Lahore: The ruling Pakistan People's Party has declared an open war against the Jang media group for running what it describes as a "malicious propaganda campaign" against its co-chairman and President Asif Ali Zardari.
"The Jang media group, comprising popular TV channel Geo News, The News daily and Urdu daily Jang and other sports and entertainment channels and publications, is running false stories to damage the reputation of President Zardari here and abroad," said Fakharuddin Chaudhry, information secretary for the Punjab chapter of PPP.
"Just pick up any of the Jang group's publications and you will find five to seven stories planted to target Mr Zardari, which is proof of journalistic dishonesty," he told reporters during an interaction at Lahore Press Club.
The PPP will organise rallies across Pakistan on December 10 against the "propaganda" of this media group and its "supporters in the establishment".
Chaudhry said: "We will tell the people that this media group along with some political actors can do no harm to the President and his party's government".
Chaudhry warned that reaction from PPP workers could be severe if "such elements continue their propaganda".
During a public address last week, Zardari too had referred to a media group that he said "has a monopoly and wants to have its rate from the government". "I want to tell that private TV channel that my party has come to power without giving a rate to it and will stay without paying anything to it," Zardari told a PPP gathering in Karachi over a video link from the presidency.
Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, a close aide of Zardari, has criticised two anchors of Geo News for running a "vilification campaign" against the President for the past three months at the behest of "anti-democratic" forces.
"Two anchors of the popular private channel are running a malicious campaign against President Zardari but they will not succeed in their designs," Kaira said.
Though Kaira did not name the anchors, other PPP leaders said he was referring to Hamid Mir and Shahid Masood of Geo News.
PPP ministers and other top leaders have also been advised by Zardari to avoid appearing on talk shows on Geo News.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, December 03, 2009, 18:02