TSE Exclusive: Political gimmicks hit PCB media department
KARACHI: Fearing job-loss, the media department officials at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have started playing political gimmicks in a bid to impress the newly installed chairman Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf, sources told The Sports Encounter on Tuesday.
The political sport started after news were reported in the local media that the PCB chairman was in favor of bringing drastic changes in the cricket board’s media department.
Director Media at the PCB, who belongs to ruling party and was appointed due to political pressure, has commenced his political sport at the cricket board.
When Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf took charge of the PCB, he was reportedly unhappy with performance of the media director after the concerned person never contacted him during the period from October 11-28.
It is important to mention here that the President Asif Ali Zardari, who is also Patron-In-Chief of the PCB, had appointed Zaka Ashraf as chairman on October 11 but he could only join the cricket board on October 28th after quitting his job at the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL).
The head of PCB media department, in a bid to undo his lack of interaction with the incoming PCB chief, started his political gimmicks first by sending a good bit of number of journalists to the United Arab Emirates to cover Pakistan-Sri Lanka series and in the second phase he has approached some politicians.
Sources claimed that after getting approval of his plan, the PCB media department head sent as many as 16 journalists to cover the series in the UAE. They added that the PCB will have to pay $1000 to each journalist other than return ticket.
As per the calculations, this step will cost the cricket board at least Rs1.5 million. Sources close to Zaka Ashraf told The Sports Encounter that after seeing bill of the expenses, Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf is not a happy man.
They added that in the most likely scenario, Zaka Ashraf is more inclined towards removing the media head after the UAE tour.
They went on to claim that the new PCB Media Head would have a journalistic background.
Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf
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