WILL BOL RESTART?

Re-inventing BOL

There was a day in May 2015 when hundreds of Bolwala were chanting slogans in support of Mr.Shoiab Ahmad Shaikh, founder of Bol media group, when he was being arrested and there was a day after a year, when only few dozen people were present outside Karachi jail from where Mr.Shaikh was released on bail in Axact fake diploma mill case that lodged against him and company after a story published in USA based newspaper The New York Times on 17 May 2015. This one year was horrible, not only for Shoaib Shaikh and Bolwalas but entire media industry of Pakistan. Quickest action was recorded against Axact and Bol after publishing a story that may be a history in Pakistan.

This debate is not much relevant whether this was a conspiracy or a truth, but this is also a fact that after a year and on, no one is convicted in said case of fake diplomas and this is also naked truth that Mr. Shaikh or his company never sued The New York Times or reporter Declan Walsh to write this story. Bol which engaged top journalists of Pakistani media industry principally from Geo from its top slot anchor Kamran Khan and MD Mr. Azhar Abbas. Geo ‘s Karachi bureau chief Faisal Aziz Khan also picked by Bol and after that a long queue of Geo employs from NBC to Muhammad Usman start boarding this Titanic in making . Heat felt by Geo initially and industry as a whole afterward. Mr. Shaikh who was very outspoken that time, spoke extra and well before time. He created an environment of unbelievable among journalists. A race began to catch that ship and at the time every notable head was counted on Bol’s deck.

Right after publishing the story in New York Times these notables start jumping the ship as they were well his conscience would not let him continue” follow the same sense by Azhar abbas and parted ways. Another big gun Iftikhar Ahmad wrote “cannot work for an organization whose basic workings conflict with my professional commitment.” And likewise one after one vice president left the sinking ship and rival media houses which initially said no one will take this journalist but Dunya news breached this unsigned pact by announcing that it’s going to appoint Kamran Khan as president of its organization and then Geo took back Azhar. Muhammad Usman who went Bol from Geo came in Dunya news as director news and resigned later to join Neo news. Wajahat S Khan another journo joined Dunya as an anchor and defense analyst and still working.

aware this will not survive. Mr. Kamran Khan, the president and editor in chief was the first who wrote on twitter”

In Islamabad Mushtaq Minhas was in from row, who was hosting show Bolta Pakistan with Nusrat Javed on

aaj tv before joining Bol said goodbye to journalism and elected MLA in Azad Kashmir assembly on PMLn ticket and became minister now and Nusrat Javed joined Dawn News. In Lahore Mr Khawar Naeem Hashmi struggled a lot for Bol ,set up camp at Lahore press club and a march toward Islamabad and kept Bolwala team members in sprits but at last joined 92 News and still there. In Karachi all many big names left Bol to save their image and others, when accounts of company became dry. In this bleak situation some staffers did not give hope and continue struggle hoping reinventing Bol. Mr. Faisal Aziz Khan was the central character who kept hope alive and eventually Mr. Shaikh granted bail.Meanwhile ARY owner Salman Iqbal announced on his TV that ARY will take over BOL and starts it trasmission in next few weeks and Business man Aqeel Kareem Dhedi also anounced to give Rs 5M to Bol but nothing worked.

As Mr. Shaikh walks out from jail things starts backs to normal but with very slow pace. Bol admin announced that it will regain its strength and will start Bol again with slogan of Pehly se bhi ziada. In his first which also placed on Bol website he assures every Bolwala as under

Adhering to our mission of Winning & Caring - We are announcing that all the BOLwalas of Pakistan

SHoaib Shaikh

(Officers and Staff) would get their outstanding dues with interest till date. Similarly all the respected Vendors & Associates of BOL, who have displayed patience & trust throughout this tenure, will be paid in full, for their outstanding amounts with interest till date.We would like to assure all Pakistanis; especially BOLwalas, their families, stakeholders and well-wishers of BOL/Pakistan that now everything is Pehle se bhi ziada!

This message by Mr. Shaikh was a ray of hope for many displaced staffers who still not employed any other place. That staff started gathering to re-launch this TV. Bol TV may be launched sooner or later but at the moment big question on surface is finance, because during this period FIA also frozen accounts of company which being restored gradually. Thing getting back to normalcy but with very slow pace that is much logical as money is the central character to start Bol again.

According to me and many critics of industry biggest mistake which was committed by Shoiab Ahmad Shaikh was its “over marketing”. His continues deep throated growl against media owners triggered a spark against Bol. Calling media owners “Saiths” was another cause of harsh fury. Some media industry insiders says that this kind attacks threatens existing media owners and they start thinking to counter this, and because his own house was not much in order so whole industry was united against Bol. I wrote soon after Walsh story that if Shaikh sb start this anti Saith campaign after starting transmission of Bol , this episode might be avoided.

Again there is chance to fulfill his wish to be a media owner and if Shoaib adopted same strategy again he will fail again and if he fail again he will be not be able to wish again. So a simple solution is to start transmission first and not test transmission this time. Shaikh should start channel with available resource in hand. After launching, he may modify its business model to make it more economically viable. If once, it hits the air successfully more serious and trained human resource will be attracted. He should not take back big guns onboard in first phase because firstly it will be tough to handle then commercially and secondly that staff will be demotivated which suffers a lot due and for BOL.

NOTE: One of key Bol staffer officially confirms to me after publishing this article that Bol will hit the airwaves after 76 days. Fingers crossed