Taking a Look at the Avenues of Urdu News in Pakistan

Urdu is the most popular medium of spreading and selling news in Pakistan. This is owing to the fact that the national language of Pakistani is, but Urdu.

There are a large number of Daily Newspapers, magazines, as well as TV channels that sell news with Urdu as the medium.

As of today, Pakistan has a very active and strong media industry, a huge chunk of which is based on Urdu news channels, newspapers, etcetera.

These sources of Urdu news form the backbone of the industry because news is always in high demand by the public, even more than the entertainment avenues.

It is therefore worthwhile taking a look at the break-down of the sources of Urdu news in Pakistan.

To start with, the following is a list of some of the most prominent Urdu News Daily Newspapers circulating in Pakistan:

Then there are the TV channels that have brought about a media revolution in the country. Previously, there was PTV Home in Pakistan that used to be the sole channel operating in the country.

However, towards the late nineties, there was a boom in Urdu news channels in Pakistan. A large number of privately owned TV channels broadcasting Urdu news for the masses in Pakistan were launched and many of them got to be immensely popular with the viewers.

These Urdu news TV channels created a lot of awareness among the masses in Pakistan. Their role has become monumental in informing the general public about the affairs in and around the country. It is now believed that Media is a pillar of the state in Pakistan. This is because it keeps check and balances, even if to a limited extent, on the people in power in Pakistan.

Therefore, the media industry in the country has a very crucial role to play when it comes to covering important events such as the conduct of elections in the country.

The Urdu news TV channels have exposed a whole lot of scandals in the country such as the rigging in elections in Pakistan and it is through the help of these Urdu news channels that investigations have been launched into such incidents.

List of Urdu News Channels in Pakistan

The following is a list of some of the most popular and active news channels in Pakistan. They keep the masses updated about news round the clock and are therefore much sought after in the country.

Breaking Urdu News Talk Shows in Pakistan

The most sought after segment of news is the Breaking Urdu news in Pakistan. The public in Pakistan is always looking to know about news as it breaks in any part of the country. Therefore, Urdu news channels in Pakistan are flooded with Breaking Urdu news as and when it happens.

Urdu News Talk Shows

Urdu news talk shows are another immensely popular feature of Urdu new channels In Pakistan. Watching these talk shows is how a large number of Pakistanis spend their evenings.

There are a huge number of talk shows aired by all the different Urdu news channels in Pakistan. The anchors of each of these talk shows are probably some of the most well-known people in Pakistan resultantly.

All of them compete for the highest ratings for their talk shows by airing the most interesting content for audiences. This helps them maintain popularity for their shows and be able to attract more and more advertisements for it, thus benefiting their channel and their person financially.

Absence of Ethical Regulations by PEMRA on Talk Shows

One important thing about the Urdu talk shows in Pakistan that needs to be looked into is the ethical guidelines for guests. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority [PEMRA] is the concerned authority which should bring into place checks and balances for the same. This is because many a time, a lack of ethics is what is witnessed in these talk shows, some of which are aired LIVE to the public.

Guests, especially those belonging to rival political parties, are seen fighting unethically and even abusing each other openly in these Urdu news talk shows! All this might serve to increase the rating of the shows but is a highly detestable practice.

This is because it serves to dampen the soft image of Pakistan overseas and belittles the country and its people. This is in lieu of the fact that these channels are available for viewers in a large number of countries worldwide.

Report by Indian News Channel

A recent report in an Indian TV channels delved on how some of the guests in a Pakistani Urdu news talk show were swearing at each other. The video of them doing so was played by the Indian news channel which would certainly have been very embarrassing for any Pakistani to watch.

Therefore, the highest level of standards are what should be practiced by all the Urdu news channels in Pakistan and PEMRA should set clear guidelines about the ethical and moral conduct of these talk shows.

Recordings of Urdu News Talk Shows Available Online

More recently, Pakistani webmasters have taken the initiative to make available recordings of complete Urdu news talk shows online.

This is keeping in mind the interest with which many people in Pakistan follow these talk shows and wish to keep themselves on-board the latest events through them.

The following is a list of some of the most popular websites offering recordings of Urdu news talk shows:

This business experiment has proven to be a huge success as more and more people tune into these websites to watch the talk shows online. They can also download these talk shows and watch them in peace on their PC.

High Popularity of Talk Show Websites in Pakistan

A big reason why these websites offering recordings of Urdu news talk shows have been so popular is because of the convenience they have to offer. People who are looking forward to watching talk shows hosted by their favorite hosts may not be able to do so often because of other more important and urgent tasks at hand.

Therefore they get a solution with these websites which have to offer them recordings of their Urdu news talk shows of choice.

Watch at Convenience

With the help of these websites, they can easily download and watch the talk shows when they get the time such as on weekends or on public holidays. They don’t have to bother about tuning into the right Urdu news TV channel at the right time to watch the talk shows!

Load-Shedding No More a Hindrance

In addition, load-shedding, as is the norm in Pakistan, cannot do much harm to them. This is because they can comfortably watch recordings of Urdu news talk shows online instead. This is if they are unable to watch them on TV because of a sudden power-cut.

Advertisement Free Shows

Moreover, another major benefit available in recordings of these Urdu news talk shows is the absence of any kind of advertisements! This is therefore a very comforting thing for the users who are able to watch the Urdu news talk shows without a single short break, as it is known, to accommodate advertisements in-between.

Any user who tunes into these websites to watch Urdu news talk shows would therefore save much of his time watching a single talk show as he would only have to spend time equal to the duration of the show and no more!

Perfectly Free

What’s more is that tuning into any of these websites to watch Urdu news talk shows is absolutely free of charge! There is no kind of a payment that has to be made to watch the recordings of Urdu news talk shows, they are all free to download and watch.

The Interesting Case of Express 24/7 English News Channel

A very interesting case of Urdu news in Pakistan pertains to the Express News 24/7 English News Channel in Pakistan. The news channel was launched years ago along with Express Urdu News channel. The two channels operated simultaneously in Pakistan with one giving out news in Urdu while the other in English.

A couple of years down the road, the English language oriented Express 24/7 had to be closed down for want of demand in the Pakistani public. However, the Urdu news oriented Express News is still popular and running in Pakistan.

This speaks volumes of the precedence of Urdu news in Pakistan relative to English News. No doubt a large number of Pakistanis prefer to read and hear news in English but the number of people who desire to read news in Urdu is much higher. Therefore, it has proven without doubt that as of now Urdu news maintains an edge in popularity over English news among the masses in Pakistan.

Therefore, for any new channel interested in launching its transmission in Pakistan, it would be a wise idea to keep Urdu as the medium of spreading news in the country. Since Urdu is the common language of communication used by most if not all of Pakistanis therefore a channel based on this language has the highest chance of succeeding in the country.

In addition, the low literacy rate of Pakistan also has a say in this regard. The fact that most of the people are comfortable listening to news in Urdu is what makes Urdu news all the more popular in Pakistan.

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