Pakistani Media Presses On

<p>In spite of the violence, intimidation, and emergency-rule restrictions set on the Pakistani media, many citizens within Pakistan are managing to stay connected to the international news. When the government cracked down on TV news, banning cable providers from showing private local and international news, many Pakistanis started looking to other news sources. <a title=”Writing for BBC News” href=”http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7085043.stm” target=”_blank”>Writing for BBC News</a>, Syed Shoaib Hasan reports on a fast-growing demand for websites, blogs, and satellite dishes to pick up outside news broadcasts.</p>
<p>The ban, and subsequent scramble to digital, highlights a shift in the way information is disseminated and suppressed. The international blog aggrigating website <a title=”<EM>Global Voices Online</EM> has a page devoted to the bloggers in Pakistan” href=”http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/specialcoverage/pakistan-emergency-2007/” target=”_blank”>
<em>Global Voices Online</em> has a page devoted to the bloggers in Pakistan</a> piercing through the suppressed media veil. Judging by the number of posts there, the government’s attempt to stanch the flow of information may prove futile. –<i>Morgan Winters</i>
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<p>(Thanks, <a title=”MediaChannel” href=”http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2007/11/09/beating-pakistans-tv-news-blackout/” target=”_blank”>MediaChannel</a>.)     </p>
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