NEW DELHI, (APP) : Javed Jabbar, former Information Minister and media expert has cautioned Indian media policy makers and media leaders from letting India become ignorant of its immediate neighbours even as India aspired to be a new global player.Speaking in the inaugural Distinguished Forum of the 18th annual conference of the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre,Singapore being held here, Javed Jabbar called for TV equity in South Asia. The conference theme for 2009 is " Media, Democracy and Governance : emerging paradigms in the digital age."
Javed Jabbar, who is also the founding Chairman of the South Asian Media Association (SAMA) said that while it is notable that there are now reports to be about 500 TV channels in India reflecting the rich, broad range of linguistic and regional diversity, it was equally notable that virtually none of the cable istributors in India offered a single Pakistani TV news channel to hundreds of millions of viewers.
Similarly, he said there is virtually no availability of TV channels from Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives in an average choice offered to Indian viewers. He said there may be a few exceptions but the overwhelming majority of Indian citizens had no opportunity to receive news and views from a Pakistani perspective through their TV set.
Cautioning India from becoming as insulated and ignorant as media-rich America has been due to its own unwillingness to promote foreign media content in the USA, the founding Chairman of SAMA said both Pakistan and India in particular,and South Asian countries in general should agree to a reciprocal basis for enabling their citizens to have the choice of viewing at least 4 or 5 news channels from the other country or countries. This kind of exchange would significantly improve levels of information and understanding and also discourage frequent media hysteria and war-mongering as had been witnessed immediately after the November 2008 Mumbai incident.
The conference session was chaired by Dr. Prannoy Roy, Chairman of NDTV and a well-known broadcaster. Other speakers included Dr. Kiran Karnik, an eminent IT expert of India, Barun Das, Chief Executive of Zee TV, and Dr N. Bhaskar Rao, a prominent media scholar of India.
Over 300 delegates from Asia, Europe, Australia and North America are attending the conference. Dr Anjum Zia, a media educationist from Lahore is also participating.
In his remarks, Dr Prannoy Roy agreed with Javed Jabbar's proposal and said it was vital for Indians to remain well-informed about how India's immediate neighbours perceived various issues, including bilateral relations.
During an interview with NDTV while referring to issue of terrorism, Javed Jabbar said that the people and the Government of Pakistan were fully committed to curbing terrorism and extremism.
Referring to Hafiz Saaed,s case he pointed out that the superior Judiciary of Pakistan is completely independent. At the same time, he stressed that there is a widely held view in Pakistan that several terrorist acts in Pakistan especially in Baluchistan are connected some how to the activities of Indian consulate in Afghanistan.
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