PCB refused to issue accreditation 1996 world cup fame Pakistani journalist Asghar Ali ……..Islamabad-The PCB does not have a media policy, on the historical occasions,

PCB refused to issue accreditation 1996 world cup fame Pakistani journalist Asghar Ali

By; A Sports correspondent

Islamabad-The PCB does not have a media policy, on the historical occasions, the PCB media officials refused to issue accreditation card to world cup 1996 fame world’s renowned Pakistani journalist. Pakistan Cricket Bard media department totally failed to highlight the soft image of the Pakistan. The liking and disliking policy was showed during the issue of media accreditation cards for local’s media as well national media. Chairman Najam Sethi is himself a seasoned journalist and knows its importance very well, but why PCB’s media people are not being utilized properly is incomprehensible. It is most surprising that all media officers are sitting at PCB head office in Lahore. Chairman Najam Sethi has been facing print and electronic media critics with no satisfactory responses or rebuttals. There was no responsible media officer for the entire series to facilitate the national media in this regards. Asghar Ali Mubarak who is covering sports for last more than 30 years for world’s leading newspaper. Asghar Ali Mubarak approached for a media accreditation on 4th September 2017 but he was categorically refused by PCB media department even for a single match. ‘This is very un fortunate act of PCB ‘’I fought legal battle for the dignity, honor, prestige and respect of Pakistani sports journalism after the1996 cricket world cup after defamatory remarks by English captain Mike Atherton’’ he added.“The world recognizes the significant sacrifices the Pakistan military has made in the fight against terrorism’’ beside other I have lost my real brother Mazar Ali Mubarak in terrorist attack at Rawalpindi ’’Asghar Ali added. He further stated that ICC has done a tremendous job bringing back international cricket. ‘’ I think that without the all-out support of the ICC it would not have been possible to arrange the tour of World XI for T20 international Independence Cup series. “Punjab government and our security agencies also played a vital role in ensuring this elite cricket event by providing foolproof security to the foreign teams and officials ‘’he concluded. Interestingly there is no media official appointed other cricket promoting cities likes Karachi, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Multan etc .It is very unfortunate that PCB authorities are neglecting such a big city, whose population is more than dozens of countries. They don’t even realize its importance from the marketing point of view. As far as the professional efficiency of its media officials are concerned, serious questioned have been raised. If a reporter want approached to so-called media professionals to ask them a simple thing related to PCB or cricket issues, they only say they don’t know and they busy in some other commitment and ask the direct call Chairman Najam Sethi (0300 8477902) or other officials concerned. And it takes two to three days. If a question is hard and its answer is likely to bring PCB’s inefficiency to the fore, he will not be available for any comment
More than 25 non professionals so called media officials were appointed in the PCB’s media, social media and marketing department on lucrative salaries and lavish perks. However there are totally unaware how deal media due lack of knowledge, educational back ground and poor communication skills. The performances during the tour of World XI for T20 international Independence Cup series was not available anywhere. Even the Pakistan Cricket Bard media department’s Raza Rashid Kitchlew
Senior Manager Media (0301 8440280 raza.kitchlew@pcb.com.pk
razakitch@gmail.com),Shakeel Khan, (0301 8440284 shakeel.khan@pcb.com.pk,shakeelkhan.pcb@gmail.com
)Zeeshan Bhatti (0321 8851755) did not bothered to received a single call to contact on their given numbers . On the historical occasions the PCB media officials have failed high light the soft image of PCB due their liking and disliking dirty politics. PCB media officials have also failed to highlight what PCB is doing and what its future plans are for tackling the issues confronting Pakistan cricket. PCB high officials feel that no policy is the best policy in the current circumstances. A lot of people have been appointed in the media and social media department but nobody knows who their boss is. Even they themselves don’t know. Some of them must be intelligent, vibrant, knowledgeable and studious but they have not been trained how to respond to journalists and how to highlight PCB’s activities. If they are compared with other Test playing countries a big difference is observed. Perhaps the government of Punjab, the most populated province in the country, will not have so many media and social media officials as PCB has. If we see the performance of these people, one thing is clear that there is no media policy in the PCB. If we visit the PCB website, everything should become clear: what PCB is doing, news, views, analyses and stories. In the domestic players search bar just the name bar is working and the rest are useless. Even the stats and profiles of the international players are not given. The laziness of PCB media officials and website officials can be judged from the fact that International Calendar has not been updated scheduled events. And no one in the PCB is taking notice. PCB high ups may not see such mistakes due to their workload but even Chief Operating Officer (COO) Subhan Ahmed, Member PCB Governing Board Shakil Shaikh and other high officials also fail to take notice of this.
There is no detail of women cricket calendar even though it is given a lot of importance at international level. Even the domestic calendar is not updated. The Vintage section has not been updated since November 2014. In Blogs section, there has been no new addition. The Editor’s Pick has not been updated since September 2016. It seems that PCB has decided itself that it does not want media promotion. A lot of important work related to media and marketing has been outsourced. Cricket lovers did not forget that in last English tour in 2016, four media persons travelled to England, each of them for fifteen days, only for joy trip. Informed sources say that the people appointed in the media department cannot write a single line of press release and don’t know what the requirements of a news item are.
The PCB media officials always visited foreign countries with the team. What is their standing in journalism? For example Aun Zaidi is working as head of PCB’s social media team nothing new on social media. Media department failed to celebrate restoration of international cricket activities in Pakistan. Even children can spread anything on social media they have dozens of tricks to highlight their issues. In just a few minutes, hundreds of thousands of people are viewing and sharing their updates International players like Lily Singh, an Indian-origin Canadian youtuber, has more than 10 million subscribers. And there are scores of people who have millions of followers. And PCB’s? Forget it!
Due to PCB policy the Pakistan’s great players already very upset and fed up ‘’Shahid Khan Afridi ,Younus Khan is the current examples the both great players refused due to non professional attitude of entire PCB management and as protest ‘’Shahid Khan Afridi was seen in general stand with his fanes. PCB’s heavy media management failed to highlight Pakistan sacrifice war against terrorism during the tour of World XI for T20 international Independence Cup series. It mentioned here that the PCB is responsible for coordinating activities in respect of the game of cricket in all manners and ways, including the formulation of the laws of the game, its constituent members and other subordinate bodies and to organize national tournaments and International matches within the country. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is the governing body for cricket in Pakistan. It is also responsible for the promotion and expansion of the game through its associate and affiliate members throughout the country. Its responsibilities include management of the game at the highest level and the organization of various domestic tournaments at the national level.
PCB also administers the system that provides the maintenance of discipline amongst the constituent members and, by the constituent members, overall cricketing bodies and individuals under their control.