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
If true its a good step by Samaa’s Management. It was height of irresponsibility by this girl, Maya.
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:
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 ArabiyaChairman CNBC AfricaPresident CNBC Pakistan
Samaa tv management is appreciated for taking serious notice of this episode. Maya Khan should have apologized rathar because it’s not camera duty to invade privacy of people. Best, W
APPRECIATED !!!!
*Mohammad Naveed Khawar* *Creative – Sr. Broadcast Motion Designer* Express News TV – Express 24/7 +92 333.261.232.1 mohammad.naveed@expressnews.tv http://www.vimeo.com/naveedkhawar/videos
Maya khan should be ban on Sama TV , KI Sent from my BlackBerry® Smartphone provided by Ufone
The decision taken by Zafar Siddiqi, CEO Samaa, is a rare one, we should all appreciate this and hope others also follow suit in a culture in which owners are relying ever more on black-mailing anchors / reporters, who instead of being apologetic, usually stick to their stories and positions and continue blackmailing others for business and personal gains.
On Sat, Jan 28, 2012 at 1:36 PM, Rabab Khan wrote:
*شاندار اقدام ہے یہ محترم ظفر صدیقی کا ۔ میڈیا ذمہ دار ہوتا جا رہا ہے ۔ * On Sat, Jan 28, 2012 at 2:59 PM, navid khawar
wrote:
Can’t digest – “we don’t go for ratings” .. it was all because of the ratings.. I m sick of this word.. Not just Maya Khan or Samaa TV, it’s is the problem of everyone. Secondly, I as a viewer should also be blamed because I love to hear and watch controversy and “in-side” stories about events and peoples’ lives. Don’t want to write anything about Maya Khan because it’s not worth it. She should be thankful to people who did not register a case against her, because after the “women protection bill” one can’t be asked to produce a Nikkah-Nama..
May God bless you all.
Asif Khan
Karachi.
APPRECIATED !!!! Mohammad Naveed Khawar Creative – Sr. Broadcast Motion Designer Express News TV – Express 24/7 +92 333.261.232.1 mohammad.naveed@expressnews.tv
http://www.vimeo.com/naveedkhawar/videos
Samaa tv management is appreciated for taking serious notice of this episode. Maya Khan should have apologized rathar because it’s not camera duty to invade privacy of people. Best, W
On Saturday, 28 January 2012, Rabab Khan wrote:
Hats off to SAMAA TV management…
Highly appreciated…
We would appreciate if he withdraw his decision of terminating his more than 150 workers.
Unfortunately, Samaa which has improved a lot, but they need to implement labor laws in Samaa.
Shahryar Khan (NPC)
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Warid.
But one should ask, what the Samaa tv will like to do for the damage control. Before taking this step, why the management was not able to have a check on the contents of its TV programme.
regards
Appreciable act of SAMA TV management, this conclusion of the protest must be taken as the warning buzz to the other out of control morning shows to review their content of the show.
Regards
Sumera Ali
Sheree I agree with u and from the day first u infact spoke my mind in this regard on this forum. I would rather suggest Mr. Zafar siddiqi to infact throw out the brain behind all these be-huda ideas that r being implemented in SAMAA. I can still recall the early times of this news channel, it was more simple and more comprehensive with equal representation of male and female team members but now its just a TAMASHA believe me. Except of asma shirazi I can say that the entire anchoring battalion Is just a favourite pick by Mr. Sarwar Moosvi who was initially working as a set assembler with JAAG Broadcasting and very all of a sudden he became advisor to the chairman and just set the channel a blaze while firing every quality talk show and bringing in the Ghatia crime-based re-enacted programmes. In my view its necessary to remove the sick brain of Moosvi then we can atleast have a hope for a revival of this used to be a good channel.
My best wishes Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Warid.
The way she acted and the way she was commenting, there should be ban on her. If such action is not taken it would be disastrous for Pakistani society.point raised by friends about damage control is no doubt very valid. workers associated with the programme should not be laid off, as commented by sherry of NPC.
regards
MH
Dears I don’t think this is the solution. It is a fact that quality of journalism has been badly affected with the electronic media boom. The television channel have been in persistent race to take lead of each other without taking care of the content of their programmes, shows and even news. This one – Maya’s morning show – was too poor in quality. The anchor had always been trying to touch controversial issues. Several of the shows were about faith-healing, peers mostly ‘fake’ and others. I think the managements should have checked the content of the programme long before. it should have been changed and improved. I would never support firing of the entire team of the programme for which the management was equally responsible. How would the management justify that it was unaware of what aired in the show since its beginning?? And how would the management of Samaa justify the sacking of scores of other journalists from several stations in the country particularly Peshawar where 25 media workers were terminated. Had they too made such a controversial show? Were they not good journalists? Were they involved in any misconduct? Were they having any issue pertaining to journalistic ethics? Most of them I personally know as seasoned and responsible journalists. Yousaf Peshawar
Dear Rabab: Your decision is much appreciated. Now I can say that media owners/management is responsible towards journalism ethics. Maya khan will realize that she did wrong. Freedom of media does not mean to harm the people but to benefit people. Freedom with responsibility can bring results. R Sent from my BlackBerry® Smartphone provided by Ufone
The date quoted is confusing. Jan 28th is today and its not a tuesday. Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Warid.
Why is it so that things become point of concern only once they happen and no prior paper or policy govern such things to avoid their happening in our media. *** This Message Has Been Sent Using BlackBerry Internet Service from Mobilink ***
The decision of Samaa TV’s mangmt. is one sided as it was taken on the pressure by a handful reps. of foreign-funded NGOs and some journalists obliged by such NGOs as they are all out to disintegrate our society and derail moral values. They never allow freedom of speech whenever it affects their hidden agendas and nasty plans. Samaa never bothered to get people’s version who are in full support of such programmes like ” Sawera Ka Chapa”.Sajid Aziz
Dear All:
The decision of Samaa TV’s mangmt. is one sided as it was taken on the pressure by a handful reps. of foreign-funded NGOs and some journalists obliged by such NGOs as they are all out to disintegrate our society and derail moral values. They never allow freedom of speech whenever it affects their hidden agendas and nasty plans. Samaa never bothered to get people’s version who are in full support of such programmes like ” Sawera Ka Chapa”.Sajid Aziz
It is very strange that the complaints poured in and Samaa tv sprange into action only when the anchorperson questioned about nikah nama of the couples at a public place. Otherwise, as the name of the programme ‘swera ka chapa’ suggests, chapa or raid by a media team is itself questionable and objectionable because media has no legal rights to raid any place without permission of the concerned/owner and transgress privacy of others. Ironically, violation of the privacy has been noticed only when the matter involved is about Islamic and eastern values. This speaks volumes behind the channel’s management action and the lobbies that made them to take the action.
On Sun, Jan 29, 2012 at 5:01 PM, syed aziz wrote:
Please stop portraying the episode as a move by liberals. This is a very uninformed way of ignoring fundamnetal rights of personal privacy. And by the way look around and almost all channels are conducting raids also on illegal businesses, fake drgus and spice factories. Please don’t generalize things and be objective. *** This Message Has Been Sent Using BlackBerry Internet Service from Mobilink ***
Dont think any couple, married or not, would like to be questioned on TV and asked to show their nikah nama. This has nothing to do with Eastern or Islamic values. Great decision by Samaa TV. I would also like the management to take notice of anchors who spread hatred against other races and religions.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
*That is nonsense. It was anything but one-sided. Much before NGOs got into the picture, over 2,000 angry protests wee posted on Facebook. People who gossip about others or hide their identities either because they don’t have the guts to say anything openly or because they are untruthful, otherwise SAMAA could have defended themselves with that. Such is the ignorance of this voyeuristic complainant that he forgets that our governments, so many politicians, harmful investments, country loans, and even militants and fanatics, are heavily foreign-funded. But that doesn’t bother him.*
I would add my two bits here. Why argue about who was in favour or against? What matters is that anything unethical should be removed.
A worthier debate (though redundant now) would be, whether the said show was unethical or not.
السلام علیکم! جمہوریت کا بنیادی اصول ہے کہ اکثریت کی راۓ مانی جاتی ہے. کیا مایا کا پروگرام دیکھنے والوں کی اکثریت نے ناپسند کیا؟ اگر نہیں تو ان کی پسند کا احترام کرنا چاہئیے. دوسرے، ہمارا معاشرہ سیکولر نہیں. اس کی اخلاقی قدریں دین اسلام پر مبنی ہیں. چنانچہ مغرب کے رواج یہاں نافذ نہیں کیے جا سکتے. اگر مغرب میں رہنے والے مسلمان کہیں کہ تمام عورتوں کو سر پر دوپٹہ لینا چاہئیے تو کیا ان کی بات وہاں کی اکثریت مانے گی؟
الله حافظ! *محمّد عبد الحمید* مصنف، “غربت کیسے مٹ سکتی ہے” (کلاسک پبلشر، لاہور) http://www.mahameed.blogspot.com/ /www.mahameed-articles.blogspot.com /www.mahameed-poverty.blogspot.com
While it is a step in the right direction that the Maya Khan show has been taken off air, and her services terminated by Samaa… because she still doesn’t ‘get it’ that what she did was wrong, as was proven in Dr. Moeed Pirzada’s Sochta Pakistan, hasn’t she take a fall for many others like her?
There are so many other obnoxious programmes whose team violates the privacy of ordinary citizens and gets away with it on other channels. What about them? Does PEMRA need another outcry from the citizens before dusting off its rule books?
Terminating “Maya Khan Show’ team does NOT absolve the channel of its responsibility of editorial and production oversight, which is developed when the corporate ethos trickles down to every employee that certain things will NOT be considered kosher! It is very obvious that Samaa was found wanting in this.
As for the comment of Muhammad Abd al-Hameed that ہمارا معاشرہ سیکولر نہیں. اس کی اخلاقی قدریں دین اسلام پر مبنی ہیں. چنانچہ مغرب کے رواج یہاں نافذ نہیں کیے جا سکتے
Did Maya Khan and her pack of hounds determine whether the couples were Muslims? and if they were, what were they violating? The women who were chased were clad in burqa and were just sitting and talking. I certainly can’t recall any images of ‘maghribi’ women clad in burqas sitting and having a conversation.
Afia Salam
On 30 January 2012 11:07, Muhammad Abd al-Hameedwrote:
السلام علیکم! فیصل صاحب، یہ کون طے کرے گا کہ کیا اخلاقی ہے اور کیا غیر اخلاقی؟ اور کس بنیاد پر؟ کیا معیار ہماری اخلاقی قدریں ہوں گی یہ مغرب کی؟
الله حافظ! *محمّد عبد الحمید* مصنف، “غربت کیسے مٹ سکتی ہے” (کلاسک پبلشر، لاہور) http://www.mahameed.blogspot.com/ /www.mahameed-articles.blogspot.com /www.mahameed-poverty.blogspot.com
I like to add that the issue she was highlighting is right but the way she presented this is wrong. just highlight the issue don’t be so personal and run and catch people like this is wrong. i think she forgot that this is not a crime anymore in our country its a social issue against our values (leave institutes and offices to date at parks). I personally most of the time avoid to go parks with my family due to these culprits busy in unethical practices.
I also like to appreciate her for lot of Good things she done and helped people highlight lot of issues.
Regards,
Ayaz Toor *ایاز طور* +92-333-215-8434
On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 11:07 AM, Muhammad Abd al-Hameed < mahameed40@gmail.com> wrote:
I think this is nota religious debate. if u see the matter according to the religion then see Maya Khan dances and pitures o you tube and u will find the same. She is sitting in someone’s lap…is that Islam? but again i say its her personal matter…so we should not discuss that.
السلام علیکم۔اصل حل کوئی پروگرام ختم کرنا نہیں ہے۔جب تک ہمارا میڈیا ریٹنگ کی دوڑ سے باہر نہیں نکلے گا،اس وقت تک اس طرح کے پروگرام کسی نہ کسی صورت میں آتے رہیں گے۔اب مایا خان تو بڑا نام نہی ںہے ورنہ جاوید چودھری،حامد میر اور نصرت جاوید وغیرہ بھی اپنے پروگرام ہٹ کروانے کے لیے کیا کیا کرتے ہیں۔وہ مشہور نام بن چکے ہیں اور دیکھے جاتے ہیں تو ٹی وی مالکان ان کے خلاف کوئی ایکشن نہیں لیتے۔
Regards Malik Irfan Ali Lecturer/Columnist Coordinator Urdu Department Chief Editor “Safeena” PEC,Doha-Qatar
links for my columns http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Malik-Irfan-Ali-Columnist/163320640355988?v=wall http://www.urdugalaxy.com/article/detail.php?id=940 http://www.sapulse.com/new_comments.php?id=2289_0_1_0_M6 http://www.dailytaqat.com/972-25.10.10/fpages/b4.htm http://urdunetjpn.com/ur/2010/11/07/malik-irfan-ali-7/ http://www.urdugalaxy.com/article/detail.php?id=972 http://makepakistanbetter.com/Why_how_what_forumU.asp?GroupID=11&ArticleID=11820 http://www.umeed-e-jahan.com/artical/2010/Dec/Azan-e-sehar.html http://www.makepakistanbetter.com/why_how_what_user.asp?UserID=M.irfan http://www.hohahe.com/Articles.aspx?Author_ID=170 http://urdunetjpn.com/ur/2010/11/08/malik-irfan-ali-8/ http://www.dailypegham.com/art-2010/141.php http://www.nawaijang.com/weekllynawaijangedtion/issue207/Page%207.jpg http://www.paknews.es/ar-2010/152.php http://www.dailypegham.com/art-2010/147.php
Dear Afia, be a little sensible. Women clad in burqas were not violating the sanctity of burqa even creating embarrassment to innocent women? Tomorrow you will not find any harm in illicit acts by such couple in the parks. Sajid
In my opinion, Mr. Ayaz Toor has rightly said that the real problem was not that what she tried to highlight but the way she highlighted it. Even I watched another program “FIR” on Geo, in which the host had highlighted the the same issue in some parks in LAHORE. From Islamic perspective, there is no provision for such “dating” etc. On the other hand, Islam also prohibits exposing others’ evils or weaknesses. Majority of Pakistani Muslims are moderate (on the middle course) but they are seized by extremists on two sides, i.e. religious extremists and FIBRALS (fascist liberals).
This is not the first time ever that some TV channel is raiding or carrying out ‘chapa’. It was first introduced by PTV many years ago and then almost all the channels done this type of programme raiding places like factories of spurious drugs, food and beverages, quakes, etc. by Geo, Express. Even Dawn Mews, Aaj and Express are doing similar programmes but the only difference was that they yet to touch upon such evil of the society as done by “Sawera Ka Chapa”, and did’t dare to expose those who want to spread their dirty designs in the public by encouraging dating and similar illicit things in the society. ”Kahan Gay Sana Khwan-e-Taqdees-e Mashriq?Sajid Aziz
One sin is not the justification of other sin. You can see in older posts that journalists and common people are protesting against Maya program. Its not about NGO. Sent from my BlackBerry® Smartphone provided by Ufone