25 February 2008

Alert

Independent broadcaster Aaj TV briefly shut down again


Incident details

television station(s)

suspended
(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a 22 February 2008 CPJ press release:

CPJ concerned by station shutdown in Pakistan

New York, February 22, 2008 - The Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement today after one of Pakistan's independent broadcasters, Aaj Television, was taken off air for about two and one half hours, according to Talat Hussein, an Aaj newscaster and talk show host. The move came during Hussein's evening political talk show which featured discussions with Aaj management personnel who, according to Hussein, had been banned from appearing on air by the Musharraf government soon after emergency rule was declared on November 3.

"It is time for the Musharraf government to stop interfering with news and opinion broadcasts that it does not agree with. Emergency rule is no longer in effect, and Pakistani journalists and media houses must be allowed to operate freely," said Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia progam coordinator.



Source

Committee to Protect Journalists
330 7th Ave., 11th Floor
New York, NY 10001
USA
info (@) cpj.org
Phone: +1 212 465 1004
Fax: +1 212 465 9568

More on this case

Government suspends independent broadcaster Aaj TV for more than 12 hours 7 February 2008

Pakistan

"New York Times" reporter and his fixer escape from Taliban kidnappers 24 June 2009 Members of media team shot at by security forces 11 June 2009 Journalists assaulted while covering protest by student group 10 June 2009 Suicide car bomb injures 20 journalists, damages offices of newspapers, television stations 28 May 2009 Journalists flee Swat valley en masse 12 May 2009

Asia and Pacific

PHILIPPINES: Radio broadcaster shot dead 1 July 2009 SRI LANKA: Newspaper employees receive death threats 1 July 2009 MALAYSIA: Media access to parliament proceedings tightened 1 July 2009 CHINA: Activist Liu Xiaobo formally charged, could spend 15 years in jail 29 June 2009 CAMBODIA: Journalist gets jail term for exposing corruption in government 26 June 2009