Tag: Digital Media Wing

  • PML-N disbands Information Ministry’s Digital Media Wing for ‘opposition hate speech’

    PML-N disbands Information Ministry’s Digital Media Wing for ‘opposition hate speech’

    The new PML-N government has decided to close the Digital Media Wing (DMW), which was formed by the previous PTI administration to publicise official information on social media platforms.

    In her first press conference as minister for information and broadcasting, Marriyum Aurangzeb, on April 19, said the PTI-established DMW was made up of its own workers and bot accounts who targeted the opposition and national institutions.

    The information ministry has established a cyber wing to disseminate the government’s accomplishments and publicise its strategic plan on social media platforms.

    Furthermore, she stated that the cyber wing needed to be more innovative and up to date with changing trends, as well as keep up with offices such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in order to maintain Pakistan’s good image abroad.

    The closure has split industry experts, with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) welcoming the decision to disband the controversial Digital Media Wing.

    The HRCP has been rejecting the DMW, claiming that it is pursuing the PTI’s agenda against political rivals, and there have been allegations that state resources are being used to advance the party agenda, including trolling media persons.

    Read more: FIA picks up 24 over social media campaign against Pak Army

    Even so, a social media rights activist applauded the decision to transfer the DMW’s responsibilities to the information ministry’s cyber wing, claiming that it would strengthen checks on any misuse of digital media platforms by state entities.

    The PTI established the DMW shortly after taking power in 2018. It was the reincarnation of the Press Information Department’s Social Media Wing (PID).

  • ‘Media Martial Law’, Journalists sit in protest against proposed media authority bill

    ‘Media Martial Law’, Journalists sit in protest against proposed media authority bill

    Pakistani journalists are protesting in front of the Parliament House against the proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA), which aims to muzzle media freedom. The on-going protest started on Sunday. Journalists marched from the National Press Club to the Parliament House and stayed overnight.

    They said the sit-in would continue till President Dr Arif Alvi’s address to the joint session of parliament, which is scheduled to assemble on Monday.

    DETAILS OF THE PROTEST

    Renowned journalists including Mazhar Abbas, Hamid Mir, Fahd Husain, Kashif Abbasi, Saleem Safi, Asma Shirazi, Gharidah Farooqi Imtiaz Alam, and Afzal Butt are participating in the protest, headed by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ).

    PFUJ general secretary Nasir Zaidi, while talking to Voicepk.net said, “Prior to this, we struggled against every law to control the press in the eras of dictators, and we will struggle against such laws even today.”

    Senior journalist Afzal Butt said, “Many attempts had been made in the past to silence the media by dictators, but journalists successfully fought for their rights and this time too, the journalist community would protect freedom of the press.”

    Journalist Imtiaz Alam stated that, “The government through the PMDA was trying to impose ‘media martial law’. “as per Dawn.

    Journalists and politicians are criticising the government. “Parliamentary reporters have banned from sitting in the press gallery of Parliament for joint session,” tweeted PPP’s Senator Sherry Rehman.

    SUPPORT BY JOURNALISTS

    Other journalists have expressed their concerns and showed solidarity with fellow journalists on social media accounts.

    https://twitter.com/zburki/status/1436954006820118537

    INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION

    Pakistani journalists in Britain also condemned the Pakistan government’s plans to establish the PMDA.

    “The officials of the High Commission called journalists individually and asked them not to hold the protest outside the High Commission premises and also issued threats of serious consequences for organising the protest,” wrote Murtaza Ali Shah for Geo News.

    “The journalists particularly singled out the current information minister [Fawad Chaudhry] for first playing his role in the economic murder of journalists and now pushing through a black law to completely finish the private media which provides thousands of jobs to media workers,” he added.

  • PTI reacts to report on false claims of ministers and govt officials

    PTI reacts to report on false claims of ministers and govt officials

    Journalist Benazir Shah’s exclusive report featured on Geo News highlighted the misleading claims of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) numerous ministers and government officials.

    Since the PTI came to power in 2018, its lawmakers and officials have made the most of ‘fake news’ and used it to discredit journalists, media organisations, and the party’s opponents.

    “The offending language is often used to distort the truth and to undermine journalism, which aims to keep the powerful in check. When in reality those handing out the label of ‘fake news’ have occasionally stumbled themselves, especially when communicating with the public. A large number of ministers and government officials from the ruling party have fallen for false and misleading claims. In some instances, clarifications are issued, but in others, no corrections have been made to date,” read the report.

    September 2021: Minister of State Ali Muhammad Khan claims that Quaid-e-Azam went to jail

    Claim: Minister of State, Ali Muhammad Khan while speaking on 92 News programme, ‘Hard Talk Pakistan with Moeed Pirzada’ said, “We made the country. In 1947, my grandfather, Muhammad Wakeel Khan, went jail with Quaid-e-Azam.”

    Truth: There is no claim to the fact that the founder of Pakistan was ever arrested.

    August 2021: The ministry of information released a report, which incorrectly flag pro-state tweets as ‘anti-state’

    Claim: A report was released by the Digital Media Wing (DMW) of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting titled, ‘Anti-State Trends: Deep Analytics Report’. It was deeply misleading and based on assumptions instead of facts.

    “The purpose of this report was to ascertain factual data and to analyse social media trends that were anti-state, Data was collected after analysing Pakistan Twitter Panel from June 2019- August 2021. Those hashtags were marked for data collection where the content of tweets was planned and propagated through a network to spread anti-state trends,” General Manager of the Digital Media Wing (DMW), Imran Ghazali told The Current.

    Truth: The report seemed to declare all the users in the report as anti-state until one prominent journalist reached out to the government and they eventually added the disclaimer after the report was published.

    June 2020: Minister of State Zartaj Gul claimed that ‘Covid-19’ actually has 19-points, hence the name

    Claim: Minister of State for Climate Change, Zartaj Gul, while speaking on PTV said that Covid-19 actually has 19 points, which can be applied to any country to combat coronavirus.

    Truth: Covid-19 is actually a short form for Coronavirus disease.

    June 2020: Prime Minister Imran Khan misquotes Allama Iqbal 

    Claim: In a tweet, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan shared an image, which had poetry written on it along with Allama Iqbal’s picture, and wrote, “This poem by Iqbal reflects how I try to lead my life. I urge our youth to understand and absorb the poem of the great Iqbal and I guarantee them that it will release their great God-given potential that we all possess as His greatest creation Ashraf ul Mukhluqat.”

    Truth: PM Khan later tweeted, “I stand corrected – this is not Allama Iqbal’s poem but the message conveyed is what I have stood by and tried to follow.”

    May 2020: Minister Murad Saeed insists the governor of New York wants to follow Pakistan’s model of contact tracing

    Claim: Minister for Communication Murad Saeed, while addressing the National Assembly, said that the governor of New York wanted to follow Pakistan’s model of contact tracing after PM Khan gave the concept of smart lockdown.

    Truth: As per the report published on Geo, not a single briefing of the governor was found stating the claim made by the minister.

    September 2019: Minister of Human Rights Shireen Mazari shares incorrect video

    Claim: Minister of Human Rights Shireen Mazari shared an incorrect video on Twitter and wrote, “Indian occupation forces can’t even bare to see fruit trees live in IOJK – lest the Muslim Kashmiris eat the fruit. Such is the barbarism of the Rogue Modi Govt’s fascist hate-filled mindset. #Kashmir”

    Truth: The video shared was from Himachal Pradesh, 2018 when India, after a court order against illegal forest encroachment, ordered the trees to be chopped.

    May 2019: Minister Fawad Chaudhry claims that the Hubble telescope was sent into space by Suparco

    Claim: Fawad Chaudhry while speaking on Geo News programme, Naya Pakistan said that the Hubble telescope was sent into space by Suparco, the national space agency of Pakistan.

    Truth: Hubble was deployed by NASA.

    However, the ruling party reacted to the report.