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Before the partition of India, the areas constituting Pakistan did not have any news agency, but Associated Press of India and United press of India had their local offices in the area. These offices became the nucleus for Pakistani news agencies. The three national news agencies in Pakistan which sprang up after partition, are: # Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) # Pakistan press association, which was later, renamed as Pakistan Press International (PPI) # United press of Pakistan (UPP) Due to the computerization, many new news agencies have come into existence during the past decade. Examples of these news agencies are: Independent News Pakistan (INP), News network international (NNI), SANA (South Asian News Agency), and Online News International (ONI). But these agencies will take time in order to be considered as credible and authentic as API and PPI. ASSOCIATED PRESS OF PAKISTAN See Also: Associated Press of Pakistan PAKISTAN PRESS INTERNATIONAL (PPI) Pakistan press international, was founded in June 1956 as Pakistan press association. The name was changed in 1968. It was first started by Mr. Muzzam Ali; the Chief Editor of APP. the agency’s main objective was to provide competition to APP whose monopoly has led to deterioration in the standard of news collection and distribution. It began its service by hand, only in Karachi. PPA also built up a network of correspondents in the smaller cities and towns in Pakistan. This was in contrast to APP, which was content with coverage in a few large cities. For foreign news the agency signed up with the AFP in 1957, and a year later became the first Asian partner of DPA. PPA also posted a correspondent in the Middle East, an area of special interest to Pakistani newspapers. In 1958, the agency installed the teleprinters in the offices of its clients. By 1960, PPI had subscriber in all the major newspapers centers of Pakistan, namely Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Dacca. Effects of APP’s take over on PPI The take over of App also threatened the existence of PPA as questions were raised as to whether it was necessary to have two news agencies. The government even considered the Idea of merging PPA and APP, but the idea failed due to the immense opposition from the news papers. The greatest problem that hinders PPI was the government’s policies that restricted press freedom. Ayub’s regime, which was curbing press freedom on one hand, was especially harmful to PPA, as independent political coverage was one of the reasons why newspapers subscribe to its service. Growth The agency launched a photo service in 1965, just before the war between India and Pakistan. The next year PPI started National feature service, which provided features for the editorial pages magazine sections of the newspapers. These were distributed not only to Pakistani newspapers but to the English papers in the Middle East. In 1967, PPA established Pakistan Press Foundation, which organized seminars, lectures and courses on different aspects of journalism, and in 1969, started a school of photography. It also entered in the field of magazine publishing. It published fortnightly Pakistan Courier, the monthly Economic Outlook, and the Urdu weekly Paiman. STRUCTURE OF PPI Editorial operation PPI has its head office in Karachi and bureau in Islamabad, the federal capital; Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Kashmir (this bureau is temporarily not working because of the disastrous earthquake that happened in 2005); and the four provincial capitals---Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta and recently developing a head quarter in Hyderabad. Its editorial function is similar to that of a news paper. But unlike APP the operation of PPI are decentralized and news are sent directly by originating bureau to subscribers without having to go through the head office. If the story is considered to be lacking in authenticity or has legal implications, it can be withdrawn by the head office, but this happens only rarely. Because of decentralization, PPI’s news service is much faster than APP. Communication networks The main circuit of PPI inter bureau traffic was routed along the Karachi- Lahore- Islamabad Lahore- Karachi circuit. Lahore was the hub of the PPI communication networks. But now time has changed. These telegraph systems have been replaced by printers attached to the telephone and computer. The subscribers are now directly fed either through email, fax (for the papers who do not have computers) or by printers attached to the telephones. PPI send news to its subscribers on the daily basis. PPI contains approximately 57 computers in the news rooms including all the bureaus in Pakistan and has provided computers in seven districts including Larkana, Multan, and Sukkur. Staff According to an estimate there are approximately 300 to 350 staff members in PPI which include both journalists and non-media staff. It has a very wide network of correspondents and stringers, known as district correspondents through out Pakistan. Ownership & Finances PPI is the private joint stock company that runs on s non profit making basis. It is a fundamental policy of PPI that shareholders are not paid any dividends or profits, and nonworking directors are not paid emoluments in any form. PPI is headed by Mr. Owais Aslam Ali who took charge as CEO in 1998. PPI generates about 25% of it revenues from government and the rest from the subscription of newspapers, electronic media, non media organizations and foreign agencies. Subscribers At this point of time, there are nearly about 150 newspapers that are the subscribers of PPI. The subscription rate varies from paper to paper, depending on its size and financial strength. Smaller newspapers that cannot afford the PPI services can collect the news from PPI offices at even lower rates. The most prominent subscribers are: “Dawn, the nation, the news, Daily times, and Frontier post, Jung, Naw-e-waqt, Aawam, Amn, Hilal-e-pakistan and Ibrat.” SERVICES PROVIDED BY PPI News services 1. Official news PPI make extensive use of government handouts. In the past the PPI had installed teleprinters in the office of PID (federal Press information department) to ensure rapid dispatch of government handouts to the Islamabad bureau, where those suitable for use were selected and rewritten before being included in the national news service. Now teleprinters have been replaced by computers therefore the system of dispatching official news to the subscribers takes few seconds. 2. Political news The main reason for the establishment of PPI was the biased political coverage of APP which always served as a mouth piece to the government, ignoring cultural, economic and other aspects of national life as well. PPI opened these avenues, and even the period of authoritarian rule continued to cover the activities of all parties, including those in the opposition. By constantly following this policy, the agency has established the credibility of its coverage of politics, which Bryin (1983: 368) aptly described as the “life blood of the Pakistani press.” 3. District news PPI has placed great importance on the developing its district service. Today, with over 250 district correspondents throughout the country, PPI is the single largest source of news from the rural areas for the Pakistani media. It provides not only the facilities such as computers to its correspondents but also look forward to train them and strengthen the position of journalism in these districts. Foreign Service Until early seventies, PPI was linked with AP and AFP but because of hostility with Z.A Bhutto, the government maneuvered the termination of links between PPI and the world agencies. For this reason APP has become the main source of international news in Pakistani media. But now it has links with AFP and DPA as the main source of international news and in addition to this it has agreements ANSA, Jiji Press, UNI, Yon hap, and a number of Eastern European and third world agencies. It is also a member of OANA, and also participates in the Asian News Networks (ANN), in its news exchange program. PPI has an office in London and assign senior staff members to cover overseas visits of Presidents and Prime ministers of Pakistan. Photo service PPI has re-started its photo service from last year as it was discontinued in 1975 by the PPP-nominated management. Feature service PPI relaunched its feature service in 1987. The service covers specific subjects such as environment, arts, women and development issues. In 1990, PPI entered into co-syndication agreement with the Panos institute to produce features on the environment and development issues, for Urdu and Sindhi newspapers. These features are not only distributed to newspapers in Pakistan but also to Urdu and Sindhi publications in other countries. Because of the paucity of material on these subjects, the feature service established itself within short time. Urdu service PPI started its Urdu service in 1989. In the beginning it selected 40 to 50 selected items translated into Urdu and delivered twice daily by the messengers to newspapers in Karachi. This service is still working in its full flash form. Even PPI has expanded its service in Sindhi and Guajarati language. PPI AND DIFFERENT GOVERNMENTS Bhutto’s regime PPI gave fair coverage to all political parties irrespective of their ideological orientation. This independence was maintained despite heavy pressure from Z.A. Bhutto. As PPI was not prepared to yield these pressures, Bhutto was deeply resented. He expressed his annoyance not only privately, but also in public. He attacked PPI by making wild allegations against the agency, which drew a strong response from Aslam Ali, the general manager of PPI. On assuming power in 1971, the PPP became even more aggressive. They set out to destroy PPI through Various coercive measures. To finally weaken the agency, it ordered the suspension of the agency’s service to the government controlled radio, television, and the NPT papers. Bhutto and accused of being hostile to his government twice summoned Muazzam Ali. When Muazzam Ali went on a visit to England in December 1973, he was advised by his friends not to return to Pakistan as the government decided to persecute him. Then Aslam Ali, Brother Muazzam Ali, took over the agency and became the managing Director of PPI. Having failed to achieve the demise of PPI through financial strangulation, Bhutto ordered that the ownership of the agency be transferred. In March 1975, the CM of Sindh, Ghulam Mustafa jatoi, directed Aslam Ali to transfer the shares of the agency to Latif Ibrahim Jamal, a business man and a member of PPP. Faced with the threat of his family, Aslam Ali transferred the shares of the agency to the PPP nominee on April 11, 1975. The biggest damage of this transfer of ownership to PPI was the destruction of the agency’s independence. According to GOP: “for …APP and PPI, opposition news became almost a taboo. They took notice of opposition only to malign it, as an exercise in character-assassination.” Zia Ul Haq regime Immediately after the fall of Bhutto regime, Aslam Ali made an application to the martial law authorities for the return of PPI, as the transfer was under duress. The martial law authorities found the transfer illegal and returned the agency to its original owners. The original owners regained control of PPI in November 1977. The new board of directors elected Muazzam Ali as the president and Aslam Ali as the chairman. The original team reorganized the agency and re-established a policy of giving political coverage, including of course, PPP. The new machines replaced the ageing teleprinters that had been ignored by the previous management. The management improved the agency’s news service, relaunched the feature service and the monthly magazine Economic Outlook, and commenced Urdu and Sindhi Language news and feature services. The agency revived the Pakistan Press foundation in 1989, but before it could become operational, the agency was once again in crisis by the action of Benazir Bhutto. Benazir Bhutto The martial law culminated in Benazir Bhutto becoming the prime minister on December 1, 1988. She continued with her father’s obsession with the destruction of PPI. The new government abruptly cancelled the government’s subscription to PPI’s news service, on July 1, 1989 which drew strong criticism from political parties, newspapers, and national and international media organizations. Columnist Ardeshir Cowasjee (1989) asked in exasperation: “Why …is the second PPI government so keen to repeat the mistakes of the first and once again mess up matters? The first lot forced the majority shareholders to sell out to a party henchman and thus strangulated the agency’s freedom. The status quo was restored after the first Prime Minister Bhutto fell. Now the second lot seems hell bent on liquidating the agency all together.” Benazir’s government privately made it clear to the PPI management that cancellation of the subscription was just the first step, and more actions against the agency would soon follow. However, the information minister, Javeed Jabar, attempted to justify government’s action as a cost cutting measure. The government was forced to rethink its decision in the after math of no-confidence motion, tabled in the national assembly in November 1989. Foreseeing its own downfall, the PPP once again realized the importance of PPI, and in May 1990, it restarted the government’s subscription. Three months later, the president dismissed the PP government on charges of corruption. The pp, then in opposition, once again benefited from the independence of PPI. Musharaf’s era The present government, being clever enough, is following a free media policy and allowed the opening of private radio and television channels in the country. All the past governments were afraid of free flow of information and always remained intolerant towards the media. For this reason always regulated restricted policies for the press freedom. Musharaf’s government has not yet threatened PPI for its independent coverage of news but providing indirect support for online news international. United Press of Pakistan United press of Pakistan came into existence in December 1949. Mr. Qutubuddin Aziz as a private limited company founded it. However for long time, now the agency has merely existed on paper and just about manages to get the small subsidies marked for it by the central and provisional governments. Currently, it is managed by Mehmood ul Aziz who is serving his duties as the managing director. According to the MD of UPP, “the revenues generated by government subsides forces an organizations to become the mouth piece of government. As UPP wishes to enjoy the independence of action and freedom of organization, it doesn’t subsidies to the government.” It is providing news either by fax, telephone and email. Their service comprises of few national items plus some items lifted from Indian and Middle Eastern newspapers. There are total 25 subscribers of this agency including the Jung group and the Naw-e-waqt group. The two leading papers Business Recorder and daily News are also its subscribers. The basic motives of UPP are: · To highlight public grievances and the ways to remedy these grievances. · To highlight the short comings part of official agencies · And focus attention on the matter that concern public. ONLINE NEWS AGENCY IN PAKISTAN ONLINE INTERNATIONAL NEWS NETWORK This is Pakistan's first bilingual news and photo wire service, dedicated to issues that are neglected by the mainstream media. It focuses on national and global processes affecting the economic, social and political development of the people of Pakistan in particular and the region in general and claims to disseminate genuine as well as useful information to the nation and the people across the globe. Mr. Mohsin Baig who has been a journalist in his own right and now Chief Executive Online initiated this project in January 1999. The constituent elements of Online are an independent policy, a pioneering spirit, a highly motivated professional core team, state-of-the-art technology, strategically located Bureaux and Correspondents spread all over Pakistan, and above all a sense of mission. It is the only Pakistani media organization that processes information in a substantially none-paper environment. The limitations remain to the correspondents, who must fax in, and to a lesser extent, processing of Urdu copy. Currently it is giving services to over 150 dailies in Pakistan and overseas in English, Urdu and Arabic languages. Independence Online deems its financial independence to be the bedrock of its policy independence. A single-owner proposition from day one, the organization has kept its hands clean of any government grant, party contribution, or philanthropic endowment, and has a firm determination to always keep things this way. Services Online is the first-ever Pakistani news agency operating English, Urdu and Arabic news services simultaneously along with comprehensive national and international photo coverage. Its news reports often appear in the national and international print media while its photographs dominate news pages in most of the newspapers coming out from Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta besides some leading papers in the Middle East, Europe and the United States. In English, Arabic and Urdu languages, it offer information packages to suit diverse needs; both local and international publications, print and electronic media, dailies and weeklies, magazines and periodic journals, specialized and subject-specific publications No media organization in Pakistan is tapping computers and the Internet as extensively as Online. Its desk is fully computerized, as is reporting and of course, dissemination and photographers, too, are equipped with digital cameras. Editorial functions Online has its Central office in New York and head office in Islamabad. It has its bureaus at each provincial headquarters in Pakistan besides some major cities including Muzaffarabad, Hyderabad, Faisalabad, and Multan. Each bureau is headed by senior and professional journalists. Staff Reporting teams comprise young, educated and honest reporters and photographers. More than 450 correspondents represent Online in every district and tehsil headquarter of the country. Online has its correspondents in important world capitals and major cities including Washington, New York, Koeln (Germany), Moscow, Tokyo, Chicago, London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Cairo, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait covering events round-the-clock. Subscribing Newspapers There are more or less 25 national subscribers of online international news network. Some of the prominent papers are: · Jang · News · Nawa-e-Waqt · Nation · Amn · Intekhab · Pakistan Post · Hilal-e-Pakistan · Islam Its international clients include: w Kaleej Times w Gulf Today w Pakistan Abroad – USA w Urdu Times – USA w Jang – London w Nation – London w Ausaf – Germany PakTribune PakTribune is an online news service with a team of over 300 reporters, photographers, editors and IT managers. Powered by strong database architecture and equipped with state-of-the-art tools, PakTribune is a joint effort of Online International News Network, an independent Pakistan-based news-photo wire service, RMDG (Resource Monitoring and Development Group Pty Ltd.) and PakCyber, a leading IT, media and development consultancy firm. PakTribune has built-in interactive mechanism, making journalism a two-way communication and a valuable source for researchers, scholars, students and community activists. With head office in Islamabad, PakTribune has bureaus in provincial capitals, besides major cities, including Muzaffarabad, Hyderabad, Multan, Sialkot and Faisalabad. Committed to keep readers updated as the events unfold, within one month of its launch, PakTribune has been selected by one of the largest news resources – Google News Resource and moreover.com. Through news ticker services, PakTribune is providing news updates to scores of websites and news networks. ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL NEWS AGENCIES IN PAKISTAN The international news agencies are global in reach, and knit the world together. But none of the world agencies in fact distributes news in every country of the world, though technically they could supply their services to all newspapers and broadcasting stations, which wished to subscribe to them. The worlds over these news agencies operate through one or more domestic news agencies under an agreement. The national news agencies receive the world news from these news agencies via satellite, and without distorting they edit them in keeping with their countries’ national interests and distribute to newspapers and other media. This system prevailed in Pakistan till mid-1980s. But today Pakistan is an exception in the world where world agencies operate and feed the newspapers and other media and business houses directly! This detrimental unique position has earned trough the courtesy of media managers in the Ministry of information. The modern world’s practice of collecting and distributing news across the globe is only about hundred years old and was initiated by news agencies of the United States and the great imperial powers, Britain and France. Today, the world agencies – the Associated Press and the United Press International (U.S.), Reuters (Britain), and Agence France Press (France)—are still the principal conduits of transnational news, although they and other media have been transformed by the news space-age technology. Reuters in Pakistan Until mid 80’s Reuters as an international news agency operated in Pakistan through APP as agreed and in consonance with longstanding practice the world over. Reuters, through head quarters in London, function there through local news agency –associated press. Towards the end of 80s Reuters succeeded in clinching an unprecedented agreement incorporating its right to operate independently in Pakistan. The inclusion of provision was effected with an apparent knowledge of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the only controlling authority. Amazingly the provision clinched by Reuters was never debated in APP editorial. The provision allowed Reuters to distribute, without even any share payment, “all services of economic and financial news and information indirectly to subscribers in Pakistan and collect revenue in respect of such other services.” As the matter came to notice of the APP editorial, a series of summaries prepared and sent to the Ministry concerned urging to seek rescinding the damage provision and encourage Reuters to operate Via APP as usual within the territory of Islamic republic of Pakistan. The ministry, instead of acting timely on APP calls maintained an apparent mysterious acquiescence to-date. Taking cue from Reuter’s success story in Pakistan, AFP has also bargained supply of its services to media and commercial houses directly. REFERENCES Interviews 1. MR Fazal Qureshi, Chief Editor in PPI 2. Jalil Ahmed, worked in APP for 15 years 3. Mehmood ul Aziz, MD of UPP 4. Mr. Owais aslam, CEO of PPI 5. Mr. Farooq Moin, Editor, PPI New Agency 6. Mr. Naseer Ajaz, Bureau Chief, Karachi, PPI Thesis consulted 1. The Associate press of Pakistan—a report for UNESCO,1986 2. Pakistan’s national news agencies :Their Evolution and operation by Owais Aslam Ali, 1992 Papers Consulted 1. Dr. Shamsuddin ,The news flow 2. Jalil Ahmed, the news agencies 3. Mohammed Mumtaz, Brief on APP,AUGUT 7,1992 4. Dr. Mukthar Zaman , Flow of information in south Asian countries 5. Twenty Years of Pakistan 1947-67, Government Publication 6. William A. Hachten, The World New Prism, The Lowa State University Press, AMES, Lowa 1981 WWW 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuters 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated_Press 3. http://www.afp.com/english/afp/?pid=about 4. www.app.com 5. http://www.onlinenews.com.pk |
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