‘Pakistani media does not portray true picture of Afghanistan’
KARACHI, June 15 2006: Afghan journalists belonging to different media outlets showed their reservations about the Pakistani media perception of Afghanistan saying the ‘return of Taliban’ has been blown out of proportion. A delegation of Afghan journalists visited offices of The News and Geo Television on June 14 in a bid to acquire a better understanding of Pakistani media operations besides sharing their own understanding of Afghan society and media.
Asma Habib of BBC Radio Persian Service said the Pakistani media outlets have no news outposts in Afghanistan to have a firsthand reporting experience from the soil of the widely misunderstood land-locked nation. She gainsaid the news-belief that Talibans have staged a rise from ashes in Afghanistan. She said Afghans have access to Pakistani TV channels, but categorically handed out the verdict: The Pakistani media do not offer a true picture of Afghanistan.
She also questioned the veracity of sources, on whose reliance the news business is being run across the border. Daud Abdulrahim Zai of Kabul Times brushed aside the impression that foreign journalists could not perform their duties in post-war Afghanistan saying ëyou can do journalism in Afghanistan freely not only in the capital but in other parts of the country as wellÃ. He acknowledged some unsafe towns bordering with Pakistan. Regarding the role of both Afghanistan and Pakistan in war against terrorism, Zai said both sides have been striving to curb the menace while having problems at their hands.
He did not buy the theory of having worsening bilateral relations in the aftermath of allegations trading between the two countries. A decent Urdu-speaking journalist from Kabul also complained of inept media practitioners who according to him have been portraying the situation as a worst-case scenario on both sides failing to understand society and politics.
He accentuated on acquiring better understanding of Afghan society by having Pakistani media presence there. Abdul Mukhtar Ghafarzoy of Shamshad TV believed that the Pakistani media devoted much of their Afghan coverage to predominantly negative issues while largely ignoring much of the positive aspects of Afghan society like any other society in the world.
Source: The News
Date:6/15/2006
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