PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak launched the web television of the province here on Tuesday.

Named as ‘Badloon’ which in Pashto stands for change, the TV inauguration took place at the directorate of information media cell at Civil Secretariat.

The web TV would broadcast programmes on news, current affairs, culture, tourism, entertainment and interviews of public figures.

Provincial Information Secretary Abid Majeed told journalists that the web TV would start full transmission after running test transmission for about two months.

Mr Majeed said that with the launch of web TV, his department was making a foray into public relations.

He said that TV reporters at the district level would go to people and talk to them about the issues they were faced with.

“Youths of both sexes, having master degree could become a volunteer reporter for this TV and a team of three experts will check stories filed by reporters and make suggestion for improvement,” said Mr Majeed.

He said that the TV would also contribute to training of aspiring journalists of the province. He said that people could direct their questions to the TV by typing their message in the web portal. In a segment called ‘Minister Online’, the ministers would answer if many questions about a particular department were asked, he added.

Mr Majeed said that during two months technical issues would be addressed. He said that rather than wasting time on getting a licence for a proper TV channel from Pakistan Electronic Media Regularity Authority, the web TV was a short and simple solution to the government needs which included reaching out to people.

The official said that the TV would have an online archive of its programmes and would also provide a schedule of government daily activities.

He said that currently they had six staffers for content management of the TV and there was a proposal under discussion to provide transport facilities and stipends to the volunteers.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2015