Maya Khan Show terminated
In response to a letter by members of civil society, Zafar Siddiqi, CEO Samaa TV replied with the following:
On Tue, Jan 28, 2012 at 12:28 PM, “Zafar Siddiqi” wrote: 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:
1. *We asked Maya to apologise unconditionally which she did not.* 2. *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.
1. Maya and her team *will receive termination notices*. 2. 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