Musharraf Shuts Off ARY TV's Most Popular Political Talk Show

The military juggernaut of General Pervez Musharraf’s media bashers has struck again, this time crushing the most watched and the liveliest TV talk show – Views on News – of London-Dubai based ARY TV, hosted by Dr Shahid Masood, a popular and famous name in Pakistan and abroad.

And Musharraf’s media managers are not even apologetic about it. They claim they have busted the headquarters of anti-Musharraf terrorists and their supporters.

The operation was conducted in the usual commando style adopted by the military to deal with critics in the media --- a late-night mafia style phone call whispering into the ears of the owners of the newspaper or TV channel, asking them to fire this or that guy or be ready to face the consequences. Most media owners, even the biggest, the richest or the ones with the fattest egos, have no option but to immediately comply.

This latest episode of “How to Control the Media without taking away the so-called Freedom” involved ARY’s main anchor and senior executive Dr Shahid Masood, who has been having a sort of ‘love-hate relationship’ with General Musharraf until recently.

Musharraf just a few days back gave a detailed interview to Dr Shahid at his Camp Office in Rawalpindi, his spokesmen keep flooding the ARY-One World News Network with their propaganda and ARY stayed well ahead of its other rivals in news and current affairs programs.

But Dr Shahid’s forays into unwanted territory, and too often, were not liked by the military rulers one bit. He would interview radical rightists, bitter critics of the Army and mainstream Opposition leaders as much as he would accommodate the official pundits and spin masters. His questions would be direct and blunt, often splashing egg on official faces.

Almost two weeks back Dr Shahid broke the story on his Channel that Amjad Farooqi, the main culprit who wanted to assassinate General Musharraf in December 2003, and who was killed in a ‘police encounter’ was actually in police custody for many days and the encounter was faked.

Dr Shahid did not make this story up. After Farooqi’s death was confirmed and hit world headlines as a major success in Musharraf’s War on Terror, Amjad Farooqi’s brother spoke to Dr Shahid on ARY TV, live on telephone, revealing that his dead brother was actually in police custody for many days and the police encounter was totally made up.

The Army and its spin masters did not like the interview and their fury was unleashed on the TV channel.They were clearly told: Freedom of the Press yes, but not so much as to reveal the whole truth and nothing but the truth. ARY was charged of crossing the line.

Soon after Farooqi’s brother spoke to ARY, Islamabad’s media managers started calling the ARY owners, threatening them to immediately fire Dr Shahid Masood and take off his program Views on News, a daily half-hour current affairs segment which covered hot subjects in a fair and balanced way with Dr Shahid asking all the relevant questions. It was recently rated as the most popular ARY program.

The owners were shocked and confused. How could they stop the show which was the prime time top rated jewel of their crown. They started to persuade the Information Ministry to cool down as they would work out some solution. In the meantime Dr Shahid’s program was taken off the air and re-runs of old interviews were started.

Then the chief spokesman for Musharraf, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, moved in, with his public threats to admonish ARY. At a press conference, Rashid repeated the warnings his military masters wanted to convey to the media: "We will not tolerate any one to get free to this extent."

At a Press conference in Peshawar on October 12 Sheikh Rashid warned the media against “glorifying terrorists” and said that anyone seen to be speaking on behalf of the terrorists would be considered a terrorist. “Today, we have just warned [the media]. If they don’t pay heed to the warning then we’ll see what we can do.”

But while making that statement in Peshawar, Rashid was not only hiding the truth, he was telling lies. He and his Ministry officials had already taken action against ARY by serving them the notice that if Dr Shahid and his program was not put off the air, cases under Anti-Terrorism Act would be registered against Dr Shahid and owners of ARY. They would be arrested and their studios in Pakistan shut down.

A statement issued in Peshawar on behalf of Sheikh Rashid actually mentioned the Anti-Terrorism Act. “The government would use the Anti-Terrorism Amendment Ordinance of 2001 if the media did not stop “glorifying” terrorists as “heroes,” it said.

The statement also said that a meeting took strong notice of attempts by certain private TV channels “to praise terrorists and criminals by showing their interviews”. The Government could not be more naked and blunt in harassing the media.

The coerced and intimated “Free Press of Pakistan” swallowed the threats and insults en masse, except Najam Sethi’s Daily Times which took note of Rashid’s warning in its editorial the very next day and raised many pertinent questions.

“We understand that the government is displeased with one TV channel that has already been asked to cut loose one of its anchorpersons for ‘glorifying’ Amjad Farooqi, the man the government accuses of masterminding two abortive assassination attempts on the life of General Musharraf,” it said.

“Farooqi is now dead, though according to media accounts he could have been captured alive. In any case, if he had been taken in alive, the government’s case notwithstanding, it was up to a court to decide whether the charges against him could stand in the court. Until a person is tried and sentenced through due process of law, he may be a suspect and an accused but he cannot be branded as good or bad.

It went on: “To first ask the channel to ban an anchorperson, howsoever obnoxious, and then to hold out the kind of threat that Mr Rashid has held out to the media in general, makes a mockery of the official claim that the media in Pakistan is totally free."

Sethi’s editorial urged other newspapers and media outlets to resist the onslaught. “What Mr Rashid has said, and we have a sneaking suspicion that the instructions have come from his bosses, is a blanket writ that the media must resist.”

The ARY management has been trying to work out a quiet resolution of the issue and has not issued any statement so far but the Council of Newspaper Editors in Pakistan, CPNE, has decided to take up the issue.

The issue involved in the ARY case is a serious one and if Sheikh Rashid is to be believed, it leaves little scope for any newspaper or TV channel to report anything about anyone, because Rashid says: “anyone seen to be speaking on behalf of the terrorists would be considered a terrorist.”

As Sethi’s Daily Times rightly put it, who is to decide that someone is or is not a terrorist. “Mr Rashid has taken it upon himself to not only presume that he or the government he represents knows exactly who is a terrorist and what constitutes terrorism. But on that basis to punish anyone who either does not agree with that definition or whose professional conduct is seen to ‘project’ the cause of the ‘terrorists’, would be horrifying."

“By this token, for instance, channels like Al Arabiya or Al Jazeera, should be banned or punished for airing purported tapes of Osama bin Laden or his deputies. However, even the United States, which has often registered its displeasure over these independent TV channels, has not gone to the extent of demanding that they be closed down or made to observe a code of conduct chalked out in Washington,” Daily Times said.

Yet Pakistan has moved ahead of even the US in prosecuting the media, without giving them a chance to prove whether the story they carried was right or wrong. This is criminal and makes a total mockery of the “Press Freedom” that General Musharraf so proudly sells to the West as his biggest achievement towards restoration of democracy in Pakistan.

How the ARY and the Army sort out the matter will be seen in the next few days and weeks but it is clear that all other channels and the entire media has been given the simple message: If you cross the line, we will crush you. [/i]

Interesting gossip:!:
Our media is an expert in sticking propagandas since they don't have much to do. Pakistani citizens are often splashing egg on President Musharraf’s face—I wonder why? How come they are always unhappy with their leader??? I agree!!! ARY was crossing the line:roll:

No media must have it's freedom....

interesting, i wonder what would happen next to dr.shahid, after reading the story above, i've started liking em, musharaf and his allies were clearly crossing limits themselves, a person (innocent until proven guilty) was killed in a fake encounter, isn't that terrorism? the only difference i see is that musharaf terrifies other while keeping his army shirt on & the rest, well it is far more than obvious.

I just read president's interveiw ,he said "IN PAKISTAN ,MEDIA IS FREE",)

Intresting..

How they faked it ....

happens in every country..

This might be one of the CONFIDENTIAL that happens...

regret...

MEDIA needs FREEDOM

Media is free here to show girls in thongs and bikinis. We as a nation need freedom of speech and not bare legs or breasts.

huh? what propoganda?

Join us at Pakistan to know the why's and what's.

what leader? who elected this leader? do you fully understand the true definition of the word 'leader'? Can you differentiate between leadership and tyranny?

Endurer seems to be ..........!!!

HELp!!

DT is on Fire.......

:d