An alleged leaked audiotape of Maryam Nawaz has been circulating on Twitter in which she is deciding which TV channel would get government advertisement when she was heading PML-N’s media cell.
In the alleged audiotape, a voice resembling Maryam Nawaz can be heard ordering her team not to give government advertisements to channels apparently doing anti-PMLN reporting on their news channels. She said that ads will not be given to 92 News, ARY News, Channel 24 News, and SAMAA News.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Political Communication, Shahbaz Gill, shared the audio clip on his Twitter account and asked the media fraternity for their brazen silence and lackluster criticism of Maryam Nawaz on trying to damage the media industry.
SAPM @SHABAZGIL exposes fake news series by Maryam Safdar's team and also questions all media on why they are not playing Maryam's leaked audio where she is deciding which channels shall get Govt's ads and who shouldn't when she was leading Media Cell of PMLN Govt. pic.twitter.com/NbPpvjHQNK
— PTI (@PTIofficial) November 23, 2021
While condemning the audiotape, he said that there would have been a strong reaction from the entire media industry had PTI been involved in any such manipulation.
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Shahbaz Gill in an interview with Arshad Sharif on ARY News said that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s government did not try to control the institutions and in fact, TV channels that were anti-government gained more advertisement. Host Arshad Sharif said that it’s a fact, ARY News did not get any government funding during PML-N’s rule.
Leaked audio tapes taking over Pakistan
For the past few days, a trend of leaking audio tapes has been in full swing on social media. Recently, a fake audiotape of former chief justice of Saqib Nisar circulated on social media. The fake audio tape gave the perception that the court cases against Maryam Nawaz and Nawaz Sharif were fake and fabricated and the judiciary was forced to give decisions against them to support Prime Minister Imran Khan.
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Meanwhile, Maryam Nawaz has not reacted to the leaked audio tape. She has not denied the authenticity of the audiotape either.