‘Anchorgate’: Criminal case lodged against Dunya TV whistleblowers
Police register FIR against ‘unidentified’ people who leaked off-air footage.
ISLAMABAD:
In an attempt at damage control, Dunya TV channel’s management registered a criminal case against ‘unidentifed’ people responsible for publicising off-air footage of a controversial interview with Bahria Town chief Malik Riaz.
The footage went viral on the internet since it was first anonymously uploaded on video sharing website Youtube, showing an off-the-record conversation between television anchors Meher Bokhari and Mubasher Lucman, and Riaz. The footage made public on Thursday made some shocking revelations, including the fact that the entire interview was planted.
The Kohsar police said they registered an FIR on an application filed by Zulfiqar Massi, the administration manager of Dunya TV.
He maintained in his complaint that “unidentified people” had stolen the footage from their Islamabad office in sector F-7/1, which was not supposed to be put on record.
A police official who did not want to be named said the channel’s management did not nominate anyone as a suspect. He hinted, however, that certain names could be put forward as suspects in the future.
The official said though the ‘thieves’ were likely to be people from within the organisation, the possibility that the footage had been stolen by an outsider could not be ruled out either.
Published In The Express Tribune, June 16th, 2012.
In an attempt at damage control, Dunya TV channel’s management registered a criminal case against ‘unidentifed’ people responsible for publicising off-air footage of a controversial interview with Bahria Town chief Malik Riaz.
The footage went viral on the internet since it was first anonymously uploaded on video sharing website Youtube, showing an off-the-record conversation between television anchors Meher Bokhari and Mubasher Lucman, and Riaz. The footage made public on Thursday made some shocking revelations, including the fact that the entire interview was planted.
The Kohsar police said they registered an FIR on an application filed by Zulfiqar Massi, the administration manager of Dunya TV.
He maintained in his complaint that “unidentified people” had stolen the footage from their Islamabad office in sector F-7/1, which was not supposed to be put on record.
A police official who did not want to be named said the channel’s management did not nominate anyone as a suspect. He hinted, however, that certain names could be put forward as suspects in the future.
The official said though the ‘thieves’ were likely to be people from within the organisation, the possibility that the footage had been stolen by an outsider could not be ruled out either.
Published In The Express Tribune, June 16th, 2012.