In a bizarre incident in Pakistan, as many as 17 employees of state-run broadcaster PTV was suspended, because they failed to properly telecast the PM’s Lahore visit recently. Newly appointed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was in Lahore on April 24 where he visited Kot Lakhpat Jail and Ramazan Bazaar, but the local officials of PTV failed to cover the events properly as didn’t have properly functional laptops, as per a report by Dawn.
According to the report, the PTV headquarter had refused to provide the Lahore team an advanced laptop needed for the coverage, and when the battery of the laptop used by the Lahore team died, they could not transmit the footage, resulting in loss of lob for 17 employees of the TV channel.
According to Dawn, as per standard operating procedure, a VVIP team comprising reporters, producers and other technical staff is responsible for the coverage of the PM’s events. This team is equipped with all the latest broadcast gadgets needed for the job, including high end laptops needed to streaming and uploading high volume of video footage of the events. This core team is stations in capital Islamabad, and travels with the PM across the country, as well as in his foreign visits.
However, when PM Shehbaz Sharif’s Lahore visit was announced, PTV had asked its Lahore centre to cover the visit. But the Lahore office informed the headquarters that they don’t have a high-end laptop needed for the coverage, and requested to provide one. However, the in-charge of reporting and current affairs departments of PTV asked the Lahore office to hire one laptop instead, as was done a week ago.
After this, the GM of the Lahore centre decided to use his personal laptop for the job and handed it over to the coverage team. After the event was covered and readied, when the team tried to transmit the footage from the location to the office through FTP, they found that the battery of the laptop had drained out. As a result, PTV was forced to use audio of a reporting of a reporter instead of video footage in its reports.
Subsequently on next day on 25th April, the PTV suspended 17 employees responsible for the coverage, including VVIP Coverage deputy controller, Lahore centre general manager, the head of current affairs, apart from engineers, cameramen and others for allegedly neglecting their duties.
The issue of high end laptop was raised by the Lahore centre a week ago also during the PM’s visit, and that time also the Islamabad office had not taken the matter seriously. Due to that the Lahore office has hired a laptop and the PM’s visit was covered without any hiccups. Therefore, the PTV head office has asked the Lahore office to hire a appropriate laptop this time also. But due to some reason, this time the Lahore centre GM decided to use his personal laptop instead of hiring one once again. But this proved to be a disastrous decision, as the battery of his laptop didn’t last long, and it cost the job of 17 employees.
