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Pakistan state television PTV was unable to make an on-the-spot coverage of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's Lahore visit last week due to the "non-availability of a functional laptop".
The PTV after suspending employees for failing to ensure 'proper' coverage of Sharif's events, reinstated the officials. This comes after PM visited Kot Lakhpat jail and Ramazan Bazaars in Lahore on April 24, but the PTV team was unable to cover the events properly. As per the sources, the PTV had failed on Sunday as well to broadcast live the first-ever visit of Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz to southern Punjab, reported Dawn. The state broadcaster had to rely on private television channels for live coverage of the event. The logos of private channels covering the event were visible on the PTV screen. Sohail Bokhari, a PTV spokesperson, informed that the suspended officials will be reinstated with effect from May 1. "The employees concerned have been informed that they may resume their duties on the first working day after the Eid holidays," informed the spokesperson. Among those who were suspended included the General Manager of Lahore PTV, the coordinator for VVIP coverage, and senior news editors. According to a statement released by the PTV, the state-run organization "ensures its coverage integrity in line with its stated SOPs, but these were not followed during the Prime Minister's Lahore visit". "Taking cognizance of gross negligence on part of the team, the management suspended the employees responsible for the whole coverage and the matter was put to detailed investigation," the statement said, as per the media outlet. "The suspensions were made as part of the standard operating procedure in place in the state media to avert the recurrence of such incidents. But the management, taking a tolerant view of this negligence, has restored the services of these employees," it added. In 2018, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government has ordered for immediate removal of Arshad Khan from the post of Managing Director (MD) of PTV after the state-run news channel was involved in a major goof-up during Prime Minister Imran Khan's recent visit to China. The PTV news channel spelt the dateline "Beijing" as "Begging" on the top left corner of the screen during the live broadcast of Khan's speech in China. The typo continued to remain visible on-screen for around 20 seconds and became a target of trolling by netizens. (ANI)
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