Heads of news channels decide to form association

News directors, editors say body needed to ‘confront various challenges’

Senior media professionals belonging to television news channels have decided in principle to form an association comprising heads of news channels, primarily the director news and news editors.

During the meeting, held in Lahore on Monday, the participants agreed that there was a need to have such an organisation to ensure the professional growth of electronic media and confront various challenges faced by news channels, including pressures to curb freedom of expression.

The meeting formed a core committee with the aim to prepare a draft constitution and contact heads of news channels for the next meeting in which formal shape would be given to the proposed organisation.

The meeting was attended by heads of news channels including Fahd Hussain of Express News, Azhar Abbas of Geo TV, Rashid Mahmood of Aaj News, Zahid Mazhar of Dawn News, Fazil Jamili of Jang Group, Imran Mir of Aap News, Sarmad Salik of Indus News, Khurram Kaleem of City 42, Farooq Majeed of 92 News, Rana Jawad of Geo News, Muhammad Usman of Neo TV, Ansar Naqvi of 24 News, Farhan Mallick and Ahmad Waleed of Samaa TV, Habib Akram of Dunya TV, Mian Tahir of 24 News and Shiraz Hasnaat of Hum News.

Representatives of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), including its president, Arif Nizami, and secretary general, Dr Jabbar Khattak, as well as senior newspaper editors including Mujibur Rehman Shami, Zaffar Abbas, Saleem Bokhari, Ayaz Khan, Sohail Warraich and Aamir Ghouri participated in the meeting and provided their valuable input.