ISLAMABAD: A senior Pakistani journalist, working for British Broadcasting Corporation’s Urdu and World Service, has been honoured with a prestigious BBC award for best reporting in the region.

Zulfiqar Ali, senior correspondent of BBC in Islamabad, has been declared winner of this year’s BBC News Award of best reporting in the West and Central Asia region. Mr Ali has been given this award for “breaking the news of the US military helicopter crash in Pakistani cantonment city of Abbottabad that turned out to be the raid against Osama bin Laden resulted in his death”.

His credible reporting to the BBC became the foundation of the BBC’s coverage. Director News BBC Helen Boaden said: “This award is a tremendous reflection of how well you are perceived by your colleagues.”

Director BBC World Service Peter Horrocks, in his message, said: “This was a very difficult story to cover and Zulfikar Ali’s impressive journalistic nous and commitment to the story paid dividends for Global News and the BBC as a whole.”

Mr Ali is the first-ever staffer of BBC Urdu Service who has won this prestigious award. “It is a big day for me. It is as though a dream has come true and years of my efforts have borne fruit. I would like to share this honour with my colleagues and friends who have always been supportive, cooperative and helpful,” said Mr Ali.

Mr Ali has been working for BBC for more than a decade. He has remained posted mostly in Muzaffarabad and is currently based in Islamabad. He has also worked for different Pakistani print media outlets, and the Reuters and AFP news agencies.

Courtesy: DAWN

Pakistani forces and suspected Taliban militants exchanged fire in the area late Saturday night and one rocket hit the home of the journalist in Miranshah, the center of North Waziristan.

Haji Pazir Gul, who works for private TV channels in Miranshah, confirmed that his two grandsons were injured. They are in stable condition, Gul said on phone from Miranshah.

He said the rocket caused damage to parts of his home.

Correspondents in the region said that the security forces and Taliban militants routinely trade fire at night. Militants fire rockets at the security check posts from mountains, which trigger response from the forces.

The powerful Taliban group in North Waziristan, led by Hafiz Gul Bahadar, has struck a peace deal with the government not to attack the forces. This group is not part of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, led by Hakimullah Mehsud.

Security officials say that members of TTP and Punjabi group of Taliban are also operating in the region and they routinely launch attacks on the security forces.

The U.S. and Afghan officials say that al-Qaeda remnants and Taliban operate from the region and plan cross-border attacks on foreign forces in Afghanistan.

The CIA-run spy aircraft routinely carry out strikes in Waziristan region and U.S. President Barrack Obama last week confirmed for the first time the use of drones in Pakistan’s tribal region.

Pakistan has been under mounting U.S. pressure to act against the militants in North Waziristan but the government says it will decide whether or not to launch any major offensive.

Coutesy : http://english.cri.cn/6966/2012/02/05/2561s679192.htm

Saleem Shahzad, a 40-year-old father of three, vanished in May last year after leaving his home in Islamabad to appear on a television talk show, two days after writing an article about links between rogue elements of the navy and Al-Qaeda following an attack on a naval base.

The journalist, who worked for an Italian news agency and a Hong Kong-registered news site, told Human Rights Watch he had been threatened by intelligence agents. The Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, Pakistan’s main spy agency, has denied as “baseless” allegations that it was involved in his murder.

A government commission set up to investigate the death and comprised senior judges, provincial police chiefs and a journalist representative was unable to trace Shahzad’s killers, said its concluding report. The report said the inquiry had met 23 times and interviewed 41 witnesses, as well as examining a large batch of relevant documents.

In concluding remarks, the report said that Shahzad’s death should be examined in the context of the “war on terror”.  “The Pakistani state, the non-state actors such as the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and foreign actors” could all have had a motive to commit the crime.

But “the commission has been unable to identify the culprits”, it said. The report said investigators would continue to look into Shahzad’s death, while his family would be given generous government compensation. His relatives had demanded a full investigation but have not apportioned blame for his killing, which came five years after he was briefly kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan and accused of being a spy.

Shahzad’s widow would be given Rs3 million ($33,000), a government teaching job near her home and his children would be given free education, she said. Shahzad’s body was found south of the capital, bearing marks of torture.

Two days earlier he had written an investigative report in Asia Times Online saying Al-Qaeda carried out a recent attack on a naval air base to avenge the arrest of naval officials held on suspicion of Al-Qaeda links.  The US military’s then top officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, said Pakistan authorities may have sanctioned Shahzad’s killing.

The accusation was a major setback for relations between the United States and Pakistan, coming shortly after US troops killed Osama bin Laden in a covert raid in the garrison city of Abbottabad. The commission also made recommendations to the press and intelligence agencies to be more “law abiding and accountable” in future and suggested the creation of a human rights ombudsman.

According to press watchdog Reporters Without Borders, Pakistan was the deadliest country for the media in 2011 with at least eight journalists killed in connection with their work.
See the inquiry report here: http://www.infopak.gov.pk/Downloads/REPORT.pdf

Source: AFP

According to election results, Tanvir Shahzad (DW) has been elected as  President; Umer Javaid (Dunya TV) as Vice President, Muhammad Asim Naseer  (GEO) as Secretary General and Shakil Malik (KTN) was elected as Finance  Secretary.

It is important to mention that EMRA has over 120 members working for  national and international TV channels, Radios and news websites.

Members of Lahore Press Club, Punjab Union of Journalists, Electronic Media  News Cameramen Association and other media associations have congratulated  the newly elected representatives of EMRA.

For Further Details: 03004279422.

Mukarram Khan Aatif, a 43-year-old correspondent with Deewa radio, was attacked at a mosque near his home in Shabqadar town, Khyber Pakhtunkhaw province, 30 kilometers north of Peshawar.

“The two attackers came on a motorbike, fired bullets at Aatif in the mosque and escaped. He suffered bullet wounds to the head,” local police officer Zahir Shah told AFP.

Another police official confirmed the incident.

“Aatif was hit in the head and rushed to a hospital in Peshawar. The prayer leader was also injured,” said district police chief Nisar Khan Marwat.

Rahim Jan, a senior doctor at the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar said Aatif had succombed to his injuries.

According to press watchdog Reporters Without Borders, Pakistan was the deadliest country for the media in 2011 with at least eight journalists killed in connection with their work.

Source : http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/17/pakistani-journalist-working-for-us-media-shot-dead.html

RISJ is currently inviting applications for the Journalism Fellowship Program. This Fellowship Program offers a practical form of professional assistance to established and mid-career journalists. Its purpose is to allow journalists to tackle subjects in greater depth than is possible under deadline pressure.

Application deadline: January 31, 2012

Source Link:   http://www.fundsforngos.org/fellowships-2/reuters-institute-university-oxford-invites-applications-journalism-fellowship-program/#ixzz1iSsehRRb

Point Loma Nazarene University is accepting applications for its 2012 Kyoto Prize Symposium Journalism Fellowship – a fully-funded, comprehensive educational program designed to enhance a journalist’s knowledge in technology, science and the arts. The fellow will participate in unique workshops and presentations by the latest Kyoto Prize laureates at San Diego State University, UC San Diego, and the University of San Diego during the 11th annual Kyoto Prize Symposium in San Diego, Calif., March 20-22, 2012. The program includes travel expenses, lodging and a per-diem.

Application deadline February 10, 2012;  www.pointloma.edu/kyotoprize

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/2012-kyoto-prize-symposium-journalism-fellowship-offered-by-point-loma-nazarene-university-2012-01-13

LADIESFUND®, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative has joined hands with MISHAL for promotion of Gender Parity issues in Pakistan and to encourage the culture of Entrepreneurship among women in the country. MISHAL is already managing a wide array of fellowship and scholarship programs.

This collaboration between a communication entity i.e. MISHAL and a private entity i.e. LADIESFUND® will serve as a model of Partnership program for other corporate entities. On selection of the participant, the successful Fellowship holder will be offered a one year Fellowship grant of Rs. 100,000 and an opportunity to work he knowledge resource center of LADIESFUND®.

The Fellow will also be offered internship opportunities at LADIESFUND® during the financial year of the LADIESFUND®-MISHAL Fellowship program.

Source: http://mishal.com.pk/ladiesfund-mishal-fellowship-2011/

Dear All

Your feedback is appreciated. As a responsible corporate citizen, Samaa TV did what was required under the circumstances. We do not and have not in the past or intend to in the future to take our viewership or reporting requirements without the seriousness that they deserve.

You would appreciate that as an organisation with a functioning management team, we had to conduct certain legal requirements over the past week and internal review processes (which are operational in nature) before procedding further.

As a result of which I can inform you:
We asked Maya to apologise unconditionally which she did not.
The CEO asked her to do that on Friday which she refused.

As a result of which the following will be put in place on Monday, Jan 30th.
Maya and her team will receive termination notices.
Her show is being stopped from Monday morning.

Our deeds and actions taken since this episode occured are there for the record and hope this will settle issues as far as the station is concerned.

A lot has been written about the race for ratings. Well, we do absolve such behaviour irrespective of ratings that the show was getting.

With best regards and thank you for your understanding.

Zafar Siddiqi

Chairman CNBC Arabiya

Chairman CNBC Africa

President CNBC Pakistan

SAMAA management has decided to go Asma Shirazi’s Faisla Aap Ka Political base talk show audience base show now on Peak timings from Monday to Thursday at 8:00pm. Program has been changed now. It will be now restricted to only TV Studio base show and no audience will be involved in it.  Likewise , SAMAA’s News Beat show with Fareeha Idrees has been shifted to Friday to Sunday. According to sources, SAMAA’s News Beat show couldn’t able to compete with the market in peak hours and Asma Shirazi was getting more popularity among Pakistani audience.

Source: PJ News