Dunya's Urdu newspaper faces delay

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published 13 years ago

The launch of Dunya News' Urdu newspaper has been delayed for about three months, primarily attributed to the upcoming holy month of Ramazan. Management changes and hiring of former Dateline Islamabad journalists are also noteworthy.

Summary

ISLAMABAD: The Urdu newspaper that Dunya News TV planned to bring out in August has been delayed for about three months, JournalismPakistan.com has learnt.

Although the delay is said to be because of the holy month of Ramazan that starts in July, observers believe there could be other reasons also.

The management recently hired some reporters in Islamabad who were rendered jobless following the abrupt closure of local daily Dateline Islamabad.

Those who have been taken on board include Aamir Saeed, Zubair Qureshi, Almas Haider Naqvi and Tariq Mureed, all former Dateline employees. Azmat Malik has also been hired for the newspaper’s investigation unit.

The newspaper managers recently hired senior journalist Amir Mir as the project director. They had also been in negotiations with Arif Nazimi, Editor of Pakistan Today at one point hoping to bring him in as the group editor.

However, those negotiations reportedly fell through because Mian Amir, the Dunya News owner suggested Niazmi merge his newspaper with his group.

Although Nizami was willing to do so, his investors and CEO Babar Nizami are said to have opposed the idea.
 

KEY POINTS:

• Dunya News' Urdu newspaper launch delayed by three months.
• Delay linked to Ramazan, but other reasons may exist.
• New hires include former Dateline Islamabad employees.
• Amir Mir appointed as project director for the newspaper.
• Negotiations with Arif Nizami for editor position fell through.