August 16, 2008	Saturday	Sha'aban 13, 1429

KARACHI, Aug 15: The Dawn Group of Newspapers, on the occasion of the 61st anniversary of the founding of Dawn by Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, has announced the formal incorporation of the group into a larger media combine called the Dawn Media Group.

This means that the enlarged Dawn Media Group will contain Dawn and its stable of magazines --- The Herald, Spider and Aurora --- in addition to an enhanced DAWN.COM, the DawnNews television and the City FM89 network nation-wide.

This development allows the formal integration of media companies affiliated with Pakistan Herald Publications Limited (the publishers of Dawn) into a tighter equity-holding and managerial umbrella structure, says a Press release.

In a related development the Dawn Media Group announced the consolidation of managerial structures at the apex level of news operations between two of its largest news departments in the Daily Dawn and the DawnNews television channel.

The current editor of Dawn, Mr. Abbas Nasir has been appointed as Editor Dawn & DawnNews thus allowing editorial structures in both media to be placed under a single editor. Mr. Nasir also oversees DAWN.COM, one of Pakistan’s most visited news websites. His long experience at the BBC and Dawn, the press release says, will allow the convergence of news media and create exciting new possibilities for the Dawn Media Group.

In an associated move, Mr. Zaffar Abbas the Resident Editor Dawn Islamabad has been appointed as Editor DawnNews (North) in addition to his current assignment --- this will facilitate more harmonious newsgathering operations in the northern parts of the country.