LAHORE: After an intense online campaign, television channel Samaa TV has fired morning show host Maya Khan and her team, and has said that her show will be taken off the air.
The decision comes after a controversial episode of the morning show, where Khan was seen conducting a ‘raid’ on a public park in Karachi and questioning couples about whether their parents were aware of their whereabouts and going as far as asking them about their marital status.
Maya Khan was at first reluctant talking about the decision, but later confirmed that her show had indeed been cancelled.
The morning show host blamed “a vicious media campaign by rival groups” for the outcome of the fiasco. She said that those campaigning against her had wanted her to be removed and this is exactly what had happened.
Khan stressed on the fact that no one had highlight the “good things” she had done on her show.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, she confirmed the authenticity of the letter (below) by senior Samaa TV management and her termination from the channel.
Independent sources from Samaa have also confirmed that Maya Khan has been fired along with the production team of the show.
The letter which was sent out by the management states that Khan had refused to apologise ‘unconditionally’. It also adds that official termination notices will be sent to her on Monday morning.
The letter which confirms the termination of Maya Khan’s services from Samaa TV is signed by CEO Zafar Siddiqui. Dear All
Your feedback is appreciated. As a responsible corporate citizen, Samaa TV did what was required under the circumstances. We do not and have not in the past or intend to in the future to take our viewership or reporting requirements without the seriousness that they deserve.
You would appreciate that as an organisation with a functioning management team, we had to conduct certain legal requirements over the past week and internal review processes (which are operational in nature) before procedding further.
As a result of which I can inform you:
We asked Maya to apologise unconditionally which she did not.
The CEO asked her to do that on Friday which she refused.
As a result of which the following will be put in place on Monday, Jan 30th.
Maya and her team will receive termination notices.
Her show is being stopped from Monday morning.
Our deeds and actions taken since this episode occured are there for the record and hope this will settle issues as far as the station is concerned.
A lot has been written about the race for ratings. Well, we do absolve such behaviour irrespective of ratings that the show was getting.
With best regards and thank you for your understanding.Zafar Siddiqi Chairman CNBC Arabiya
Chairman CNBC Africa
President CNBC Pakistan