Deutsche Welle (DW) Radio head of Asian programmes, Dr Friedemann Schlender, on Saturday said that development of private electronic media in Pakistan is a positive development.
During his visit to APP headquarters here, Dr Schlender said that lots of changes were taking place in media, and new radio and TV channels in private sector have been set up.
"The purpose of my recent visit to Pakistan, along with DW-Radio Chief Editor Miodrag Soric is to take advantage of this opening up of media," he said.
He said: "The people working in private radio channels are very enthusiastic about co-operating with international radio and TV channels and that is what we are looking for here in Pakistan. We have established new contacts during this visit with broadcasters, which would go a long way as far as media co-operation between Germany and Pakistan is concerned."
He said that another purpose of the visit was to explore avenues for re-broadcasting DW programmes in Darn and Pashto languages from radio and TV channels in Pakistan
"To be a part of Pakistan media has a tremendous impact on increasing our listeners in this part of the world," he said,
With new channels emerging in Pakistan, he said, DW has tremendous scope to increase co-operation.
About cable network in Pakistan, Schlender said, "It is fast expanding and we are in touch with cable operators in most of the cities. We are also interested in Direct-to-Home (DTH) service which is recently being introduced in Pakistan. We are negotiating with the people who are supposed to run DTH."
Talking about DW's performance after 9/11, he conceded that initially they did not do well because of lack of contacts and knowledge about the Afghan situation. "But gradually we improved and increased our contacts in the region and we are doing very well now," he said.
However, Dr Schlender said, DW is giving a balanced view of the situation in Afghanistan and Iraq and is different from other international channels.
About DW's view of Muslim world, he said, "We have a slogan 'Dialogue of Cultures' and it is not a mere slogan but we are trying to fill it with life."
He said, "We feel that basically a phenomenon is prevailing that Muslim society is developing, modernising and liberalising. But that does not mean they are leaving Islam. It is interesting to watch Muslim society modernising, keeping pace with new economic and social developments and facing orthodox forces at the same time."
He said that one has to do that in the fast changing world as one cannot live in isolation in the modern-day world.
In this context, Dr Schlender also talked about improving Pak-India relations and said that both countries can benefit from social, cultural and economic experiences once they succeed in normalising relations.
He said that unfortunately both countries could not utilise their full human potential due to tense environment existing between the two countries in past five decades.
About security situation in Pakistan, he said that it was his third trip to Pakistan and he always felt very comfortable here. "I don't think there is any serious threat for me, but there is misperception among western media about Pakistan's security environment."
He said, "Since we have no infrastructure in Pakistan, we can not get direct information about situation in Pakistan. Our main source of information is the international wire agencies which normally disseminate thrilling news about Pakistan.
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