Uncategorized | Pakistan Media Watch –– پاکستان میڈیا واچ

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Don’t Mention Balochistan

Thursday, April 7th, 2011

We have written before about cases of media silence and self-censorship, and two recent pieces again raised this question in our minds, so we present it to you today for your consideration. Recent media hot topics include Raymond Davis, ZAB reference, and HEC. But the media has also been strangely silent on other issues. One of these issues is the state of human rights in Balochistan.

And editorial in The Baloch Hal, the first online Baloch newspaper, presents an excellent case for the possibility that national media is ignoring serious human rights violations in Balochistan.

The Pakistan media has adopted double standards while covering Balochistan. This attitude has not only left the people’s problems under-reported but it has also incensed the foreign journalists and investors who wanted to learn more about the ground situation in Balochistan.

One such article that highlighted the blackout of more important issues in the Pakistani media appeared in the US journal Foreign Policy on March 31st in which the author Ahmed Rafay Alam pointed out that the death of at least 43 miners in the outskirts of Quetta was not covered by the Pakistani media. Instead, the national media was engaged in covering relatively unimportant issues only to keep the whole country ignorant about the explosive situation in the country.

The author of the Foreign Policy article wrote: “The role of the media in bringing this incident [of miners' death in Quetta]to public attention also deserves a look. The near-total media blackout of this most recent incident has less to do with censorship of any form than with viewing dynamics. Milk, soaps and mobile phones (rather than coal) are sold in Pakistani cities, and urbanites don’t care what going on in the districts. The media contents itself to whip up public emotion over issues related to “national honor” as in the cases of Raymond Davis and Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, ignoring serious but less sexy issues like mine safety. Yet working conditions in Baluchistan are unlikely to improve without the media reporting on them.”

This argument was further expressed by Pakistan representative Human Rights Watch Ali Dayan Hasan in an interview with Raza Rumi for The News on Sunday.

TNS: Is there sufficient international and domestic focus on human rights situation in Balochistan?

ADH: Unfortunately there is not. The Pakistani media does not report on the brutal realities of Balochistan in any meaningful manner. Despite the fact that the province is of great strategic interest to the world, its people suffer from persistent, systemic and widespread human rights abuse both by state authorities and at the hands of non-state actors. It is time Pakistanis and the world paid attention.

Media watchers and all Pakistanis should ask if media is performing its proper role to society by focusing incessantly on allegations of ‘Sindh Card’ and conspiracy theories while the citizens are abused by militants and suffering real problems.

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Tags: Balochistan, Editorial Judgment, Raza Rumi, self-censorship, The Baloch Hal, The News on Sunday
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Fauzia Yazdani: Nikki nikki dholki

Sunday, March 27th, 2011

I received a lovely joke this morning, which is that a Mirasi’s father was dying and the whole family was sitting around him in his final moments, which got prolonged. Made desperate by this somber wait-n-see, one of them said: “Jad tak aba nahin marda niki niki dholki na waja leye?” (‘While we await father’s death shouldn’t we play some music?’)

It struck me as an apt explanation for everything that’s going on around us. For example, see it against the media and political circus being carried out by the drama queens a.k.a. anchors and politicians, be it on the issue of Raymond Davis, Moonis Ellahi, Shah Mehmood’s conscience, the PPP in Punjab or the “revolution” in the Middle East. I like most telly tubbies hear and read about all this and more every hour of every day, and think to myself: aren’t they all playing niki niki dholki?

A large brigade of anchors and their guests are playing with people’s emotions, making ooohs and aaahs about issues of a national, regional and sometimes even global importance that require careful, thoughtful analysis and not this panting at all. Yet national “ghairat” rules the roost and no informed debate, especially in the Urdu press, is being generated for the larger public to understand these issues objectively. If one gets into the reasons for the same it will range from the Zionist to the Indian to the American agenda, and conspiracy theories to take over our nuclear assets and strip us of our religion, as if both these items are on sale on a roadside cart.

So why do they do it?

The answer, I think, is quite simple. The show must go on (literally, in the case of TV shows angling for ratings and advertisement revenue), and so each night, with limited knowledge of the topics at hand, all of us resort to niki niki dholki. No political party in its right mind can even think of taking over the government in the midst of external and internal crises; the country cannot bear, socially, economically or politically, a mid-term election; yet every night a 180 degree political turn is sought and predicted. Salvaging the situation, finding indigenous and sustainable solutions – forget it! That’s not on the menu for any self-respecting (ghairatmand?) TV channel.

This is also how they portray world events. Pakistan, according to our massively right-wing media, is a citadel of Islam with the most reverend and sensitive Muslims as its inhabitants. Therefore (and that’s all you need to say ‘therefore’) it’s more than likely that a youth revolution akin to that in the Middle East will touch our frontiers one of these days and to baptize. (Forget the fact that the Arabs are fighting societal and political stagnation of the kind we have never been unfortunate enough to experience.)

Fortunately, our economy cannot sustain a “revolution” and socio-politically we remain too divided to give it a due impetus.

We need a just, unbiased and pluralistic public opinion facilitator, and not a 24/7 high-voltage oven that keeps thrusting half-baked cookies at its viewers. The media has to generate debate and accept that politics is about processes and not deadlines. It has to accept that accountability is not only for politicians and the bureaucracy but for the army and judiciary as well. It has to say that the right to be a Pakistani is irrespective of caste, creed, religion and other prejudicial categories. It has to go through self-assessment and introspection in order to achieve these things. Until then, all it will do is continue to play nikki nikki dholki.

This piece was originally published in The Friday Times of 25 March. Fauzia Yazdani is an independent policy researcher and analyst

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Tags: Conspiracy Theories, Fauzia Yazdani, Ghairat Brigade, Raymond Davis
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The curse of yellow journalism in Pakistan

Saturday, March 26th, 2011

The following piece by Malik Ayub Sumbal was originally published by European Journalism Centre on 25 March. An excerpt is produced below. For the full article please visit http://www.ejc.net/magazine/article/the_curse_of_yellow_journalism_in_pakistan/

The rise of sensationalist media and yellow journalism in Pakistan has led to the emergence of a debate in various circles in the country about the accountability of the media and the journalistic profession.

Yellow journalism is generally defined as the tabloidisation of journalism – the adoption of reporting practices focusing more on sensationalism than on research. In Pakistan, yellow journalism refers mostly to the exploitation and manipulation of issues of national interest for the vested interests of corrupt journalists.

Corruption has become an integral part of Pakistani journalism. The monopoly corrupt journalists exercise over the profession constitutes a challenge for all media practitioners, because their influential positions make it hard for others to do their jobs properly.

The media is ideally perceived as the fourth pillar of the state (alongside the judicial, legislative and executive powers), but in Pakistan, most people have come to distrust the media and those who practise journalism.

The sensationalist aspect of newspapers and private news television channels and the problematic role they play in society raise increasing concern among the public.

Presently, Pakistanis are demanding that star anchors of various current affairs programmes and other journalists be held accountable for their actions. The media in general and yellow journalists are criticised on various platforms, Internet forums and television programmes. People also resort to wall chalking against the practice of yellow journalism and media exaggeration in the streets of major cities…

Click here to continue reading…

Malik Ayub Sumbal is a freelance journalist based in Islamabad, Pakistan, with a professional experience of more than seven years working for a number of national and international newspapers, magazines, journals, wire services and television channels. He is presently working as an investigative reporter and analyst for various English news radio stations, television channels and newspapers worldwide.

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Tags: corruption, European Journalism Centre, Malik Ayub Sumbal, sensationalism, Yellow Journalism
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Yawar Abbas: Is the media fanning extremism?

Thursday, March 24th, 2011

The following thought provoking column by Yawar Abbas raises several excellent points for examination. The piece was originally published in Daily Times on 24 March 2011 and is re-posted here for your consideration.

The assassination of Salmaan Taseer at the hands of a religious zealot threw open the debate over the media’s role in encouraging extremist tendencies amongst the people of Pakistan. The proposition that the media is fanning extremist propensities may be somewhat overstated but is, at the same time, not completely unfounded.

During the last decade, Pakistan’s media has contributed positively to the cause of democracy in the country and also played an active role in the restoration of the judges through round the clock coverage of the famous Lawyers’ Movement. Nonetheless, serious doubts and conflicting views regarding the media’s role in the country have also accompanied these wide-scale developments.

Some of these views rise from concerns that the media is strictly averse to the idea of even the most modest regulation by the government and that it refuses to abide by a unanimously agreed code of conduct or ethics. The media groups in the country have grown into big mafias; they own print as well as electronic media — a situation that is almost unprecedented anywhere in the world. Critics also maintain that the Pakistani media is creating an environment of despair and hopelessness by presenting a very bleak picture of the country. This constant fear mongering and pessimistic outlook on such a broad scale can have its own psychological ramifications for Pakistani society in the future.

The most serious allegation levelled against the Pakistani media is that it is very cautious in reporting about the violence caused by religious extremists. TV channels are dominated by far-rightists and hardcore conservatives. There are very few left-wing journalists. Terrorists are called “militants” or, at the most, “miscreants”. This nomenclature is chosen very carefully. So far, the media has not been able to come up with a well-defined campaign against the terrorists’ extremist propaganda, except for a few occasional songs or advertisements. The media, at the very least, has a very high tolerance for accommodating extremist ideas in its mainstream reporting. A plausible reason put forth for the media’s sympathetic and sometimes apologetic tone towards terrorists is the lack of protection given to journalists and reporters by the government against such extremists. Nonetheless, at this critical time, maintaining such an indifferent posture is suicidal.

The propaganda put forth by extremists has undoubtedly been more effective than that of the government. Pakistan’s war effort has greatly suffered due to the lukewarm response of the country’s media. The media, it appears, is only obsessed with reporting about the death toll of drone strikes and army operations debating whether it is ‘our’ war or ‘their’ war. Blowing trivial issues out of proportion and ignoring issues of vital importance cannot be disguised under the garb of ‘neutrality’ — this is nothing but dishonesty. Sensationalising news, broadcasting hate speeches, inciting anger by inviting religious bigots on talk shows, re-telecasting events that are of a sensitive nature and may give rise to public unrest and a general feeling of helplessness, distorting somebody’s statement by quoting him/her out of context, allowing extremist figures to indoctrinate viewers by glorifying terrorists as jihadis, giving more airtime to apologists and sympathisers of militants and very little time to their critics and exposing audiences to the fanatical views propagated by semi-educated anchor-persons and politicians is by any standard yellow journalism and is reflective of an irresponsible media.

The masses, already susceptible to extremist ideas due to their exposure to fanatical preaching prevalent in society, are easily influenced by such radicalised media items. Under these circumstances, it is no wonder that the same are gradually encouraged to take the law into their hands, without any regard for the sanctity of the rule of law and the system of justice. There is no doubt that such uninformed decisions emanate from the doctrine of ignorance being fed by such shortsighted political and religious ‘analysts’.

A possible solution to the problem is the development of a clear-cut position by key media players on extremism and terrorism. In this sense a well thought out counter-propaganda policy is much needed. The need of the hour is zero tolerance for extremism. Pakistan is at a crossroads in its history and the media has a crucial role to play in its future. One can only hope that it will play its part responsibly.

The writer is in the Foreign Service of Pakistan

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Tags: drones, Ethics, extremism, Propaganda
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Funhouse Mirrors

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

Media is ofter termed a ‘watch dog’ and indeed this is one important role of the media. Personally, I think this is a poor metaphor. For one thing, ‘watch dog’ assumes that there is an outside threat and that its master must be protected and never questioned. In the case of media it is too often the government which is seen as a threat only and the civil society never questioned. But government is not inherently a threat, and civil society is not without its own faults also.

Another view is that media’s role is a mirror held up to society reflecting what is good and bad both so that people can see the good and know where there are some improvements needed. In this case, media would show both the problems in government that need to be fixed and the good things that government does also. Media would do the same for civil society, showing the good of the people but also reflecting the blemishes in popular beliefs so that they can be mended and society improved.

But what happens when the mirror becomes warped?

In an interview with Bill O’Reilly of Fox News on Sunday night, American President Barack Obama described the American media as a ‘funhouse mirror’ that gives people a mistaken impression.

While questioning Mr Obama on domestic issues; Mr O’Reilly, a strong opponent, abruptly asked him: “Does it disturb you that so many people hate you?” Mr Obama laughed a little and then responded. “You know, the truth is that the people — and I’m sure previous Presidents would say the same thing, whether it was Bush or Clinton or Reagan or anybody — the people who dislike you don’t know you. “But they hate you,” Mr O’Reilly stressed.

“The folks who hate you, they don’t know you,” said Mr Obama. “What they hate is whatever funhouse mirror image of you that’s out there and they don’t know you. And so, you don’t take it personally.” “You don’t ever?” prodded Mr O’Reilly one final time. “Doesn’t it annoy you sometimes? “I think that by the time you get here you have to have had a pretty thick skin. If you didn’t, then you wouldn’t have got here,” said Mr Obama.

For a variety of reasons, the media mirror has become warped not only in America but in Pakistan also. Mosharraf Zaidi brilliantly describes the state of things in his column, Drowning in our delusions:

The starkest revelation in the post-Taseer scenario is that the quality of journalism in Pakistan is in grave danger of becoming entirely hostage to ratings, profits and fear. For staunch defenders of the Pakistani media, this is not a pleasant reality to come face to face with. There is very little, however, to mitigate the cold hard facts.

Taseer’s position was pretty simple. He believed and stated that the Pakistan Penal Code provisions on blasphemy cause procedural lapses that endanger the lives of innocent Pakistanis. He believed and stated that there are skewed incentives, built into the provisions, for people to misuse them. Finally, he believed and stated that procedural change is required to give greater functional fidelity to the legal regime dealing with blasphemy.

This is not a particularly sophisticated position. It has long been shared by reasonable Pakistanis on all sides of the faux ideological divides we create in this country. It is a position that human rights advocates, political leaders and others have long taken.

Yet not only was this position rarely represented in the news media, it was repeatedly misrepresented. Watching young talk show hosts in their twenties make careers out of aggression is not unique. But when that aggression helps fuel paranoia and lies about someone that can then threaten their safety, we must draw a line. One such talk show host recently won the equivalent of the TV talk-show host lottery – a new job after a bidding war broke out for the host’s services. The new job is a reward for having repeatedly insinuating Salmaan Taseer’s blasphemous intent on a talk show. While one channel fired the host, it hardly matters. The new show will be even more bombastic. It will not fear facts, because facts often get in the way of ratings.

It is not only the facts that become distorted in the media funhouse mirror, though. It also makes it distorts the conversations about the problems the country is facing. And when we can’t see clearly what is wrong, how are we supposed to fix it?

Hyper-nationalist propagandists might believe that it’s better for us to lie to ourselves about the nation’s problems, but this is actually keeping us from making progress. That is also the conclusion reached by Mosharraf Zaidi.

Pakistan is being poisoned by false pride, self-pity and moral asymmetry. If we want Raymond Davis to burn, we should demand the same for Mumtaz Qadri. If the murder of three Lahori boys is unacceptable, we should be even more outraged by the untold death and destruction in Tirah Valley, in Bajaaur, in Orakzai, and across FATA that has been showered upon it by the Pakistani military. If we don’t like drones (and we shouldn’t), we must ask questions about what our helicopters and F-16s are doing in the north. If we don’t like targeted killings in Karachi, we should raise our voice against them in Balochistan too.

Pakistanis are too resilient, too beautiful and too good to drown in a sea of delusions. Now more than ever is a time for Pakistanis to be optimistic. The degree of responsibility in our optimism will make all the difference between perpetuating fantasies, or stemming the rot by promoting facts and reason.

Pakistan has the intellect and the resources to solve its own problems and clean up its own messes. We don’t need ‘patriotic generals’ or anyone else to do it for us. But before we can begin to improve things, we have to know what we’re looking at. For this, we rely on the media to be a mirror that reflects our nation clearly and accurately.

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Tags: Ahmed Quraishi, Bill O'Reilly, distorted, FOX News, Meher Bokhari, misleading, Mosharraf Zaidi, Mumtaz Qadri, Propaganda, Raymond Davis, Salmaan Taseer, The News
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When Watch Dogs Become Lap Dogs

Saturday, January 8th, 2011

Much is said about the role of media as watch dog. This is almost always used as a justification for criticising government policy or accusing someone of corruption, usually without any evidence. It’s true that keeping watch over politicians and government officials is part of media’s role in society (though it must be done honestly if it is to be effective), but politicians are not the only ones that need watching over. Actually, the media is failing to do a large part of its job.

Ali Dayan Hasan, senior South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, makes an astute observation about the role of media in the spread of the jihadi mindset in his op-ed for the International Herald Tribune:

The media no longer dares to scrutinize judicial conduct for fear of “contempt” proceedings by a judiciary that has had the temerity to hold a hearing on whether parliament could amend the constitution. Journalists self-censor out of fear of military and intelligence agencies. But the media has remained free to propagate an Islamist, nationalist, and anti-Western line.

While media has the responsibility to be a government watch dog, government is not the only social institution that must be checked. When President Zardari threatened to ban jokes against him, there was a media uproar. But when the judiciary threatens ‘contempt’ against those who question them, the media is silent. Is this not an equally or possibly even worse abuse of power?

When the Governor Punjab is assassinated by a man brainwashed by a jihadi mindset, the TV anchors do not condemn this act of violence. Rather, they ask the question, “Is he a hero?” This is not a new development, either. We saw the same self censorship when extremists burnt alive a group of Christians in Gojra. As we wrote at the time:

The media that has become the self proclaimed flag bearers of truth and honesty finds it very easy to attack politicians, abuse them and threaten them with a judicial or military coup. But it is scared when it has to talk about extremists and terrorists.

Many journalists claim to be courageous defenders of the truth when they are attacking politicians and government policies. But when they are faced with a judiciary, intelligence agencies, or violent extremists they are silent. It’s not enough to criticise the president. It takes real courage to criticise those who will abuse their power to hide the truth.

It’s time our journalists start acting like real watch dogs, and not lap dogs for anti-democratic forces in our country.

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Tags: Ali Dayan Hasan, International Herald Tribune, Media Talibans, Salmaan Taseer, self-censorship
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24/7 News Cycle Bad For Journalism, Deadly For Journalists

Friday, December 31st, 2010

By now it’s fairly well accepted that the 24/7 news cycle and the competition that comes with it is problematic for the state of journalism. The most embarrassing result, of course, being the fake WikiLeaks story that wound up on the front page of several reputable newspapers (and continued to be published in some less reputable ones). But the race for to be the first group with the most sensational headlines is not only bad for journalism, it turns out that it’s bad for journalists, too – and by ‘bad’ I mean deadly.

A new report from Committee to Protect Journalists found that Pakistan earned the dubious distinction of being the deadliest nation for journalists in 2010, beating out Iraq and Mexico. In all, eight journalists were killed while doing their job this past year. And the CPJ report does not include incidents in which journalists were shot at or issued death threats such as Kamran Shafi received in 2009.

Nafees Takar, the chief of Voice Of America’s Pashto-language Deewa service, says that part of the problem is the pressure to be the first to deliver on-the-scene reports from dangerous areas.

“Most of the time, when one media outlet in Pakistan uses a report, for example, on [U.S. missile] drone attacks, another media outlet will also be forcing the reporting in the region and will be expecting from their reporter a story which might be better than other one, with the soundbites of the people, and maybe the outlet will also be expecting that he or she should get some pictures of the area which has been hit by the missle attack. And that makes trouble for them in the sense that nobody can go to those areas. And if a journalist tries to go there, they are sure for inviting trouble for themselves.”

As we enter the new year, let’s pray that our journalists are safe from harm. Let us also ask the media groups, the publishers, the editors, and ourselves the consumers to have some patience and not put unreasonable demands on the men and women reporting the news. Already journalism can be a thankless and difficult job. But please, no one should have to put their life in danger just to get a headline ten minutes before the next guy.

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Tags: 24/7 cycle, competition, CPJ, Safety, VOA
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Conspiracies, Media and a Willing Public

Saturday, December 11th, 2010

I’m glad that the discussion of these fake Wikileaks cables has not ended with the apology of some newspapers. I’m truly disappointed – no, I am truly depressed – that even after the story is admitted to be fake, some newspapers and TV networks continue to peddle the story. If it is unknown to be a forgery, the story is a mistake. Once it is known, it is simply lies. So, why do these lies continue? Unfortunately, the answer is too complex for some simple conspiracy theory. But reading several writers today, you can begin to piece together the answer.

Nadeem F. Paracha calls them ‘The liars collective’, a media that is used by agency men to protect the vested interests of an establishment whose irrelevance threatens its very existence.

Each time any of these institutions is rocked by a scandal or an exposé, certain newspapers and TV channels suddenly start teeming with loud deniers who would go to absurd lengths to divert the public’s attention towards something more ‘substantial’, such as of course, the ‘record-breaking corruption’ of this government, the fantastic job the free judiciary is doing, or how India remains the greatest threat to Pakistan. Or some feel-good lectures by a crank or two, usually crammed with airy myths presented as historical facts, are unleashed.

This has happened so many times that one wonders whether what many journalists and politicians on the other side of the ideological fence say, is true. Whether most of the media personnel we see on our TV screens or read about in the newspaper, who are always so passionately waving the flag of Pakistan and spouting contempt against corruption (especially when a narrative by the establishment comes under stress), may very well be the proverbial ‘agency men?’

NFP, as usual, is on to something. In fact, his thesis is at least partially confirmed by one of these ‘agency men’ himself, Ahmed Quraishi, who admits using media to spread propaganda, even when it is not true.

Just like the Guardian and NYT, the Pakistani media retains the right to manipulate and highlight WikiLeaks documents that serve our interest. This could involve some exaggeration in some parts of the media. But not everything is ‘incorrect’, as the Guardian claimed.

The Pakistani story shifts the focus to India, and shows we too can use WikiLeaks for propaganda like everyone else. The Guardian and the other two journals have been doing the same for the past two weeks. I am not saying Pakistan did use WikiLeaks for propaganda but it certainly can, like everyone else.

This is not journalism, but psychological warfare by manipulating an unsuspecting public. It is not right for the CIA, and it is not right for RAW…and regardless of Ahmed Quraishi’s perverted justification – it is not right for him and the ISI to do either.

But even this is only part of the story. Unfortunately, things are not so simple. There is also the news agencies who have a perverse incentive to publish the craziest headlines without checking their facts. Cafe Pyala describes this situation in their post today:

The defence that “if anyone goes on Goggle [sic] and writes: Wikileaks Leaks About India, Israel and Afghanisan” one would be able to get the same news we got” would be uproariously funny were it not simultaneously so appalling. That’s your defence Online??? So tomorrow, if you go on the net and search for “Conspiracy Theories About Moon Landing Being Fake”, you would pass that along to news organizations as valid news? Second point: why exactly then do news organizations need you? I mean all they need to do to get their ‘news’ is Google (or Goggle, if that’s your thing), right?

Of course none of this takes away from the news organizations’ own responsibilities to verify stories they take on. Are we to gather from this that the news sense of the staff at these papers and channels has deteriorated to such an extent that NONE of them saw anything remotely strange about the story?

There are a lot of news researchers, producers, and editors out there who are not on the payroll of any intelligence agency. But they have their own vested interest, which is the public which consumes the news – us. As Nadir Hassan makes quite clear today, we also share responsibility for all this mess.

The media was only the vehicle for delivering the WikiLeaks-that-weren’t. The ultimate responsibility lies with us, the consumers. That the news stories based on the falsified cables were believed by so many people shows that they only told us what we so desperately want to be true. For a story to pass muster, it must ring true. And a heady brew of inflammatory textbooks, government sabre-rattling, media sensationalism and, it must be admitted, our own prejudice, have convinced a large percentage of the population that a hidden Hindu hand must be behind every local problem. Any media organisation which claimed, for example, that the slippery Swiss were behind the Baloch separatists, would be laughed into bankruptcy. Since we have so successfully demonised India, for many its involvement doesn’t so much as merit an arched eyebrow.

Since self-congratulation is easier than reflection, there will also be a lot of chatter in the coming days about the burgeoning photosphere. True, the fraudulent cables were first exposed as such by blogs and Twitter users. Inevitably, this will be used as proof that the Pakistani population is too sophisticated to fall for such hoaxes. Let’s not delude ourselves into thinking a few liberal journalists are representative of a country that is all too willing to believe the worst about its neighbour.

Fake stories are not published because of one sinister villain sitting in some hideout like in the movies. If it were so simple, we could simply find him and throw him behind bars. Problem solved. Unfortunately, there are complex reasons and complex motives behind media propaganda and lies. The good news is, there is a solution – it just takes a little bit of work. Just as word-of-mouth and ‘word-of-Twitter’ can be used to spread misinformation, it can also be used to expose it. It is said that sunlight is the best disinfectant. Therefore, let the sun shine on these cockroaches and we will watch them scurry away.

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Tags: Ahmed Quraishi, Cafe Pyala, Conspiracy Theories, incorrect information, intelligence agencies, Nadeem Paracha, Nadir Hassan, Propaganda, psy-ops, Wikileaks
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Ansar Abbasi's Bizarre Performance on Dunya Today

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

Ansar Abbasi appeared on yesterday’s episode of Dunya Today to discuss Wikileaks. What could have been an informative and productive discussion of an important event in both national and foreign policy turned into something of a circus, though, as Ansar Abbasi began reciting conspiracy theories instead of actual facts. And from there, his performance only got more bizarre. But where this episode was unfortunately not as informative as it could have been about the topic of Wikileaks, it was quite informative about the guest Ansar Abbasi.

About 5 seconds into the second video clip, Dr Moeed Pirzada asks Abbasi, “You said in our last program that Wikileaks is a conspiracy against Pakistan and the Muslims of the world.” Ansar Abbasi replies, “I am still saying the same thing, the exact same thing.”

This claim that Wikileaks is a conspiracy against Pakistan and Muslim countries is being passed around the media by the usual cabal of factless conspiracy theorists. It should be noted also that this line is being spread mostly Urdu media, not English-language, though it was published by The Nation last week also. Like most conspiracy theories, it seems that people believe that it is sufficient evidence to keep saying it.

Pressed by Mosharraf Zaidi to explain how this is a conspiracy, Abbasi simply says that “they use people, not just journalists; they use entire governments for their conspiracies.” Again, he makes this claim by simply stating it, presenting no actual evidence or proofs to back up his claim.

To his credit, Mosharraf Zaidi presents an important counter weight of reasonableness to Ansar Abbasi, terming it a “poison that we have in our nation that we look at everything as a conspiracy theory.” Zaidi goes on to explain:

All I am saying is that we don’t need to start scratching on every surface just to say there is a conspiracy brewing. There are so many other things that have come up here which can promote freedom, democracy and the truth. We should concentrate on those things instead of painting everything as a conspiracy theory so that we don’t ignore the guilty (as well as the innocent) involved here.

Mr Zaidi’s statement should be printed and hung on the wall of every Editor’s office in the country. Editing in journalism is about more than looking for minor grammatical or spelling mistakes. It is supposed to be about ensuring that the media is providing what The New York Times famously calls, “all the news that’s fit to print”. The operative word here being “fit” not “all”.

But I want to mention something else that may have been overlooked by casual viewers. A few minutes after Zaidi states his comments about how conspiracy theories are a distraction from real problems, the conversation took a turn for the bizarre as Abbasi began rambling about religion, saying:

Allah says the enemies of Islam do a lot of planning but Allah is the biggest planner of all. Americans can think of plan whatever My Allah has a plan for them.

This was so bizarre that even Dr Pirzada asked what he is talking about. However, I was immediately reminded of Ansar Abbasi’s recent fatwa against Fashion Week (again published in the Urdu-language Jang as if to perhaps hide it from his English-language audience) in which Mullah Abbasi wrote:

But the real sadness is over how, despite the clear instructions of Allah and His Prophet (PBUH), and despite the promise of the Constitution of Pakistan that an environment based on religious values and Islamic teachings will be created in Pakistan so that Muslims can live their lives according to the Quran and Sunnah, there is no one to stop those making fun of Islamic values. I don’t know who allowed such a fashion show to be held. This trend of fashion shows and catwalks began in Pakistan a few years ago and because of a lack of any controls, has gone, as in the West and India, towards obscenity.

Ansar Abbasi is clearly speaking to a particular audience here. He is repeating conspiracy theories about Wikileaks being an anti-Muslim plot without providing any proofs or facts to support his claim. He is making religious judgments about punishments for acts that he determines to be un-Islamic. This is all fine for Ansar Abbasi the Mullah or Ansar Abbasi the entertainer – but Ansar Abbasi is supposed to be Investigative Editor for one of the largest news organizations in the country. Ansar Abbasi can believe whatever he wants, but it does not make it news just because Ansar Abbasi thinks it.

Ahsan Butt writes an excellent question about the exchange on his blog Five Rupees:

The thing is, I completely agree with being reasonable and tolerant of other people’s opinions, and I am pretty tolerant for the most part — being at grad school sort of forces this upon you, even if you are not personally inclined that way. However, there is a big difference between respecting other people’s opinions (which I think I do) and respecting other people’s facts (which I do not and will not).

Mosharraf Zaidi and Ahsan Butt are correct. Each person is entitled to his own opinions. Nobody is entitled to his own facts. Ansar Abbasi is supposed to be an investigative journalist. He is supposed to ‘investigate’ – to find facts and report them. Perhaps he thinks he can hide from the rest of the world by behaving this way behind a veil of Urdu, but the world is not so divided as he might like to think. By spreading unfounded conspiracy theories and playing on the religious sentiments of the people, Ansar Abbasi is doing a disservice to his readers, his reputation, and his profession.

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Tags: Ahsan Butt, Ansar Abbasi, Blogs, Conspiracy Theories, Dunya Today, Dunya TV, Five Rupees, Jang, Jang Group, Moeed Pirzada, Mosharraf Zaidi, religion, اردو
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Missing the Point

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

By now you have probably heard the story of Asia Bibi who was handed down the death sentence in Nankana district for violation of blasphemy laws. This has created quite a debate in parts of the media – but not the debate you might expect. Actually, most of the discussion has been about whether or not the government should overturn the sentence for Asia, with little discussion of the underlying issues. Saroop Ijaz makes an important observation in today’s Daily Times about the way that media reports often miss the bigger picture of a story.

(more…)

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Tags: Asia Bibi, Daily Times, Ghazi Salahuddin, priorities, Saroop Ijaz, The News
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

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