Dawn News is one of Pakistan's 24-hour Urdu news channel. Based in Karachi, the station is a subsidiary of Pakistan Herald Publications Limited, Pakistan's largest English-language media group. The test transmission of the station occurred on 25 May 2007, and the channel went live on 23 July 2007. Originally broadcast in English, on 15 May 2010, Dawn News converted into an Urdu news channel after successful test transmission of four hours a day. The conversion was mainly due to its financial crisis and thin viewership in the country. Express 24/7 replaced it as Pakistan's only English news channel briefly, until it too was shut down by Express Media Group for financial reasons. Dawn News' test transmission was launched by former President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf. The complete launch of the channel coincided with the result of the Supreme Court case which cleared the Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who had been suspended by General Musharraf. The channel was initially housed in Haroon House, the head-office of PHPL, but later moved to its current premises in West Wharf, Karachi. The channel has an online stream available on its website for foreign viewing.
History of the parent organisation
The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah launched the Dawn newspaper in the 1940s - it is the oldest English language newspaper in Pakistan. DawnNews was launched as Pakistan's first English news and current affairs channel and vows to "provide its viewers with a medium that is responsible, credible and balanced." The channel has bureaux in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Quetta and Peshawar, with studio facilities in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. Equipped with state-of-the-art technology, including digital satellite news gathering capability and broadband global area networks, the channel has the capacity to provide live transmission from remote areas via satellite, thus enabling comprehensive and prompt news coverage from across the country. After a brief test transmission, the channel went live on 23 July 2007. Over the past few years the channel has established its fame being the most credible voice in the murky pool of electronic media, in Pakistan. Keeping in view the public demand, DawnNews had decided to launch a separate Urdu news channel. But before launching the separate channel, it had started a three-hour Urdu transmission within its English channel’s airtime, which was later increased to 12 hours. The channel officially put an end to its English language programming on 15 May 2010. DawnNews has broken a number of big stories. It was DawnNews which exclusively broadcast the footage of the assassin of former Prime MinisterBenazir Bhutto. It was DawnNews that got official confirmation from Pakistan that lone surviving gunman of Mumbai terror attacks – Ajmal Kasab – was a Pakistani. Besides, DawnNews has covered major events including Lal Masjid, Islamabad operation, lawyers’ movement, military operations in tribal areas and Pakistani general election, 2008. Most of the time, the channel beat its rivals despite limited resources. DawnNews transmission is watched in all urban areas of Pakistan. It also has access to the rural population, wherever the cable reaches. DawnNews is in agreement with several satellite TV channels, which include BBC World News, Sky News, ABC News and Aljazeera and can be watched in the US, Europe, Middle East and Africa.
