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Morning show host Maya Khan fired from Samaa TV
Maya Khan and her team fired; independent sources from Samaa confirm termination.
Maya Khan confirms that she has been fired from Samaa TV.
LAHORE: After an intense online campaign, television channel Samaa TV has fired morning show host Maya Khan and her team, and has said that her show will be taken off the air.
The decision comes after a controversial episode of the morning show, where Khan was seen conducting a ‘raid’ on a public park in Karachi and questioning couples about whether their parents were aware of their whereabouts and going as far as asking them about their marital status.
Maya Khan was at first reluctant talking about the decision, but later confirmed that her show had indeed been cancelled.
The morning show host blamed “a vicious media campaign by rival groups” for the outcome of the fiasco. She said that those campaigning against her had wanted her to be removed and this is exactly what had happened.
Khan stressed on the fact that no one had highlighted the “good things” she had done on her show.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, she confirmed the authenticity of the letter (below) by senior Samaa TV management and her termination from the channel.
Independent sources from Samaa have also confirmed that Maya Khan has been fired along with the production team of the show.
The letter, which was reportedly sent out by the management, states that Khan had refused to apologise ‘unconditionally’. It also adds that official termination notices will be sent to her on Monday morning.
The letter which says Maya Khan’s services from Samaa TV will be terminated has been circulating on social media websites and is reportedly signed by CEO Zafar Siddiqui.
Dear All
Your feedback is appreciated. As a responsible corporate citizen, Samaa TV did what was required under the circumstances. We do not and have not in the past or intend to in the future to take our viewership or reporting requirements without the seriousness that they deserve.
You would appreciate that as an organisation with a functioning management team, we had to conduct certain legal requirements over the past week and internal review processes (which are operational in nature) before procedding further.
As a result of which I can inform you:
- We asked Maya to apologise unconditionally which she did not.
- The CEO asked her to do that on Friday which she refused.
As a result of which the following will be put in place on Monday, Jan 30th.
- Maya and her team will receive termination notices.
- Her show is being stopped from Monday morning.
Our deeds and actions taken since this episode occured are there for the record and hope this will settle issues as far as the station is concerned.
A lot has been written about the race for ratings. Well, we do absolve such behaviour irrespective of ratings that the show was getting.
With best regards and thank you for your understanding.
Zafar Siddiqi
Chairman CNBC Arabiya
Chairman CNBC Africa
President CNBC Pakistan
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Reader Comments (325)
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I have been watching maya khan show since few months, and i liked it. She was entertaining, and had a good personality. Most of her shows i have enjoyed, as she has raised good issues about the bad things happening in our society. It was a fun morning show. and enjoyed some of the real issues facing different classes of society.
However, I agree that people who didn’t want their faces shown on camera should have been respected. She is a great host/personality IMO. She did apologize on one of her shows.
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Although, i know what is going on in the parks but it doesn’t mean i should take out my camera and start shooting couples activities and circulate these videos. Maya Khan who did it with live camera. I think a legal action should be taken against her by so called civil society who think they got the power to protect innocent citizen. If they do not take action against Maya Khan i would think they also enjoy the misery of citizens of Pakistan.Recommend
well after all she has done for last few months….. samaa prove to escaped from there responsibilities…. she was justified by the person living near that park… she should be asked to get censored tapes from some recording thats it….. how come samaa clams that they r innocent n no one was aware of what is going on…. so samaa should apologize n she should be back
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good news for us what ever u have done (maya khan) is to0 much
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I would say ” Burrai ko Burrai Kehna jurm hai ” this has become the mindset of today’s human .
Her way of depicting may be wrong but she had a point . Why our Maushrra has gone corrupt ? Why no one calls wrong actions “Wrong” ……
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Huh! She is not authorized to ask anyone for his personal life. She knows everything about dating coz she is not a kid. Thanks God i am in United States.
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Maya is nice person,i am really very sad to read that all,our society is filled with crimes and nobody is there to handle them,i think she was absolutely right,the way she captured the couples was right for how many times we will leave them to do what ever they want and everybody knows what couples do in dating.Date is an abuse in our society becouse of these kids,for GOD sake please just think for a while there will be our children tommorrow then what will happen?i m not against of dating but the way people use it is not correct.And the new host looks good in “bulbuly” not in a morning show.
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Maya u want to snatch park from lower middle class….u urself hv lot of money,we all knowRecommend
i think maya khan was doing a great job. unfortunately we loss a lady who think to the better future of our nation.
i ask a simple question to all my “RESPECTED” citizen is dating is our culture?
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when she was new in channel she works perfect…
after somtime she gona over confidence
i don,t like she did live program on park
all women asking girls and showing face on camera
did they think that if any her daughter on tv like that
what will happienRecommend
Sama tv has taken a partial step and what it did it just fired the anchor instead it needed to bring her to court and sue her for her act.
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This topic, in my point of view can easily be dragged to a long debate but I ll try to keep my comments as brief as possible.
For all the people slightly supporting even the intentions of Maya Khan, I have only one question for all of you, WHO has given you the right to check or stop someone from meeting in a public place when NO indecent activity has been observed. Being a media anchor or even the police DOES NOT give you the right to challenge the right of freedom of movement and the freedom to socialize within the country or even abroad.
Instead of firing the anchor and letting her escape the legal proceedings against her invasion of privacy and harassment of fellow citizens of Pakistan she along with the TV channel airing the said program MUST be dragged to the courts. The anchor person (Maya Khan) Along with the complete Samaa TV administration is responsible for this embaresment.
As for all those readers (men and women both) trying to dictate the dos and donts for the feminine gender in society, please with all due respect, you have the freedom to have your views and beliefs just like everyone else, but saying that women need to be in hijab or burqa when going out or they have to follow some kind of code… forget it. You CAN NOT force anyone to change till the time you YOURSELF dont have the strength to control you eyes and thoughts. If YOU dont like people datting, DONT date, its as easy as that. If you dont like women going out without burqa, please look the other way. That hijabless or burqaless woman will be questioned for her acts IF and ONLY IF Allah finds her wrong. YOU will neither be asked nor held responsible for her actions. So, stop being a hypocrite. Be the change you want to see in the world.Recommend
WOW. People praising CEO for firing Maya Khan. Ignoring the fact that Maya Khan used SAMAA’s platform for her bad show. Why in the world didn’t CEO himself apologize in public? When you take pride in your people’s good work then you should take responsibility of their bad work as well. Where’s the CEO’s apology? Where’s chairman’s apology?
Also, once you show a couple on camera, that is a much greater punishment for them than anything else. They are ruined for life; and only YOU are responsible for showing them on the channel.
Islam teaches us to conceal bayhayaaee (shamelessness) so that it does not get normalized in the society, but what you did is the opposite. You are exposing shamelessness when YOU YOURSELF are part of the same.Recommend
still same opinion
she rated her show high n she was good then Chanel don’t know her
is Pakistan gonna be the same?
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It is very high time that what we support that she had done wrong. though the procedure he adopted is wrong but this matter should need to address. boys and girls are engaging in wrong doings they don’t know the repurcsions of it.
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@Sadia:
Seriously? So you think hounding people is okay? This is exactly what is wrong with our society. Everyone thinks they can butt into other people’s business. I hope you have better ways of teaching your children right or wrong, rather than harassing them.
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ahh we are so modernize … we talk about privacy and personal rights but then love to taunt people like dr amir liaquat or veena malik like they dont have a private life ,,we will always be the same .. hypocritess
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i totally agree…. n how come it wasnt Chanel responsibility? …. they clam they were unaware of this
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there shall be a fir against this lady as she doesnt have right to do so. being a lady how did she do so thats out of question
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Maya is the best maya whatever she done she is the best anchor plz pakistani peoples if this dating occation is held with ur family or sis then what u will do so plz think about it ..maya is the best …. maya me ali sarbazi is with u …
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there is totally no need to blame maaya about that she is not a culprit of serious deal..i dont like her nut she is one who make very bold programs but now she lost her charm by this fake program even though she did best of her
she must come back to the show she has the energy …..i like her sprit
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maya khan is a good nature. she was show in park preplaning show. she was no insulting pakistani people. she was only guide us. those people are not a real couple they are joniar actor plz see express news at 8:00pm program 27/02/2012. maya was coming with proof she was proof his posistion. my pray is maya coming back inshallah.
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there is no reason to fire Maya khan on this issue. Maya Aapi please don’t worry. You are right and i support you. Take care of yourself bye
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I think the whole thing is just hoax. The first people to be blamed for putting on that show are the Producers & Directors. Why aren’t they being questioned????? Maya must not have done it on her own with out their consent…… Secondly as Maya said it was a re-enactment she should have given a statement at the end of the show that this was done just for the awareness….. and if it was really a re-enactment why isn’t the channel saying anything… what was the thousand apology for???
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This is very bad,she was exposing the immorality in our society,and may be some elements were unhappy that she was showing them their own face in her programme,she is very capable lady and she done right,she paid the actors and then she has done nothing wrong,she only brought up an issue which exists. And this is the negitive face of our society to condem it. We should salut her for doing this job.Zindabad Maya KhanRecommend