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NEW DELHI: After the Saarc Audio Visual Exchange (Save) ended
in a virtual failure with none of the state-owned broadcasters
taking it seriously, private sector television channels have
got together to produce a weekly news and cultural magazine
covering activities in the region.
'Southasian', a weekly programme, will be telecast simultaneously
by private television channels in all the countries of the
Saarc region every Sunday evening at 1830 hrs Indian Time
commencing from 8 April.
Though the software will be submitted by all the channels
which have joined the venture, it will be edited and packaged
in the Kolkata studios of Broadcast Worldwide owned by former
Doordarshan director-general Rathikant Basu and edited by
a freelancer from Bangladesh, Rubana.
The channels which have initially joined the venture are Broadcast
Worldwide, NDTV India, Maharaja TV of Nepal, Aaj TV of Pakistan,
India TV, Image TV from Nepal and Channel I from Bangladesh.
Addressing a joint press meet here, Rathikant Basu said the
channels felt the need to use the media to cement the bonds
of cultural ties amongst the nations of the region and nurture
the spirit of unity. He expressed the hope that TV channels
in Bhutan and the Maldives will also join the venture shortly.
The programme will initially be of 25 minutes duration but
may be increased to an hour later.
While Rajat Sharma of India TV echoes the sentiments expressed
by Basu, Shaheed Nadeem who was representing Aaj TV said the
media had a massive impact on the minds of the people in the
region and this power should be used to unite and not divide
the people.
NDTV CEO Narayan Rao said he had just returned from a business
trip to the United States, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong
among other countries and been greatly impressed by the fact
that people from the south Asian region appeared to have great
influences in the media organizations in those countries.
Ram K Manandhar of Image TV said his channel had the largest
terrestrial reach in Nepal and therefore the programmes would
be of great value to Nepal.
Chevaan Daniel of Maharaja TV said the implicit message of
the programme would be one of unity and will lead to greater
understanding.
Faridur Reza Sagar said Channel I was the first digital channel
of Bangladesh and had a viewership of 30 million.
Lubna Mariam of Bangladesh, who is a classical dancer and
a social activist and who first came up with the idea of such
a programme, said her travels had shown how the people of
the region were not only cultural close, but also shared the
same kind of problems.
Kanak Mani Dixit who had launched a similar experiment through
his journal 'Himal' in Nepal said it was regrettable that
India as a state had only recognized the importance of south
Asia as a major area of influence only in the past few years.
Rubana said the programme would be of a composite nature,
with seven to eight minutes given to news, followed by an
interview of the week, a Vox Pop of the views of the common
people in these countries, and some feature stories.
Basu, who is Chairman of Broadcast Worldwide, later told indiantelevision.com
that all the member channels would send their programmes,
but the final decision on usage would be taken in Kolkata.
An editorial board had already drawn up broad guidelines but
would also meet from time to time to review changes in policy.
He said there would be no copyright on other channels wanting
to downlink the programmes of South-Asian to telecasts on
their own channels as the aim was to promote oneness.
Save had been started just over two decades earlier by the
Saarc countries after a summit in Delhi in the early eighties.
The aim was to make half-hour TV and Radio programmes on specific
aspects in each country and broadcast them simultaneously
once a month. Though he had also been associated with this
venture, Basu said that the broadcasts were very erratic and
were virtually stopped after some years.
He said 'Southasian' was formed as an organization in December
during a meeting chaired by him in Kolkata to rediscover and
reinforce a south Asian identity based on shared history,
civilization and culture.
The group supported a plurality of views, promotion of human
rights and gender equality, liberalism, a scientific temper,
and free exchange of media among these countries.
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