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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Pakistan
Index
The press, television, and radio are vital forces in
Pakistan's political life. The importance of the press was
evident even before independence. In prepartition India,
Muslim
journalism flourished until the Sepoy Rebellion of
1857-58, when
many Muslim newspapers were shut down
(see The Seeds of Muslim Nationalism
, ch. 1). Between 1857 and the Government of
India Act
of 1935, which gave a large measure of self-government to
Indians, none of the major newspapers were owned or edited
by
Muslims. However, when Indian Muslims began to organize
and rally
to the political platform of the All-India Muslim League,
concerted efforts were made to develop a strong press to
support
the Muslim national cause. A number of Muslim-owned
newspapers
were established, including Azad, a
Bengali-language daily
founded in Calcutta in 1936. Two English-language
newspapers,
Morning News in Calcutta and Dawn in Delhi,
began
publishing in 1942. In the late 1930s, the first Indian
Muslim
news agency, the Orient Press of India, was founded.
On the eve of independence, however, only four major
Muslimowned newspapers existed in the area constituting the new
state
of Pakistan: Pakistan Times, Zamindar,
Nawa-i-
Waqt, and Civil and Military Gazette, all
located in
Lahore. A number of Muslim newspapers moved to Pakistan.
Dawn began publication as a daily in Karachi, then
the
federal capital, on the day of independence in 1947. Other
publications were also shifted to Pakistan including the
Morning News and the Urdu-language dailies
Jang and
Anjam.
In the early 1990s, there are over 1,500 newspapers and
journals in the country, including publications in Urdu,
English,
and in regional languages. The major national daily
newspapers in
Urdu are Jang, Nawa-i-Waqt, Jasarat,
Masawat, Mashriq, and Hurriyat. The
major
national dailies in English are Dawn, Pakistan
Times, Muslim, Morning News,
Nation,
Frontier Post, and News. Herald is an
important English-language magazine.
Newspapers and periodicals are owned by either private
individuals, joint-stock companies, or trusts. The
National Press
Trust, a nonprofit organization that is a major newspaper
publisher, was established by businessmen in 1964 and
taken over
by the government in 1972. There are several other large
newspaper and journal publishers. The two major news
agencies in
Pakistan are the Associated Press of Pakistan and Pakistan
Press
International. The Associated Press of Pakistan was taken
over by
the government in 1960. Pakistan Press International is a
private
joint-stock company.
Radio also has been an effective method of
communication
because the literacy rate is low and other methods of
communication are sometimes not available. The Pakistan
Broadcasting Corporation has played a key role in
disseminating
information and transmitting government policies as well
as
promoting Islamic principles and their application.
Another
state-run organization, Azad Kashmir Radio, broadcasts in
Azad
Kashmir. Television, although newer, has also been
effective,
with coverage in the mid-1990s reaching more than 80
percent of
the population. Until August 1990, the only television
channel
was the government-owned Pakistan Television Corporation
(PTV).
At that time, however, another television channel,
People's
Television Network was established
(see Telecommunications
, ch.
3). People's Television Network brought Cable News Network
(CNN)
to Pakistan.
The media played an active role in all three national
elections from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. Although
the
government-owned radio and PTV presented a progovernment
line,
the establishment of People's Television Network ended
government
monopoly of television news. In the case of the print
media,
government-controlled newspapers tended to express the
government's viewpoint, but the large private sector of
print
journalism furnished a much greater variety of opinion.
The imposition of regulations based on the sharia was
also
reflected in the media. For example, the government
required all
women to wear dupattas, or scarfs, over their heads
on
newscasts and other PTV programs. Such restrictions, for
instance, prevented the women's swimming events of the
1992
Barcelona Olympic Games from being telecast to Pakistan
because
the swimsuits were regarded as immodest. Radio censors
also
ordered a number of controversial songs dropped from
broadcasting.
Data as of April 1994
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