LAHORE: Senior media professionals belonging to television news channels met in Lahore on Monday and decided to form an association consisting of Director News/Editors.

According to a press release, there was a consensus at the meeting that a body was needed to ensure the professional growth of electronic media and confront challenges faced by news channels, including attempts to curb freedom of expression.

The participants entrus­ted a core committee with preparation of a draft constitution for the proposed organisation. A formal shape will be given to the organisation at the next meeting.

Representatives of the Council of Pakistan News­paper Editors (CPNE), hea­ded by its president, Arif Ni­­­zami, and Secretary Gen­eral, Dr Jabbar Khattak, as well as senior newspaper editors, including Mujibur Rehman Shami, Zaffar Abbas, Saleem Bokhari, Ayaz Khan, Sohail Warraich and Aamir Ghouri, participated in the meeting and provided their valuable input.

The meeting was also attended by Azhar Abbas of Geo TV, Fahd Husain (Exp­ress News), Rashid Mahm­ood (Aaj News), Zahid Mazhar (Dawn News), Fazil Jamili (Jang Web), Imran Mir (Aap News), Sarmad Salik (Indus News), Khurram Kaleem (City 42), Farooq Majeed (92 News), Rana Jawad (Geo News), Muhammad Usman (Neo TV), Ansar Naqvi (24 News), Farhan Mallick (Samaa TV), Ahmad Waleed (Samaa TV), Habib Akram (Dunya TV), Mian Tahir (24 News) and Shiraz Hasnaat (Hum News).

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2019