92 News apologizes to Maryam Nawaz over false Toshakhana watch report

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published 2 months ago |  JP Staff Report

Pakistani channel 92 News apologized to Maryam Nawaz for falsely reporting she bought a Toshakhana watch for Rs45,000 instead of around Rs1 million. The correction follows her UK defamation lawsuit over the 2022 broadcast.

Summary

ISLAMABAD — Pakistani news channel 92 News has issued a formal apology to Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz for falsely reporting that she purchased a Toshakhana watch for Rs45,000, significantly understating its actual value of approximately Rs1 million.

Maryam Nawaz had filed a defamation lawsuit against the channel in a UK High Court following the broadcast of these claims in November 2022, which aired in England.

According to 92 News, the erroneous reports were aired on their program Mad-e-Muqabil on the evening of November 17, 2022, and later broadcast on Nashar-e-Mukarar as well as uploaded to YouTube.

The channel had claimed that Maryam Nawaz obtained the watch at a fraction of its value with the alleged collusion of her subordinate bureaucrats and that she had declared it in the national exchequer at only 10 percent of the actual price.

92 News clarified that these claims were the result of a misinterpretation of documents. The Galaxy Broadcasting Network UK issued an apology, stating it regretted the distress and inconvenience caused to Maryam Nawaz by the broadcast.

The apology marks a significant development in a case that highlighted concerns over media accuracy and accountability, particularly in reporting high-profile political figures.