On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives voted to cut aid to Pakistan by $650 million. According to the Washington DC newspaper POLITICO, this cut in aid only affects US aid to the military, not civilian aid. The way this vote was reported by some media groups, however, may leave people misinformed about the facts. […]
President Zardari convened a meeting of government officials to discuss the energy crisis this week. Reporting on the meeting, PakistanToday, gave the headline: ‘Zardari takes notice of power outages, a little too late‘. The article, which mentions that the President was furious with Water and Power Minister Naveed Qamar for failing to resolve the issue, quotes […]
After spending the last year beating the dead horse of visa conspiracies, a new media report has turned to another conspiracy theory about an American invasion. Only this time, you might say they are beating a dead cow. A news report in PakistanToday includes the alarming headline, Is the US sending all its mad cows […]
“A picture is worth a thousand words”, says the old saying. Indeed, since the introduction of photography, images have proven to be a powerful tool for shaping our beliefs and attitudes. On the barsi of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who can deny the power that this photo commands even today, 33 years after his death. But […]
Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha was offered a historic third term as DG ISI last year. As the end of his appointment once again draws near, rumours and speculation have begun to run rampant about what is next for the ISI chief. At times like these, people look to the media to inform them of […]
Is the government corrupt? Which department is most corrupt? How much of your answer to these questions is based on hard facts, and how much is based on what you’ve been told by the media? On 25th December, in a report titled, ‘Military stands at number five among corrupt institutions’, The News reporter Usman Manzoor wrote […]
While the American Congress debates whether to cut aid to Pakistan, the media seems to be taking it upon itself to make the case that the US doe snot need to be sending any more money to Pakistan. No, I am not referring to FOX News, I’m talking about Pakistani media. A prime example can be […]
Last year we ran a short series on ‘Wishful Journalism’ that included an piece about media predictions that Husain Haqqani’s removal was imminent. These predictions were eventually proven incorrect, and the Ambassador was given an extension of one year. As that one-year extension approached its end this month, the predictions were once again revived and […]
Can it be any surprise that confusion surrounds the curious case of Raymond Davis when the media continues to add to the confusion with contradictory headlines? The News on Friday included several front page headlines that directly contradicted each other. On the issue of foreign aid, two article, ‘Top US lawmakers reject cut in Pak […]
When I posted about the death of the Visa Conspiracy I wondered who would be the first person to dig the grave and drag the rotting corpse back out for one final blow. I must admit I was surprised, though, to see it not from one of the usual suspects but from CM Shahbaz Sharif’s […]