RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

MASS MEDIA FACILITIES IN THE COUNTRV The mass međia in the country have developed from traditional forms of printing to the most modern printing capabilities and from limited broađcasting to a television networK covering a large area of the country . These media have private as well as public forms of ownership . Most of the IHI newspapers are privately owned while the officia) organization , the National Press Trust, also brings out 1 1 publications . Among the government media , television and radio are directly controlled by the state in the form of corporations . Pakistan Television Corporation which covers 56 V. of the area proviđes a major and popular form of entertainment through its plays and other entertainment programs . Besides the popularity of TV programs the viewership is limited to middle class or the rural elites . Though only 1,264,326 TV sets are available for a population of about 100 million , viewership is wider due to the group-viewership patterns , especially in rural areas. 55 5 In a country like Pakistan where limited transportation and technical facilities pose a major obstacle to communicating with the rural population , radio has proved its worth in proviđing a cost-effective medium for the distant audience . Broadcasting becomes more viable unđer conditions where verbal communication links are traditionally more effective than the written words due to the low literacy rate . From 3 radio stations in 1947, the country now has a network of 16 stations in almost all major cities . The state-owneđ Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) was broadcasting 39 1 hours daily from all stations covering 95/. population in 1983. Additionally , the external servlce airs approximately 200 hours of programs weekly in 20 languages . The ever-increasing influence and spread of the mass media in the country do not reflect diversity , professional maturity and freedom of expression due to socio-political pressures on the media. However , after a prolonged period of martial law , the ćountr у experienced a period of freedom for media following the 1985 elections which inaugurated a civilian-military form of government. This civilian-military marriage came to an end when President Zia-ul-Haq đissolved the civil government last Мау . Though the private press епјоуз a comparative freedom , different forms of restrictions аге still in effect including the infamous Press and Publications Ordinance , self censorship as a result of different pressures , allocation of government advertisement , and control over the newspnnt quota.

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