As we explained a few days ago, Hamid Mir claims that America “masterminded” assassination of Sheikh Mujib even though the source he presented suggests the opposite. Today we will examine the other part of Hamid Mir’s conspiracy theory which is that America also “masterminded” the death of ZAB. Hamid Mir’s claim appears to rest on […]
The News on Thursday includes a critical attack on political leadership by Vice-chairman Sindh National Front Ameer Bhutto. At issue for the former MPA is the response of politicians to ongoing drone attacks, which Ameer terms “nothing short of an open declaration of war against Pakistan”. But a closer look at the facts reveals something […]
This blog has mentioned before the issue of media priorities – the decisions by editors and producers about what stories are important and what stories are not important enough to include in the day’s discussion. We have also explored the way that issues are reported differently between the English language and Urdu language media. Today’s […]
A column by Shahzad Chaudhry in Daily Times starts with a very informative history of drone strikes that illustrates how the tactic has increased over time. But then the author veers very much off of a straight path and begins weaving in baseless conspiracy theories. Questions are being asked of illicit relations between such agents […]
One point that we have tried to make till date is that journalism should be led by the facts and not the wishful thinking or political agenda of any group or individual. Particularly notable has been the number of false predictions that make up what passes for reporting. If a fortune teller had the same […]
In Daily Jang of 18 April, Hamid Mir tells the tale of a recent trip to Dhaka for a journalism conference celebrating the 20th anniversary of English newspaper Daily Star. But the story is not about journalism rather it is about American conspiracies in which Hamid Mir claims that the assassinations of Bhutto and Sheikh […]
The News (Jang Group) on Saturday selectively quoted a foreign newspaper as the basis for an article making unsupported claims that President Zardari allowed US to boost drone strikes. Today, Jang Group repeated this misleading practice in a front page article that appeared in both The News and Daily Jang. Only this time, the article […]
The Nation on Friday included a column that reads as if it were dusted off from the 1980s under Gen Zia. The author, Mr Tarik Jan, affixes to secular journalists the label of ‘communist’ and attempts to persuade readers of a Zia-era form of Islamism under the disguise of twisted logic. Worse still, his conclusion […]
The News on Saturday featured a bold front page headline claiming that “Zardari allowed US to boost drone strikes”. But the short article included in the paper offered no evidence to support this sensationalist claim. Actually, the claim comes from an opinion piece in American newspaper The Wall Street Journal of Friday. The News repeats […]
Very interesting comment on the power of words and the importance in choosing our words carefully as journalists. The author reminds us that we have through our words the ability to shape public opinion and heavily influence the path of the nation. This is a great power but also a great responsibility and we should […]