PMLN Govt plans to handover Bol to Geo-Jang Group

[asimmasood87]

One media group to dictate narrative in Nawaz Sharif’s ‘Naya’ Pakistan

The latest buzz gripping Pakistan’s media industry is that the Geo-Jang Group is all set to take-over the management of the infamous upcoming Bol Media Group, which once was seen as the biggest threat for the established mighty media empire of Mir Shakil ur Rehman.

“The management takeover of the Bol Media Group’s multi-million dollar venture by Mir Shakil-ur Rehman now appears imminent,” a senior most official of the Geo-Jang Group disclosed this in the close circle of his friends.

Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh — the jailed Chairman of the Bol Media Group and the disgraced IT Company Axact — has been given a clear-cut message by the powerful government quarters that if he wants to cut losses, handing over of the management control of his media venture to a government nominee remains the only way out, a reliable source close to the Geo-Jang official said.

According to a senior government official the deal is likely to close within days. He, however, did not disclose any details.

It is an open secret that Mir Shakil-ur Rehman and his Geo-Jang Group are close to the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif government. The PMLN Government extended full support to the Geo-Jang Group when it was at loggerheads with the military establishment following an assassination attempt on its ace anchor Hamid Mir in Karachi in early 2014.

PML-N now appears to oblige its media ally further by forcing the Bol Media Group management to surrender its state-of-the-art infrastructure to its direct or indirect nominee.The move will further strengthen the Geo-Jang Group, which already enjoys a complete dominance on the country’s media scene.

The Bol Media Group planned its launch with a news channel in 2015, but the move was torpedoed when its parent company, Axact, came under investigations on the charges of running a racket of fake degrees. The matter remains pending in the court for the past seven months and is likely to drag on.

Even before the Axact scandal surfaced in May 2015, the Bol Media Group was seen as ‘a brainchild of the establishment.’ Many leading personalities of the Pakistani media industry, especially those from the Geo-Jang Group, including Kamran Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Nasir Baig Chugtai and Azhar Abbas, flocked to join the new media house. They were awarded unprecedented salary packages. The established groups, especially Geo-Jang saw Bol as a threat.

There is a general consensus among Pakistan’s media stalwarts that the entire Pandora box of Axact was opened to damage Bol, which seen as the brain-child of the establishment. However, the Bol Management was left high and dry after the crackdown and its much touted connections with the establishment did not work, leaving many people guessing about the reliability of these allegations.

Shoaib Sheikh and other company officials, in custody since May 2015, found themselves in a tight corner with a hostile government and its various arms at their heels. The country’s slow and cumbersome judicial process also did not give them any relief, including denying them B-class jail facilities, which are enjoyed by many prisoners even accused of terrorism and other severe crimes.

The multi-million dollar question is how Pakistan’s media scene will change once PMLN nominees – read its loyalist of Geo-Jang – takes over the modern infrastructure of Bol?

• PMLN government will be the foremost beneficiary as the media narrative – already skewed in its favor – will become further pro-Nawaz Sharif.
• The Geo-Jang Group, which already has a near-monopoly over the media scene, will become more dominant and be able to dictate the national agenda as was never done in the past.
• The government and the Geo-Jang management will both feed one another to perpetuate their supremacy in their respective spheres.
• In a country where freedom of speech and public-interest journalism has already been muzzled thanks to the commercial and political interests of owners, will further stand compromised.

Welcome to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s “Naya Pakistan” where black will be painted as white and white as black.

 

[Amber Ali]

If this deal actually takes place, that would be the final nail in the coffin for free speech and journalism in Pakistan. I was so amazed earlier last year to know that the reporters at Bol were provided life insurance. One of my very close friend nearly lost his life reporting from a blast in Peshawar in 2014 and his channel didn't even pay for his medical bills for injury that occured on duty. Nawaz Sharif and co should learn from their past mistakes and avoid this media lobbying!

 

[Jazzbot]

Welcome to Noorastan, officially.

 

[Jaanbaz]

So it seems Bol was really taken down by Nawaz and his gang.

 

[humpervez]

One media group to dictate narrative in Nawaz Sharif’s ‘Naya’ Pakistan

The latest buzz gripping Pakistan’s media industry is that the Geo-Jang Group is all set to take-over the management of the infamous upcoming Bol Media Group, which once was seen as the biggest threat for the established mighty media empire of Mir Shakil ur Rehman.

“The management takeover of the Bol Media Group’s multi-million dollar venture by Mir Shakil-ur Rehman now appears imminent,” a senior most official of the Geo-Jang Group disclosed this in the close circle of his friends.

Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh — the jailed Chairman of the Bol Media Group and the disgraced IT Company Axact — has been given a clear-cut message by the powerful government quarters that if he wants to cut losses, handing over of the management control of his media venture to a government nominee remains the only way out, a reliable source close to the Geo-Jang official said.

According to a senior government official the deal is likely to close within days. He, however, did not disclose any details.

It is an open secret that Mir Shakil-ur Rehman and his Geo-Jang Group are close to the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif government. The PMLN Government extended full support to the Geo-Jang Group when it was at loggerheads with the military establishment following an assassination attempt on its ace anchor Hamid Mir in Karachi in early 2014.

PML-N now appears to oblige its media ally further by forcing the Bol Media Group management to surrender its state-of-the-art infrastructure to its direct or indirect nominee.The move will further strengthen the Geo-Jang Group, which already enjoys a complete dominance on the country’s media scene.

The Bol Media Group planned its launch with a news channel in 2015, but the move was torpedoed when its parent company, Axact, came under investigations on the charges of running a racket of fake degrees. The matter remains pending in the court for the past seven months and is likely to drag on.

Even before the Axact scandal surfaced in May 2015, the Bol Media Group was seen as ‘a brainchild of the establishment.’ Many leading personalities of the Pakistani media industry, especially those from the Geo-Jang Group, including Kamran Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Nasir Baig Chugtai and Azhar Abbas, flocked to join the new media house. They were awarded unprecedented salary packages. The established groups, especially Geo-Jang saw Bol as a threat.

There is a general consensus among Pakistan’s media stalwarts that the entire Pandora box of Axact was opened to damage Bol, which seen as the brain-child of the establishment. However, the Bol Management was left high and dry after the crackdown and its much touted connections with the establishment did not work, leaving many people guessing about the reliability of these allegations.

Shoaib Sheikh and other company officials, in custody since May 2015, found themselves in a tight corner with a hostile government and its various arms at their heels. The country’s slow and cumbersome judicial process also did not give them any relief, including denying them B-class jail facilities, which are enjoyed by many prisoners even accused of terrorism and other severe crimes.

The multi-million dollar question is how Pakistan’s media scene will change once PMLN nominees – read its loyalist of Geo-Jang – takes over the modern infrastructure of Bol?

• PMLN government will be the foremost beneficiary as the media narrative – already skewed in its favor – will become further pro-Nawaz Sharif.
• The Geo-Jang Group, which already has a near-monopoly over the media scene, will become more dominant and be able to dictate the national agenda as was never done in the past.
• The government and the Geo-Jang management will both feed one another to perpetuate their supremacy in their respective spheres.
• In a country where freedom of speech and public-interest journalism has already been muzzled thanks to the commercial and political interests of owners, will further stand compromised.

Welcome to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s “Naya Pakistan” where black will be painted as white and white as black.

This was very apparent since May when this news broke. No scandal is blown this big unless an ulterior motive lies behind it.