ARY News apologizes for airing election results before scheduled time
JournalismPakistan.com | Published: 25 July 2018
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ARY News presenters apologized after announcing election results prematurely, violating regulations. The incident drew a response from competing channels like Geo News.Summary
ISLAMABAD – Presenters of ARY NewsTelevision election transmission on Wednesday apologized for announcing the results of the general elections immediately after the closure of polling at 6:00 pm.
With the traditional claim that ARY News was the first channel to air the results, Iqrar ul Hasan started announcing the results.
However, within 15 minutes, his other colleagues including Wasim Badami, Kashif Abbasi, and Sabir Shakir, realized that the Election Commission of Pakistan had prohibited the news channels from announcing results before 7:00 pm.
On the other hand, Geo News started claiming that the results announced by “other” TV channels were not authenticated. At the same time, Geo claimed that they had received many results but would announce them after 7:00 pm.
On July 5, the ECP had asked the TV channels to ensure that the election results were not aired before 7:00 pm on July 25.
KEY POINTS:
- ARY News aired election results before 7:00 pm deadline.
- Presenters included Iqrar ul Hasan, Wasim Badami, Kashif Abbasi, and Sabir Shakir.
- ECP had instructed media not to announce results before 7:00 pm.
- Geo News claimed it would authenticate results before airing them.
- Incident highlights media compliance issues during elections.
