How to guarantee an election result
Television executives in Pakistan have been warned (via) that they could be imprisoned and fined for giving critics of President Pervez Musharraf a live forum in the run-up to the parliamentary elections on January 8th.
Pakistan’s regulators ordered all satellite television channels “to stop airing such live programs, talk shows and contents immediately,” according to a copy of a letter Tuesday obtained by the Associated Press.
The regulators warned that the channels could be taken off the air and that those responsible - the network’s license-holder or its representative - could face up to three years in prison and fines of up to $170,000.
Journalists in the country have accused the state media regulator of trying to restrict their coverage of the elections and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists called it “an attempt to silence the free media.”
Information Minister Nisar Memon insists that independent channels must not stir up any tensions. The networks are expected to comply by avoiding live coverage of speeches by opposition leaders such as Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, former prime ministers who returned in recent months from exile.
Thursday 20 Dec 2007 | Paul | Pakistan
