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Pak Journalists: Conspiracy Theories and Willful Ignorance

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

As the details of the assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti begin coming to light, journalists are scrambling to meet deadlines and be the first to have the lead report on the topic. In this rush, mistakes will be made and facts will go unverified. But a much greater problem plagues media accounts – the willingness of journalists and bureau chiefs to give consideration to politically motivated conspiracy theories.

The first conspiracy theory registered states that, despite the Taliban claiming responsibility for the killing, it was really a CIA operation. This was stated by chief of Jamaat-i-Islami Sindh chapter Asadullah Bhutto and duly reported by Express Tribune.

It must be asked why Express Tribune believed it was important to publish such a statement, especially in an otherwise factual report. Often the excuse for reporting such conspiracy theories is that sensationalism sells, and this is only feeding the demands of the public. But there is increasing evidence that the answer could be that a significant number of journalists actually believe these conspiracy theories.

In an email discussion immediately after the assassination on Wednesday, several prominent journalists including a Bureau Chief wrote the following:

Zahir Shah Sherazi, Bureau Chief Dawn News wrote in an email:

A question always come to my mind, Do you all believe its always the militants and extremists elements who are doing it OR there may be another hand involved to cash in on such controversies, we have to keep in mind that also
regards
zahir

Mian Najib Ur Rehman, Publisher/Editor Daily Lahore Post wrote the following:

Yes! if Raymond Davis is being investigated for having links with terrorist networks . then this issue automatically links itself with Raymond Davis i am sure he must be knowing that people are coming for gun down the minister today . i must say again it is a very sad day again for Pakistan after the assassination of Sal-man Ta seer .. today once again the voices gunned down – :( -

lord save us . our country. and its people ..

Ameen

Journalist Khalil Ahmed writes,

May be another Raymond Davis killed the Minority Minister to further pressurize Pakistan. Its too early to comment who is behind this assassination. Thanks.

Journalist Yasir Zahoor writes,

Yeap Khalid ahmed I m agree with u ……….before some days American CIA was already warned to Pakistani intelligence agency (as foreign media reported) that they would take revenge of Raymond Davis issue ……… should also mention this ……. except blasphemy law …

Conspiracy theories have already reduced much of Pakistani media to a mockery on the world stage. It has become a regular feature in international headlines that ‘transparently silly’ conspiracy theories are the bread and butter of our mainstream journalism.

Often journalists and editors are given the benefit of the doubt and it is accepted that this is more cynicism than incompetence on the part of the journalists. But if we have entered a phase in which news reports are being filed and edited by journalists who cannot tell the difference between fact and fantasy and who readily accept wild conspiracies over obvious truths, then we are in serious trouble indeed.

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Posted in Conspiracy Theories, Daily Lahore Post, Dawn News TV, Express News, Express Tribune | 3 Comments »

Hajrah Mumtaz: Who Watches the Watchmen?

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

Who Watches the Watchmen?When we started this blog a few years ago, many people said that it was a waste of time because the media groups were too big and too powerful to listen to care about one small blog. But over time our assumption proved correct: People were tired of irresponsible journalism and wanted to see more accountability in media.

Recently, more people have begun to speak out against the irresponsible and unethical practices of some journalists and media groups. Maitullah Jan’s expose of journalists taking advantage of government funded Hajj facility gets to the very heart of corruption among those who are supposed to be watchdogs of society. Likewise, the column by Zohra Yusuf recommending media groups follow the leadership of Express Tribune by hiring ombudsmans to manage complaints by the public is another example of media taking responsibility for improving its own sector.

The latest column of Hajrah Mumtaz who is on the staff at Dawn is the latest example of journalists speaking up about ways that journalism can be improved if media groups will adopt some basic policies to ensure accuracy and accountability.

DURING the past couple of months, particularly in the wake of controversy over the proposal to bring the blasphemy laws under review, there has been much discussion over the airwaves about religious dictates.

The proposal, which never even made it to the stage of being tabled before parliament, has been dropped by a government that appears to be perennially on the back foot — the ways of government are often strange to behold. What concerns me, though, is that while the discussion of religion continues, an accusation is being made with increasing incidence in various columns and blogspots.

A number of writers have pointed to certain guests on different talk shows, claiming that the citations (mainly from religious sources) that these guests presented in favour of their argument were taken out of context, their meaning was altered by omitting to mention context, or were plain incorrect.

In many cases, those levelling this criticism have attached transcripts of or uploaded clips from the television programme in question, so that readers can themselves look up the original text to check whether the accusation is justified. I found it worrying enough to undertake this exercise. And in all the cases I checked, the accusation was justified.

Be that as it may, it is hardly unknown, anywhere in the world, for personalities of standing and power, particularly those of a stature to be invited on televised talk shows, to resort to glossing over facts to suit their ends, or to twist facts to their desired end.

What I find particularly worrying, however, is the role of our programme hosts who, in most such cases, evidently had neither the knowledge to pick up on altered ‘facts’ nor, perhaps, the gumption to point them out. In most cases, while X guest made Y announcement that, upon investigation, turned out to be incorrect, the host was merely sitting there nodding his or her head in agreement,.

Which leads us to the question, what good is the much-mentioned power of the fourth estate — the media — if it fails to pick up on shady statements pronounced by the people it claims to be bringing under review? The media’s ability to bring contradictions and inconsistencies to light is, after all, one of the prime sources from which it claims its power.

This is what allows the media to act as an entity that imposes checks and forces balance upon opinion-makers and the otherwise powerful. If anyone can get away with any sort of story, and the host can’t tell the difference or won’t, then what is the point of all these supposedly erudite programmes? Who watches the watchmen?

As I said earlier, everywhere in the world, people expect politicians and other powerful people to talk according to their agendas, and this often involves twisting and glossing over facts. They ought not resort to this, of course, but that seems to be the nature of the beast and people have come to accept it. Guests on television, similarly, are in many cases there to express their opinions — and sometimes those opinions are not or not entirely factual.

For these reasons, the abilities of the programme host are of crucial importance. Viewers look to the host to be able to spot the erroneous statement, the inconsistency, the prevarication or the U-turn — and this requires the host to have serious levels of knowledge about the topic under discussion.

This is where the value of a professional programme host lies, for only then can he or she meaningfully explore the subject. If the host has little knowledge about the subject, then really, it may as well be you or I, a layperson, sitting there asking the questions.

The argument could be made that every host is not expected to — simply cannot — have knowledge about all things under the sun to a sufficient degree that allows him or her to be able to challenge the experts. True. But the answer is, this is precisely why different hosts specialise in different areas.

In countries where the media industry is a little more professional, a host who specialises in current affairs and politics will rarely, if ever, host a debate on Catholicism or the relevance of religion in everyday affairs — unless the two spheres have overlapped, in which case considerable research is undertaken. There are specialists in for the environment, for public policy and governance, international affairs, economics and business, culture and the arts, and so on.

Most of the developed world has grown beyond the sort of jack-of-all-trades hosts that are the norm in Pakistan. I gave the example of debate over religious matter in the beginning of this column, but as television viewers are well aware, this is far from the only area where topics outside the purview of the hosts are taken up.

It is tempting to blame the hosts themselves, and to be sure they must shoulder at least part of the responsibility for this sorry situation — the lack of research, for one. But the real problem is systemic, and has to do with the way and the speed with which the televised media industry developed.

Media organisations hired talk show hosts, many of whom became celebrities and most of whom are paid salaries in accordance with this status. If you’re paying an employee such large sums, there is obviously the expectation that (s)he will handle whatever topic is given.

Yet a more constructive model may be to employ a greater number of specialists. The pie might have to be divided into smaller slices, but organisations as well as their audiences would benefit. A crime reporter is not expected to also be writing theatre reviews or political commentary; such expectations ought not be thrust on, or appropriated by, television personalities either.

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Posted in Dawn, Ethics, Express Tribune | 6 Comments »

Pakistan Media Termed ‘Conspiracy-Palooza’

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

Wired logoAmerican news magazine Wired has termed the Pakistani media ‘Conspiracy-Palooza’ due to the number of conspiracy theories being circulated about the Raymond Davis case and notes that such rumours are fueling the very crisis. The article specifically mentions the role of The Nation and Express Tribune in spreading “transparently silly stories”.

Al-Qaeda’s nuclear arms dealer? The top recruiter for the Pakistani Taliban? A terrorist “mastermind?” These are just some of the explanations that have been picked up by the Pakistani press ever since Raymond Davis, an employee of the U.S. embassy in Pakistan, shot two Pakistani men he claimed were menacing him on the streets of Lahore.

The nature of Davis’ work — now acknowledged to be on contract for the CIA — and the prolonged vacuum of information regarding it has invited in a host of outlandish theories to fill the void.

Early on in the Davis affair, The European Union Times, an online news site printed a transparently silly story about Davis running weapons of mass destruction for al-Qaeda.  You see, a Russian intelligence report indicated that Davis had documents detailing U.S. shipments of”nuclear fissile material” and “biological agents” to al-Qaeda for the purpose of starting a world war that would restore the American economy to global dominance. Absurd as it is, the story has since been picked up by Pakistan’s The Nation, as well as by Pakistani journalists on press listservs and Twitter.

The narrative of the U.S. colluding with terrorists to attack Pakistan was later taken up by the Express Tribune , which ran a story claiming that Davis had gone rogue on the U.S. and started working for the Pakistani Taliban. “Davis was instrumental in recruiting young people from Punjab for the Taliban to fuel the bloody insurgency,” according to an anonymous senior police official from Punjab quoted in the story. The source called Davis’ arrest a “blessing in disguise” because he was suspected of “masterminding terrorist activities in Lahore and other parts of Punjab.”

In support of the allegations, the Tribune quotes more anonymous sources claiming Davis’ cell phone records indicate he was in contact with members of the Pakistani Taliban the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, another Pakistani terrorist group.

Of course, those phone records, if valid, could also be the hallmarks of someone spying on, rather than recruiting for, Pakistani terrorist groups, as the CIA now claims was Davis’ job.

But the choice of interpretation speaks to a deep distrust among the Pakistani public of the United States and its covert war in the country. Last week, Pakistani sources claimed (fairly dubiously) that the Davis shootings were responsible for a month-long halt in drone strikes. Now, as Pakistan’s intelligence service warns of a “split” with the CIA over the incident, all eyes are again looking to see whether the already tense relationship will buckle under the weight of public outrage, distrust and the rumors that help fuel it.

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Posted in Express Tribune, Foreign Media, The Nation | 14 Comments »

Media’s ‘Myopic Zeal’ and Political Bias

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

The political bias of certain journalists is well documented. Nor is this a problem unique to Pakistan Nobody questions the conservative leaning of FOX News (USA), the liberal leaning of The Guardian (UK), or the establishment credentials of The Nation (Pak). When one looks to these media groups, the perspective that will be used is already well known. But unlike most other countries, Pakistan’s media is infested with political operatives who work under the cover of journalism. While such blatant propaganda operations may exist on the fringes of the international media, they are routinely found in the heart of our own mainstream press. This raises the question of whether Pakistan’s media can truly be fair and neutral while it lacks basic ethical guidelines around political propaganda.

In America, TV anchor Keith Olbermann was suspended and ultimately fired by MSNBC News after it was revealed that he was giving large financial donations to political candidates in direct contradiction to ethics rules.

“Anyone working for NBC News who takes part in civic or other outside activities may find that these activities jeopardize his or her standing as an impartial journalist because they may create the appearance of a conflict of interest,” the NBC News policy reads. “Such activities may include participation in or contributions to political campaigns or groups that espouse controversial positions. You should report any such potential conflicts in advance to, and obtain prior approval of, the president of NBC News or his designee.”

Another prominent American TV network, CBS News, fired four employees including eminent anchor Dan Rather after it was discovered that they had run a false story attacking George W. Bush.

The action was prompted by the report of an independent panel that concluded that CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece. The panel also said CBS News had compounded that failure with a “rigid and blind” defense of the 60 Minutes Wednesday report.

Asked to resign were Senior Vice President Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs; 60 Minutes Wednesday Executive Producer Josh Howard; and Howard’s deputy, Senior Broadcast Producer Mary Murphy. The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was terminated.

“We deeply regret the disservice this flawed 60 Minutes Wednesday report did to the American public, which has a right to count on CBS News for fairness and accuracy,” said CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves.

The panel said a “myopic zeal” to be the first news organization to broadcast a groundbreaking story about Mr. Bush’s National Guard service was a key factor in explaining why CBS News had produced a story that was neither fair nor accurate and did not meet the organization’s internal standards.

Obviously American media – home of FOX News – is no group of angels, and political bias exists there as well. But where in our own media can we point to high profile journalists and anchors being held to account for their political bias and inaccuracies?

The Nation is often blatantly partisan, on Sunday offering unqualified faith in PML(N).

One is certain that the Punjab government that is led by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, will do everything under the law to arrest the culprits.

Syed Ali Raza Abidi may masquerade as a journalist, but his true profession as political operative is quite obvious to anyone who cares to look. He maintains a profile on the website www.allaboutmqm.org, and photos of him as an MQM activist are spread across the internet. Yet when publishing his writing, Express Tribune describes him only as, “A businessman who writes on politics and civic issues”. Aaj TV describes him as “A businessman and a young politician.” Abidi’s MQM activism is never mentioned in his by line, yet the writing of this ‘businessman’ follows a trend that is invariably pro-MQM and anti-government.

When MQM introduces a de-weaponization bill, Syed Abidi is there to support it in the media. This same ‘businessman’ also offers backhanded praise to the PM for ‘bailing out a failing government’ while saying that “Hopefully the MQM and PML-N have reminded you of what your priorities should have been in the first place”.

Syed Ali Raza Abidi MQM operative

Of course, Abidi is not alone and today’s examples are not the first people to use the profession of journalism as a path to Islamabad. Let us not forget that PML(N) MNA Ayaz Amir and PPP MNA Sherry Rehman were also journalists prior to their careers in politics. Nor is this to say that journalists must be devoid of personal political beliefs, nor does it mean that journalists should never change careers to politics. Actually both Ayaz Amir and Sherry Rehman were excellent journalists and also excellent MNAs. But if a journalist decides to change careers and go into politics, it should be a mystery to the public which party they will choose, so well hidden were there own political beliefs from their reporting.

Some of this problem is likely the result of the growing number of newspapers and TV channels that require more and more content to attract their audience and advertisers. Pakistan does not have enough trained and qualified journalists to fill the necessary positions. As a result, anyone who can write well and produce content for these groups is accepted. Becoming an ‘analyst’ is even easier. There one often simply needs a phone.

One part of the solution is for media groups to adopt corrective systems that ensure accuracy and accountability. Zohra Yusuf, Creative Director, Spectrum Y&R, makes an excellent suggestion in a piece for Aurora Magazine.

The answer to instilling responsibility in the media does not lie in any form of government control or oversight. The days of censorship should be firmly behind us. There are many workable and proven structures and systems of media monitoring and complaints commission available. It is the will that is needed and the consensus among media organisations not only to acknowledge the issue of accountability but to work towards setting in place corrective systems. The Express Tribune has done well to announce the appointment of Justice (Retired) Farkruddin G. Ebrahim as an ombudsman for the newspaper. In fact, it published all his contact details as well, encouraging readers to send their complaints to him. However, a solo effort by a small newspaper will have little impact unless major news organisations make a similar joint commitment.

By developing internal systems to hold journalists accountable for the accuracy of reports, media groups would ensure their own independence and freedom as well as their long-term business model. The more newspapers and channels enter the media space, being the first with ‘breaking news’ is already having diminishing returns. People see a report early, but they don’t believe it. That creates an opportunity for media groups to compete for the title of ‘most accurate’.

But ombudsmans and internal controls must also deal with certain questions of journalistic ethics such as what it means to be a reporter and what it means to be a political operative. Pakistan has no shortage of drawing room politicians. What we are desperate for are qualified journalists.

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Posted in Aaj TV, Express Tribune, The Nation | 3 Comments »

Is Name Calling Really Worth Journalists Time?

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

For someone who is happy to label people as ‘liberal extremist’ or ‘liberal fascist’, Hamid Mir is very sensitive about anyone saying anything about him. On Tuesday, Hamid Mir asked in Express Tribune “Why these attacks against me?” after Khaled Ahmed pointed out the ridiculousness of Hamid Mir using the ‘liberal fascist’ label against other people.

Hamid Mir explains that he used the term because he had seen it used by an American author, Jonah Goldberg.

I would like to invite his attention towards the book Liberal Fascism written by American Journalist Jonah Goldberg, published in 2008. Mr Goldberg wrote the history of liberal fascism from Mussolini to the American Left and declared Hillary Clinton as a liberal fascist. If an American journalist can use the term liberal fascism then the Pakistani media can also make comparisons between religious extremists and liberal-fascists.

While it’s true that this term was used by the American Jonah Goldberg, the facts are a little more complicated. Jonah Goldberg is not a journalist like Hamid Mir or Talat Hussain. Jonah Goldberg is a right-wing political columnist who is a regular guest on Glenn Beck and a commentator on FOX News which he even described as a populist, tabloidy network.

Jonah Goldberg made headlines last fall for calling Islamophobia “a myth” and said that Americans should stop worrying about Muslim sentiments regarding plans to build a New York City mosque. Is this really who Hamid Mir is taking his ideas from?

For the record, here is famous American cultural critic Jon Stewart interviewing Jonah Goldberg about the book that Hamid Mir is such a fan of:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Jonah Goldberg
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> The Daily Show on Facebook

It should be noted here that this term was also discussed recently as the topic of Kamran Shahid’s show Front Line on Express News of 6 February.

As could be expected, Orya Maqbool Jan presented some fairly right-wing views, but nothing particularly noteworthy and overall the entire programme seemed to be an excuse for Kamran Shahid complaining about English-language media not allowing rebuttals – a complaint that is proven meaningless by the very English-language articles by Khaled Ahmed and Hamid Mir which consist of an ongoing debate and rebuttal on the specific issue!

Hamid Mir has been writing about the bogey of ‘liberal fascist’ for a month, and the only definition of what exactly is a ‘liberal fascist’ that anyone seems to be able to come up with is ‘someone who doesn’t agree with me’. Certainly Hamid Mir is entitled to his opinion, but we must ask whether the time and energy of our journalists is best spent having a debate about name-calling while the country struggles with serious issues of economy and security.

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Posted in Express News, Express Tribune, Jang | 3 Comments »

Court Terms Ansar Abbasi Sources “Incorrigible Liars”

Friday, January 14th, 2011

Ansar AbbasiAnsar Abbasi is a constant defender of his reporting and his anonymous sources, even though his predictions do not come true and his conspiracies prove false. Despite the growing record of the unreliability of Ansar Abbasi’s reporting, Jang Group continues to publish his writing to this day without any public corrections or apologies for his past mistakes.

But according to a report in Express Tribune on Thursday, the sources for this conspiracy tale are “incorrigible liars”.

Terming the ‘plot’ to kill the CJ LHC a “remarkable tale”, the Commission said that it was authored by the four men who were not only “incorrigible liars” but also “men of little character and credibility.” The Commission has concluded that these four had enacted this charade and should be punished.

This “remarkable tale” manufactured by “incorrigible liars” is the 11 September article for The News by Ansar Abbasi headlined, ‘Plot to kill Justice Sharif unearthed’. Ansar Abbasi wrote several articles on the theme, including a 14 September article which suggested the plan was a conspiracy of PPP officials.

It should be noted here that the unreliability of Ansar Abbasi’s sources is not a new revelation and has been well documented over the past years.

Let us stop for a moment and think about the amount of taxpayer money, the state resources and the time and energy of police and court officials that were wasted on this wild goose chase.

Jang Group like many media groups beats the drum of corruption as the greatest threat to democracy, yet under their own roof there is a man who is wasting ever more taxpayer resources on wild goose chases and conspiracy theories.

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Posted in Express Tribune, Jang, The News | 8 Comments »

Ahmed Quraishi’s Web Continues to Unravel

Saturday, December 18th, 2010

Ahmed Quraishi is back in the news again, but not for the reason he might like. Rather the prolific consipiracy theorist has caught the attention of actual journalists and commentators who are exposing his antics.

This is not the first time that Quraishi has been criticised by real journalists. One year ago he received a black eye when a prominent American foreign policy journal wrote that he misrepresented their reporting in order to make a political attack against a government official.

Shortly after he was embarrassed by magazine Foreign Policy, we showed that Ahmed Quraishi is registered as an American political consultant. Earlier this year we reported that Ahmed Quraishi admitted on his Facebook that he was not a real journalist but actually a propagandist – he even called himself “clean shaven Taliban”. We have even shown that Ahmed Quraishi is willing to contradict himself when it is necessary to promote his political message.

With the exposure of the fake Wikileaks story, however, Ahmed Quraishi’s web of propaganda has continued to unravel. It was only a few short weeks ago that Cafe Pyala exposed the Internet propaganda ring that was responsible for the fake story. And to no one’s surprise, Ahmed Quraishi’s name was all over these propaganda websites.

Following the exposure of the fake Wikileaks story, Ahmed Quraishi responded in a most extraordinary way. Rather than admit a mistake, Ahmed Quraishi wrote a bizarre defense of the practise of using the media to mislead the people in efforts to promote a political agenda. This has been the final nail in the coffin of his credibility.

Ahmed Quraishi’s crude justification for misleading his own countrymen raised the blood pressure of freelance journalist George Fulton, who wrote for The Express Tribune earlier this week terming Quraishi a ‘purveyor of fiction’.

For those who don’t know Ahmad Quraishi, according to his website — ahmedquraishi.com — he is “a public policy writer, commentator and broadcaster”. In reality, he is widely known to be a crude propagandist for the army/intelligence nexus. At least Leni Riefenstahl’s Nazi propaganda films had artistic value. Noxious, yes, but art nonetheless. Sadly, no such claim can be made of Quraishi’s leaden prosaic prose.

He is also “one of the founders of PakNationalists, a supposed forum focusing on shaping Pakistan’s foreign and domestic policy options”. Actually it’s an anti-India bile-spewing machine that spreads untruths, smears and uncorroborated stories. His most recent article on his website, entitled “Guardian uses WikliLeaks for Propaganda, Pakistani Media Can’t?” is an astonishing convoluted defence of the fake cable that was exposed by Cafe Pyala and subsequently picked up by the Guardian correspondent, Declan Walsh and this newspaper’s blog section. The phrase ‘twisting in the wind’ comes to mind.

Quraishi begins by attempting to undermine the original story of the fake cable: “(The) Guardian’s Islamabad correspondent Declan Walsh claimed the stories were ‘credited to the Online Agency, an Islamabad-based news service that has frequently run pro-army stories in the past. No journalist is bylined’. Fabulous, only that it is not accurate. The story was published by the ‘Daily Mail of Pakistan’, a newspaper launched recently and staffed by journalists coming from the newsrooms of Pakistan’s frontrow newspapers.”

He goes on to say: “A large part of the original Pakistani report is credible. It was published by a prominent news organisation and the story has four names in the byline. The Guardian unethically tried to link the story to Pakistani intelligence agencies by suggesting the story comes with ‘no byline’ and can’t be sourced. The Guardian’s Mr Walsh compensated his lack of investigation by offering his own conspiracy theory that the report was planted by Pakistani intelligence agencies.”

Let’s state some facts. All the newspapers that ran the story did credit it to the Online news agency. No byline was given by any newspaper. It cannot be sourced. Ah, but what about this ‘Daily Mail of Pakistan’ that he quotes. Unfortunately, this is not an authentic newspaper but one that peddles propaganda. (It was ‘The Daily Mail of Pakistan’ that planted the bogus story that the Pakistan spot-fixing scandal was orchestrated by the Indian intelligence agency RAW.)

What about the bylines Mr Quraishi mentions on the ‘Daily Mail of Pakistan’ website? It’s true that the fake cable story is bylined “From Suzie Wang in Washington, Christina Palmer in New Delhi, John Nelson in Kabul and Ahmad-Almurad in Cairo”. The only problem is that these people don’t exist. They are figments of his imagination. I would love to meet Suzie Wang from Washington and Christina Palmer who apparently works in New Delhi.

Yes, it’s highly likely that the ‘Daily Mail of Pakistan’ — and all these other bogus websites (again Cafe Pyala has done a brilliant expose of these bogus sites) — are probably paid for by a budget that we, as taxpayers, and our elected officials do not have permission to scrutinise. Good to know, isn’t it.

So the question that comes to mind is: what is the point of Ahmed Quraishi’s article? He has been proven to peddle half-truths and misinformation on some rather shady websites. As a self-described nationalist, I am sure he would defend what he was doing as being for the greater good of Pakistan and its people. But I subscribe to Charles De Gaulle’s view of nationalists and nationalism: “Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.” Mr Quraishi is a hate-monger. One must also wonder how much Mr Quraishi really loves the people of this country since he seems to make a living peddling half-truths to them.

As revealed by Cafe Pyala’s expose of the Internet propaganda ring responsible for the fake Wikileaks story, Pakistan’s media is infested with political operatives who are engaged in influencing, not informing the public. A free media in a democratic society airs the views of differing sides in order to fully inform the public and let the people come to their own conclusions. But media is not free if it is manipulated by political operatives who treat the newspaper editors and talk show hosts as puppets on a string. These would-be puppet masters must hide behind the scene in order to fool the public, therefore the best way to resolve this problem is to shine the spot light on those who would be puppet masters so the public can see them for who they really are.

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Posted in Blogs, Express Tribune | 6 Comments »

Nadir Hassan: 10 things I hate about TV news

Thursday, November 25th, 2010

Mr Nadir Hassan brings a bit of levity to the discussion of media with his article for today’s Express Tribune, “10 things I hate about TV news“. Some of his observations made me laugh out loud, but at the end of reading I also thought, ‘it’s funny because it’s true!’

1.     The dunce on the street. You know the guy; he’s being interviewed only because he was in the vicinity of something producers consider news. His insight, such as it is, consists of saying “you know” a lot and plastering a massive I’m-so-excited-to-be-on-TV grin on his face.

2.    The Mini Me analyst. News anchors are supposed to be objective so any time they want to slip a bit of political commentary in, they’ll invite an analyst-for-hire, someone who will say exactly what the anchor wants him to say. But we can trust him; he wears an expensive suit.

3.    The apocalyptic teaser. “Are you aware that you might die tomorrow? Join us after the break and we’ll tell you how.”

4.    The dancer in the background. There’s always this one jerk, usually lurking in the shadows, who likes nothing better than to add a bit of flavour to a beeper by gyrating madly. He is to the dunce on the street what Bonnie was to Clyde.

5.   Important hair. You know why there’s a dengue epidemic in the country? All the spray that should have been used to fumigate our cities is keeping up the hair of vain anchors.

6.   Casual racism. You will never see a dark face on news channels. After all, the survival of Fair and Lovely depends on it.

7.   The vague Pakistan connection. Never fear, news channels will find the cousin of a Pakistani citizen who was shopping at a mall three blocks away from a fire in Michigan.

8.    The child-like fascination with technology. This particularly materialises during elections. Anchors get so aroused by their BlackBerrys, touch screens and other assorted thingamajigs they can barely contain themselves.

9.    The illegible ticker. News channels have discovered a new font. It allows you to only read one out of every three words before disappearing from view.

10.   The expert for all seasons. No matter what the topic, this chameleon will become an instant expert. He throws in a bit of jargon, comes to some sweeping conclusions and calls on the government to do more.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21st, 2010.

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Express Tribune Photo Caption Error

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

Express Tribune photo of Rehman Malik with incorrect captionExpress Tribune on 23 November featured a story, ‘US-based group working to establish caliphate‘ that included a photo of Interior Minister Rehman Malik with the caption, “Pakistani activist of ‘Jamaat-e-Islami Sa’ee’ in FIA custody”.

There is no evidence that Minister Rehman Malik is an activist of Jamaat-e-Islami Sa’ee. Actually, this seems to be an obvious mistake as the article contains a statement from Senator Malik. However, no body has corrected or clarified to ensure that readers do not mistake Rehman Malik for a Jamaat-e-Islami Sa’ee activist.

While this might seem like a slight and even humorous error, it is important that such items are quickly corrected so as to ensure that readers are not accidentally misled.

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Express Tribune Joins Gossip Brigade

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

In a disappointing move, The Express Tribune has apparently decided to take a page from Hamid Mir’s gossip column in their own newspaper. The article, “Zardari makes an appearance; raises eyebrows“, by reporter Maha Mussadaq reads like a celebrity gossip column and provides no substantive news to readers.

What Maha Mussadaq’s short article lacks in substance, it makes up for in

While some had their appetite for food others were looking forward to some juicy gossip. “So I’ve heard the President is also coming tonight,” said a diplomat to another with raised eyebrows and quirky smiles. Yes, the most interesting sight of the night was the surprise appearance of President Asif Ali Zardari as the chief guest. Before his coming, there were rumours going on about his arrival, where some knew about his plan others were puzzled as to when and why was he coming?

President Zardari walked down the carpeted stairs towards the tent where all the guests were waiting, of course with an entourage, smiling, saluting, and waving. The president began his brisk round of the tent shaking hands with guests, and left leaving the guests with mixed feelings where a lot were puzzled, a few happy, some with smirks and a handful least bothered faces were spotted which were sweeter than desert.

Now, tell me, what is the point of this? It reads like the script from a drama serial, not serious reporting on a diplomatic event. And what is meant by the phrase, “some with smirks and a handful least bothered faces were spotted which were sweeter than desert”. Is the reporter injecting her own opinions into the article?

Our media already has too many gossip columnists and too few serious reporters. Please, the editors of Express Tribune should kindly stick to reporting news, not celebrity gossips.

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