PTI coverage: Geo surpassed other channels
ISLAMABAD: Keeping aside the ridiculous and wild allegations of PTI chief Imran Khan, facts and documents show that though the PTI gave least paid content to Geo News, the channel gave it the highest coverage that was almost double any other channel’s.
The wild allegations leveled by Imran Khan against Geo and Jang group that it played a role in May 2013 general elections have been proved wrong by none other than the international elections observer mission. In its final report on May 2013 general elections, the mission allocated a whole chapter on the role of media in covering elections during its stay in Pakistan.
According to the report, the mission monitored six Pakistani TV channels between April 08 and May 09 during which it coded 1182 hours out of which the channels allocated 463:12 hours to political communication.
Astonishingly, the PTI top leadership also knows that it was Geo and Jang Group that gave more coverage to Imran Khan than any other party and this has clearly been reflected in the final report of the EU observer mission.
The report divided media coverage of all political parties in different sections that includes political communication in TV programs during prime time, time allocated to political campaign events, direct speeches within the news, time allocated to paid content.
It was only Geo News that allocated more time than any other channel for the political campaign events of PTI despite the fact that many channels, which now were very close to Imran Khan, gave him least coverage. Even Geo gave second highest coverage to PTI and its chairman Imran Khan in prime time, while other channels allocated much less time than Geo for the party which is nowadays accusing Geo of playing a role in rigging. Geo gave 21 per cent coverage to PTI in its prime time and it is sheer dishonesty on the part of PTI to accuse the channel of playing a part in rigging.
The final report itself is enough for opening the eyes of those blaming Geo and Jang Group. According to the report, it was Geo that gave 32 per cent coverage to PTI in its news while the other channels gave not more than 20 per cent to the party.
The PTI, which blamed that Geo gave maximum coverage to PML-N should have first read this report as it shows that the most popular channel gave only 19 per cent coverage to PML-N in its news.
Even the direct speeches of party leaders were given almost equal time by Geo, as it gave 27 per cent to PML-N and 25 per cent to PTI. On the other hand, other channels were not even near Geo in this regard.
The party has been very generous to other TV channels when it comes to giving paid content, as Geo got even less than half of the other channels. The campaign run by PTI through paid content was mostly aired on three other channels while Geo got the least share in this regard.
The report, prepared by an independent and impartial international observer mission, is showing the other side of the picture which the PTI has either forgotten or deliberately ignored, as the party chief, as has been stated by many people, has a history of being thankless and ungrateful.
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