Pakistan: Technology transforming the journalism landscape
Posted by Kelley Vendeland on March 4, 2008 at 11:02 AM
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
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
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