers in Pakistan has decreased, the overall circulation in the country has doubled between 1997 and 2006.

The number of total newspapers in all languages has dropped from 4,445 in 1997 to 1,464 in 2006. The circulation of total newspapers, however, jumped from 3,912,301 in 1997 to 8,208,874 by 2006.

The survey was conducted by the Statistical Department of Pakistan over a period of ten years.

Sources: IJNET, Daily Times

Following the declared state of emergency and new ordinances to curb media rights in Pakistan, media-persons from both the print and electronic media, representing various media bodies, various press clubs and journalist unions, writers and civil society representatives from across Pakistan have met to deliberate upon the state of media, its freedom, media laws, safety of journalists, closer and sustenance of media enterprises. Here are some of the conclusions, objectives, and demands:

Three journalists from Britain’s Daily Telegraph were ordered to leave Pakistan on Saturday for using “foul and abusive language” against its leadership, reported state television in Pakistan. On Friday the newspaper referred to President Pervez Musharraf as a ‘sonofabitch.’

Steve Metcalf of BBC Monitoring has synthesized some of the latest developments in the press landscape in Pakistan, since the state of emergency was declared a few days ago and the adoption of two ordinances meant to curb media’s rights. The media continue to exercise their freedom of speech and vehemently criticize the new policies.

Imtiaz Alam, Secretary General of the South Asian Free Media Association and World Editors Forum Board member, was released after a 36-hour detention. The World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum have sent a letter to President Musharraf to protest against the recent media crackdown.

According to the Rural Media Network in Pakistan, Imtiaz Alam, Secretary General of the South Asian Free Media Association and World Editors Forum Board member, was arrested by the Pakistani police.

On June 4, Pakistani journalists demonstrated in front of the Press Information Department (PID) in protest of the lack of government protection during their coverage of the red mosque (Lal Masjid) standoff.

The President General of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, is working with the National Security Council to create an ordinance that would restrict the publication of objectionable cartoons or articles in newspapers and magazines the could defame the armed forces or other state institutions. 

Ten years ago, the Associated Press (AP) was a “collection of different companies.” The online and print teams were independent units, its video team was largely set apart in London, and its international branches all had different logos and cultures. Since then, AP has moved to become a fully digital multimedia platform, following the “one name, one logo, one story” precept. The Editors Weblog interviewed Tom Kent, AP’s deputy managing editor, who insisted on the importance of cultural change and communication for smooth newsroom integration. More than that though, Kent details the strategies put into place, explains the changes in the editorial process, and gives a preview of the future of the integrated newsroom.

At the ‘New Media: The Press Freedom Dimension’ conference in Paris last week experts in Blogging and Citizen media discussed the evolution of this new media and press freedom dimensions. Here, Declan McCullagh of CNET looks at the discussion of the legal divisions and rules between journalists and bloggers.

Seventy-five journalists have been killed so far this year, making 2006 the deadliest year for journalists on record, the World Association of Newspapers said Thursday.Twenty-six of the deaths occurred in Iraq, where journalists continue to be targetted and murdered.

While addressing the public of the 14th Ifra India annual conference, Ifra CEO Reiner Mittelbach said that the newspaper industry required new working methods to cater to audience needs. Media operators should provide multiple services. As an example Mittelbach suggested that the first medium to be used in order to alert the readership about an event should be the phone, followed by Internet coverage, and eventually analysis through print newspapers, that will take into account all the contributions to the story from citizen journalists.

The two Pakistani TV journalists that have been missing for three months are now in court, facing seven-year prison sentences if convicted of leaking official secrets.

The hottest debate at this year's World Editor Forum was about -- you guessed it -- the lessons learned from the Danish cartoon crisis...

Tuesday’s World Editors Forum meeting ended with an intense debate about the infamous Danish cartoon controversy, and the lessons that might be learned from it. 

Lessons from the Mohammed cartoon clash will be the focus of the fifth session of the 13th World Editors Forum, which begins June 4 in Moscow. On 30 September 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published twelve cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. Sixteen years after the fatwa against Salman Rushdie and his "Satanic Verses," the clash between freedom of expression and religious values exploded once more. Panelists will discuss if there are limits for press freedom and how media responsibility can work in a globalized world. Don’t miss this special panel focused on 2006’s most fascinating editorial debate.