Dunya making a comeback

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 27 June 2012

Dunya TV has reportedly regained its position as the leading news channel in Pakistan, despite facing a scandal. The channel's ratings have improved, surpassing Geo TV in recent reports.

Summary

ISLAMABAD: Despite the huge setback Dunya TV recently suffered courtesy the controversial leaked interview episode featuring anchors Meher Bukhari, Mubashar Lucqman and property tycoon Malik Riaz, the channel has apparently made a strong comeback.

On June 23, Dunya released a rating chart showing it had beaten Geo into second place while reporting the slot wise performance of coverage (1600-1730pm) on Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s disqualification earlier that week. Samaa TV is shown to have come third and DawnNews fourth in the ratings.

Last month Dunya had claimed to have overtaken Geo as Pakistan’s favorite news channel, but that was before the leaked video scandal broke. At the time Geo vehemently denied Dunya’s claim, producing another ratings chart showing Geo was still on top.

It is openly and commonly perceived that the ‘leaked video’ scandal could be the direct result of the ratings war between the two channels and was deliberately engineered by Geo.

However, there is nothing substantial to support this theory. Dunya owner and CEO, Mian Amir Mehmood, in a note to the channel’s employees, had congratulated them for their performance and urged them to continue their good work.

However, he has been mum on the ‘leaked video scandal’ Both Geo and Dunya have been carrying out a rather distasteful and unbecoming proxy war of words through their so-called senior anchors. These anchors have been pointing out the lack of credibility and misdeeds of their rivals, stressing on media ethics and what is right and what is not, while conveniently ignoring their own actions.

Geo has been top of the ratings charts since 2004/2005 and has rarely been challenged. “Dunya is lying,” said one Geo producer in Karachi, “They are nowhere near us. The ratings charts they keep on producing are fabrications of their own making. Everybody knows who is No.1.” On the other hand, a Dunya reporter insisted, “Geo has lost its credibility.

The ‘List of 19” featured more corrupt journalists from Geo than any other channel; so, if Hamid Mir says negative things about Dunya, who do you think is going to believe him?”