Writing for Express Tribune‘s ‘Media Watchdog’ blog, Corporate Solicitor Zain Umar claims that the newspaper has a ‘Goebbel’s vendetta’ against Imran Khan. After equating The Express Tribune to the Nazi propaganda minister in the very first sentence, he goes on lambast the newspaper for allegedly “publishing literally anything against Imran Khan” while “not a single write up of his is devoid of barbed shafts aimed at Imran Khan”. This is an increasingly common claim – that Imran Khan and PTI are the victims of media bias. But is this true?
It’s certainly not true for Express Tribune‘s official Blogs where it took no effort to find pieces by multiple authors who support Imran Khan and believe PTI will be a formidable force in the next elections.
Even editorials on Imran Khan are balanced, neither supporting nor opposing. It’s hard to consider lines like, “he will have to be taken seriously and his party’s electoral fortunes will most probably be far better than they have been in the past” as a ‘Goebbel’s vendetta’. So why do Zain Umar and many others like him believe that the media is targeting Imran Khan?
According to Imran Khan, the reason is Jews.
For those who do not understand Urdu, please allow me to explain. In this clip, Wajahat S Khan asks Imran Khan whether “the honeymoon is over” between the media and PTI since it seems that he is no longer dominating front pages as he did last year. Imran Khan begins to reply that he is fighting against two governments – the national government and the provincial government, both of which have large advertising budgets. Wajahat clarifies that he’s not talking about advertising, he’s talking about news stories. Imran Khan then replies that the problem is that the ‘Jewish lobby’ controls the global media. Wajahat reacts in disbelief, telling Imran Khan, “Don’t go there…” which shocks the PTI Chairman who doesn’t understand how someone can’t believe that the world’s media – including, apparently, The News (Jang Group), which Wajahat is holding in his hand – is part of a Jewish conspiracy against him.
Like most conspiracy theories, this one, too is made from fantasy and not fact. There may be some Jews who own some media groups in the world (Israel, for example), but there are also many Christians (The New York Times) and Muslims (The News/Jang) as well as people of many other religions as well. The fear that Imran Khan is the victim of a ‘Goebbel’s vendetta’ by the editors of Express Tribune is similarly fictitious, as is clear from the fact that the paper has regularly published pieces that were favourable to PTI and Imran Khan. Mr Umar can relax.
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 to us?. Rest assured, dear reader, this appears to be just another sensational ‘bull’ story.
The article quotes PAMCO former CEO Dr Hamid Jalil giving his opinion that because a case of ‘mad cow’ disease was discovered in a California farm by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Pakistan should stop import of live animals from the US. The report which appeared in Monday’s Lahore edition does not present any evidence that any diseased animal has been imported to Pakistan.
According to livestock and meat trade data available from the USDA website, America’s largest export market for beef is Canada followed by Mexico and Japan. In fact, Pakistan does not even make the list of the top 20 countries that import American beef, falling instead into the category, “Other countries”.
It should also be noted that the case of ‘mad cow’ was identified in the US specifically because they have put in place systems to monitor and trace diseases to the source. Despite the impressive growth in Pakistani beef production, we have not invested in similar systems of tracking and cataloguing livestock.
Dr Hamid Jalil raises a legitimate point about whether imports of American beef should be suspended until the USDA can confirm that the disease has been contained and does not pose a threat. This is something that scientists and can test and confirm so that the people are assured of the safety of any food imports. There is no evidence presented, however, that any infected cattle have been imported till date. Neither is there any evidence to support the conspiracy theory that US is targeting Pakistan with diseased cattle.
Shaheen Sehbai alerted his Twitter followers to an alarming story yesterday, one that claims the US has carried out a secret program to buy Pakistani journalists and to make them ashamed of being Muslims. The story that Shaheen Sehbai Tweeted was written two years ago as part of a series titled, ‘Final Solution Frenzy’ that tells of a fascinating plot, full of intrigue and betrayal against Pakistan. Actually, fascinating plots, full of intrigue and betrayal appear to be the main product of the website where it was published.
The story Shaheen Sehbai Tweeted is posted on the website ‘News Central Asia’, which is run by former officer Pakistan Navy Tariq Saeedi who emigrated to Turkmenistan.
In 2002, it was not America that Tariq Saeedi was warning about, but a conspiracy by “Mossad, RAW and Israeli-Russian-Ukrainian drug mafia” to take over the entire world. As usual, though, taking over the entire world starts by taking over Pakistan. And these Hindu-Zionists were being aided by a government official who “aimed to undermine the whole foundation of Pakistan”. According to Tariq Saeedi, that official was Benazir Bhutto.
It cannot be said with certainty but there are some reasons to assume that Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan, wittingly or unwittingly, played in the hands of RAW-Mossad masterminds. High ups in Pakistan’s military still believe that Benazir Bhutto has connections with RAW-Mossad nexus and General Pervez Musharraf himself declared her as “security risk” during a chat with Pakistan’s leading editors and correspondents just before his referendum campaign.
Benazir’s visit to India last year at a time when Pakistan was going through one of the worst crises in its history, and her statements there which aimed to undermine the whole foundation of Pakistan, generated more than a flicker of doubt in analytic minds. The basic question arises: Who is Benazir Bhutto? Leaving BB to her own fate, let’s return to RAW-Mossad connection.
Saeedi updated his story by 2010, though, leaving behind the slanderous accusations against Benazir Bhutto and transforming America from the simple pawn of Mossad to a global force preparing for a full-scale invasion of Pakistan.
He explained, “The US Navy would be in a position after July 2010 to station some landing ships, probably four, near the territorial waters of Pakistan. They would be able to land and support more than 30000 troops, complete with transport units and fighting gear, anywhere at the Pakistan coastline between Pasni and Gawadar. There would be aircraft carriers with more than enough warplanes to overwhelm the Pakistan Airforce. This is the other jaw of the pincer.”
The picture thus emerging was that after July 2010, the US would have substantial number of troops at the border of Pakistan with Afghanistan. This is the area where the Chagai district of Pakistani Balochistan meets the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar in Afghanistan.
The total number of these troops, Oleg in Moscow estimated, would be more than 35000.
Simultaneously, as Simon told us, there would be some 30000 soldiers and marines waiting to land at the beaches of Balochistan. This makes military sense, especially in the face of the fact that the part of Balochistan that lies between these two pressure points does not have any significant presence or support system of Pakistan army.
As usual, this conspiracy theory too did not turn out as predicted. So why is Shaheen Sehbai projecting the old tales of a discredited conspiracy theorist? The answer may lie in his Tweet.
Shaheen Sehabi recommends Tariq Saeedi’s tale with the caveat, “Don’t know how credible is it, but must see n react”. In other words, Shaheen Sehbai read some sensational tale on the internet and without taking a few minutes to check the credibility of the piece and its author, he recommended it as ‘must see’. This Tweet was not even based on the rumour from a personal source, but some random writing posted on the internet! It took us approximately 5 minutes to determine just how credible the story is.
This raises the obvious question of what other sensational tales Shaheen Sehbai has repeated without doing any background checks or investigations. That Shaheen Sehbai does not know how credible the tales he is repeating are raises troubling questions about Shaheen Sehbai’s own credibility.
In the piece below published by Express Tribune, Abdul Majeed examines the claims of journalist Nadir Hassan who recently wrote that all the anti-American conspiracy theories of recent years have proven to be true. After careful examination, though, Majeed finds Hassan’s argument lacking. We wanted to highlight this piece for our dear readers for two reasons.
First is that it reflects well on Express Tribune that the editors are willing to allow alternative points of view to those projected by their regular columnists.
Second, it should be noted that Mr Abdul Majeed is not an investigative journalist by training but a medical student. This may have some advantage for his ability to see through conspiracy theories as he is trained in the scientific method which puts the greatest value on facts.
In the pre-scientific period, many believed that medical issues like seizure were caused by evil jinn and the patient would be treated by a mystic who would try to expel the jinn to cure the seizure. Following fact-based research during the scientific revolution, it was learned that seizure was actually a result of medical causes like abnormal brain activity, stroke, fever, etc etc etc. As a result of this emphasis on facts instead of superstitions, doctors were able to cure more people improve quality of life for the masses.
Do we need a scientific revolution in journalism? Till date many journalists continue to look for modern day jinn like ‘foreign hand’ and ‘Hindu-Zionists’ to explain all types of events rather than using the scientific method to find facts that can give a correct conclusion based on reason, not superstition.
I read an article written in The Express Tribune yesterday by veteran journalist Nadir Hassan, titled “What if the conspiracy theorists are correct?”. In his piece, he said that all anti-US conspiracy theories of recent years have proven to be true. He also expressed the view that it is possible to be both anti-US and anti-Taliban at the same time.
I was surprised at the lack of understanding displayed by the esteemed writer. Conspiracy theories, by definition, cannot be proven either right or wrong; as far as anti-US conspiracy theories are concerned, he just glossed over a few of them and justified them later as being true. Anti-Americanism and conspiracy mongering are not as simple and straightforward as have been presented by Mr Hassan.
I would like to share some of my thoughts about conspiracy theories, their origin and genesis. According to historian Dr Mubarak Ali:
“Myths gradually have lost their appeal in those societies where intellectuals produced new ideas, thoughts, and concepts to guide people. Myths flourish in those societies which are stagnant and rely on the out dated ideas”.
Such conspiracy theories and people who promote them are present across the length and breadth of this world. From the most civilised countries to the most downtrodden ones – conspiracy theories weave their web of lies with relish.
A primary factor responsible for the proliferation of myths and conspiracy theories is the pathetic state of our textbooks. In 2003, the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI ) published a report titled “The Subtle Subversion“ on the state of textbooks in Pakistan. The report drew the following conclusions with regards to to textbooks in Pakistan:
Insensitivity to the religious diversity of the nation
Nadeem Farooq Paracha and Fasi Zaka have also written about the rise of conspiracy theories and the way they shape our understanding of the world. In a television program on “conspiracy theories”, Nadeem F Paracha recalled that the film “Loose Change” (about the theories regarding 9/11) was broadcasted in Pakistan with much fanfare. In fact, there were three to four other parts of that documentary that were subsequently made, in which the earlier mistakes were rectified. Those “other” versions were never shown in Pakistan.
The above-mentioned conspiracy theories have never been proven correct, neither can they ever be. As far as anti-Americanism is concerned, a survey for international broadcaster al Jazeera by Gallup Pakistan found that 59% of Pakistanis felt that the greatest threat to the country was the United States. A separate survey by the Pew Research Center, an independent pollster based in Washington, recorded that 64% of the Pakistani public regards the US “as an enemy” and only nine per cent believe it to be a partner.
In one of his columns, Fasi Zaka, suggested that the kind of anti-Americanism found these days (among the middle-classes of the country) is extremely ill-informed. He wrote that a lot of young Pakistanis are basing their understanding of international politics by watching low-budget straight-to-video ‘documentaries’ on YouTube!
These so-called documentaries that Zaka is talking about are squarely based on re-hashed conspiracy theories that mix age-old anti-Jewish tirades and paranoid fantasies about Zionists, Freemasons and the Illuminati. Locally, all these are then further mixed with flighty myths about certain Muslim leaders, sages and events recorded only in jihadi literature and flimsy ‘history books.’
The aforementioned article also pointed out that Farhat Taj’s research is not based on actual statistics and that’s a controversial thing to say. Her book “Taliban and Anti-Taliban” should be read by Mr Nadir for clarification.
The writer further metioned Zaid Hamid and Ali Azmat; these two have said a lot of weird things, but if one or two of them turned out to be true, it must be regarded as an exception, not the rule. Let’s not forget that Zaid Hamid said in Episode 17 of his program, “Iqbal ka Pakistan” that long marches or democracy can’t bring any change in the country.
In episode 21 of the same show, he mentioned “Tsunami” as a political force. Ali Azmat claimed in another show that after 1945, all the musical instruments in the world have been tuned to a specific frequency that is destructive for cellular structure and cause mass hypnotism and crowd control.
These are just some very obvious examples of conspiracy-mongering by these two guys. (If anyone is interested, please take out some time to read a complete post-mortem of Zaid Hamid’s musings in “Iqbal ka Pakistan” here), merely the tip of the iceberg.
At the end, I just have one thing to say to the respected Nadir Hassan: I expect better from you.
It is hard not to take notice of the bold headline on the front page of The Nation on Friday: US setting up for Pak sneak-in. Are we on the verge of an American invasion? Should we be strengthening the borders and preparing for war? Or is this the latest case of media war hysteria and the well-worn drum of anti-american paranoia?
The first hint we have is the name of the reporter who filed this sensational story. Actually, the hint comes from the fact that the reporter has no name. Let’s next look at the names of the sources for the information in the report:
“it is said”
“knowledgeable sources say”
“According to sources”
“Observers say”
“It is said”
“It is learnt”
“sources say”
Here we have a front page report in The Nation written by no one that makes sensational claims about a threat to the national security based on information provided by no one.
Now let us examine the claims made by these ghosts.
According to the report, America’s plans for the period after their withdrawal from Afghanistan is to “sneak in” to Pakistan. And how is it planning to sneak in? The report claims that the US is adding new levels to its Embassy in Islamabad. We have no way of knowing if the US plans to expand the size of its Embassy here, but we do think this has got to be the least sneaky way of expanding its footprint in the nation.
Actually, the threat of this supposed Embassy expansion is curious itself. According to the anonymous reporter’s anonymous sources, “having nine levels enables the US snoopers to overlook most of the ministries and government offices’ buildings, including the Parliament House, the Presidency and the PM Secretariat.”
The Americans are sneaking in to build a taller Embassy so they can look out the window into government offices? This is the CIA’s greatest strategy to spy on Pakistan? Mashallah! We are saved!
Jokes aside, there are real threats to our national security, and these should be reported honestly and objectively so that the people understand why military and civilian leaders take the decisions that they do to protect the country. Filing silly anonymous reports about American conspiracies to build a taller Embassy so they can peek into government offices and publishing these reports as real news stories spreads confusion and conspiracies as the people are unsure what the real threats are and what are simply tall tales.
Over 50,000 Americans were granted visas to Pakistan since the past four years, media reported this week. When you hear that bit of news, what does it tell you? Does it tell you that Pakistan has become a top tourist destination? Or does it tell you that every province and village is overrun with Blackwater agents and Raymond Davises? What should this media headline tell you?
Express Tribune reported that over 50,000 Americans were issued visas to visit Pakistan between 2008 and 2011. The information was provided by the Foreign Ministry in response to a question by PML-Q Senator SM Zafar. According to the Express Tribune report, 13,115 were categorised as those for diplomats and other senior officials, and over 2,200 were given after approval from the defence ministry. That means that around 38,979 visas were given for American citizens who were not diplomats or senior US officials over a four year period – or about 9,745 each year.
What the report doesn’t tell us is who those 9,745 people are.
According to 2010 US Census data, at least 409,163 Americans have Pakistani ancestry. What percentage of those 9,745 who travel to Pakistan each year are visiting family or perhaps visiting their ancestral country for the first time?
What about Americans who do business in Pakistan? American Business Council of Pakistan has 67 members – most of whom are Fortune 500 companies – that operate in all sectors of Pakistan’s economy. They include business giants like AT&T, Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, Cisco Systems, Microsoft and IBM just to name a few.
What about American journalists in Pakistan? Or aid workers? What about the American friends of Pakistanis who come for weddings? What about tourists who come to witness our incredible cultural heritage?
Total US population is over 307 million. That means that each year, less than .00003 per cent of Americans are coming to Pakistan, and there are over 18,471 Pakistanis for every American with a visa. More proof that Americans are not invading after all.
It should also be noted that the comparable numbers are not provided for visas issued to citizens of other countries. A horse is large compared to a dog, but not compared to an elephant. Is 50,000 visas a lot? Compared to what? Even the number in the headline – 50,000 – is the total over four years, not the number of Americans who had visas at the same time. How many Americans are here at any given time? How many Chinese are here? How many Afghans? And how many foreigners who are not Americans come without going through the proper visa process int the first place?
Unfortunately, the Express Tribune reporter doesn’t answer any of these questions. We are left to decide for ourselves who these Americans are. And when we are constantly fed conspiracy theories and doom-and-gloom scenarios, how should we be expected to interpret a headline like, ‘Over 50,000 Americans issued Pakistani visa from 2008 to 2011′?
An article appearing on the front page of The News (Jang Group) asks, ‘Is PM Gilani using Pasha’s extension as a bargaining tool?’ The piece, which is not published on the Opinion pages but rather the front page and is not even in any way labeled as opinion, viewpoint, or commentary suggests that the PM is using the possibility of another extension for DG ISI Lt Gen Shuja Pasha as a bargaining chit in the memogate case. Abbasi, however, presents no evidence for this suggestion. Rather, the article is based in his own personal speculation.
That Ansar Abbasi’s article is speculation and not evidence-based is admitted by Abbasi’s own words:
Talking to media persons on his return from Davos after attending the World Economic Forum Conference, the prime minister is reported to have said, “Any decision about the extension of DG ISI would be taken at an appropriate time.”
There is no explanation as to why did the prime minister say this but given the track record of the rulers and their style of soiled politicking, Gillani may use the extension card as a lever to get Pasha softened on memo issue.
In other words, “There is no explanation as to why did the prime minister say this but” I am going to invent an explanation anyway.
Ansar Abbasi is, of course, entitled to his own speculation and whatever conspiracy theories are born in his head. And if Jang Group believes Ansar Abbasi’s fantasies and conspiracy theories are worth publishing, they have every right to do so. But such inventions are not reporting, they are opinions and should be properly published on the pages clearly marked as containing opinions so that readers are not intentionally or unintentionally misled into thinking that Ansar Abbasi’s speculation is something other than what it is.
The latest version of the media’s ‘memogate’ parlour game has turned from who knew what and when about the infamous memo to who knew what and when about the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May. Mansoor Ijaz invented this new version of the game by first alleging that Husain Haqqani and Asif Zardari secretly knew about the raid before it happened. He provides no evidence, of course, and his claim flies in the face of all logic and reason, but since when have logic and reason been required rules for our media parlour games? In fact, already the field has expanded to speculation that UK High Commissioner Wajid Hasan also knows something he’s not telling, including a front page article in The News that asks, “Will Wajid Hasan be the next memogate victim?” But why limit the field to only PPP officials? Surely there are plenty of people who can be brought to dock on the same quality of speculation and innuendo.
Let’s begin with Ahmed Quraishi. On 6th May, Ahmed Quraishi was the guest on Voice of Russia‘s radio programme. During the interview he said that,
“At some level, maybe not the entire government, but at some level Pakistan definitely was on board with the United States before the operation was carried out and some of the logistics that were involved in that operation do indicate that it would not have been possible to carry out the operation in its entirety without a major, a good level of cooperation on the Pakistani side”.
Quraishi goes on to say that the Abbottabad operation “of course also vindicates the US intelligence community [and] the US military in Afghanistan”. Interesting.
Then on 10th May, Ahmed Quraishi further wrote that the operation that killed Osama bin Laden was a joint Pakistan-US victory. Here is how Ahmed Quraishi described the scene:
“Crucial and critical intelligence from Pakistan and the United States succeeding in pinpointing the location of al-Qaeda terror chief. ISI gave decisive leads on the trusted courier of bin Laden. The CIA and the US military put together a plan to take him out. By virtue of the more advanced American surveillance technology, Washington filled in the gaps and sealed bin Laden’s fate.”
Ahmed Quraishi then goes on to criticise the military for not explaining their larger role in the operation.
“Instead of ‘admitting’ failure, it was better for the army chief to object to CIA hijacking a joint victory and turning it into a one-sided victory and a one-sided attack on our military and ISI. And we could have certainly done without our foreign secretary quoting US national security adviser to confirm to our media that we did scramble some fighter jets in the end. The weak media management capabilities of our civilian and military bureaucracies are breathtaking.”
Neither is Ahmed Quraishi the only one who was making such statements. Let us take a moment to revisit the front page of The Nation on 3rd May, just after the raid:
The Nation front page of 3rd May 2011
The front page article by Sikander Shaheen quotes “top level official sources” saying that “200 Pakistan Army men provided ground support” for the operation while “four helicopters of the Pakistan Army hovered over the fortress-like hideout of al-Qaeda chief at Thanda Choh”. Shaheen goes on to quote “military sources” that “US dignitaries thanked the military leadership of Pakistan on intelligence sharing and the successful operation”.
It seems that perhaps not only Ahmed Quraishi but Sikander Shaheen, military and intelligence leadership, 200 jawans and four helicopter pilots should be under suspicion.
Let us be clear: We have not seen any evidence that Ahmed Quraishi, Sikander Shaheen, Wajid Hasan, Husain Haqqani, Asif Zardari…or anyone else had any advance knowledge or was privy to any secret information about the raid. During the aftermath of the raid, there was great confusion and many people were making guesses about what happened. Because of this, it is easy to take even the words of a democrat like Wajid Hasan or a hyper-nationalist like Quraishi and twist them to create suspicion. But that is not journalism.
The White House has categorically denied Mansoor Ijaz’s claims that anyone knew about the Abbottabad operation, and headlines speculating about whether one or another government official may have had secret knowledge of the American operation are completely irresponsible. Rather than carrying out witch hunts against government officials based on speculation and innuendo, perhaps it would be better if journalists thought about who was feeding them false information following the raid and who is feeding them information now.
It has been one year since the media caused a national crisis by inaccurately reporting that the government was plotting to withdraw notification to reinstate the judges sacked by Musharraf. Unfortunately, it seems that journalists and TV anchors did not learn from this ‘moment of shame’ and are once again causing alarm by rushing to report unsubstantiated rumour without conducting the proper background checks. We cannot even call out one or another media group as the sad truth is that so many were guilty that the entire profession has been stained by the event.
We are referring, of course, to reports that created a stir on Wednesday night when media groups rushed to report the resignation of Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani. As the evening progressed, the reports escalated. Not only had the Ambassador resigned, but he had already moved out of the official residence. Then we were told that not only had he resigned and moved out of the official residence, but he was not returning to Pakistan. As it grew later there were even reports that Haqqani had applied for asylum in the US! The media frenzy had reached a full peak.
Of course, not one single one of these reports was true. It was all lies and fabrications invented by reporters and their sources and given the green light by unquestioning editors and producers.
Following the media’s false reporting of a conspiracy against the judiciary last year, Farrukh Khan Pitafi wrote the following:
In the golden days of journalism, we were taught not to carry any report unless there was prima facie evidence or at least three separate sources available. In the case of a breaking story or report of critical importance, this rule was relaxed to either two independent sources or word from the horse’s — in this case the prime minister’s or the law minister’s — mouth. As evident however, none of these precautions were taken, nor was any patience shown for such details to emerge. Innocent until proven guilty is the universal principle in case of unsubstantiated allegations. However, in this particular case it was deemed fit to consider the government guilty until proven innocent.
Unable or unwilling to find anyone at the Embassy in Washington or the presidency to confirm the rumours, our media not only ran with the story, they ran riot with it. Were the false reports necessary?
By 1:30am, Dr Firduas Awan was available to give a statement that the government had received a letter from Ambassador Haqqani offering his tender resignation by saying that he did not want to be “a distraction from the major challenges facing our country and our government”, but that no decision had been made to replace anyone. It was less than 24 hours later that Geo was able to contact Ambassador Haqqani by telephone to get his statement on the air.
Imagine if the news channels had simply taken the time to check not with their ‘reliable sources’ who every time prove embarrassingly unreliable, but with the actual people involved in the story. It would have prevented confusion, misinformation, and the continued humiliation of the media as incompetent and untrustworthy.
As the dust begins to settle, it is worth once again revisiting the recommendations of Farrukh Khan Pitafi.
The best practice would be to ask the concerned reporters or the channel managements to produce the evidence. It is important not to confuse a source with evidence. Even when we have sources we are not supposed to air an item without our own satisfaction. And in any case, no source will ever accept that it had generated such information in the absence of recorded evidence. If media outlets do not produce evidence they should be fined and asked to ground the reporter for a bit. This is about the only civilised way.
Now let us focus on the source of the problem in the heart of darkness. Apart from the culture of cynicism that has mushroomed around the current government and for which the government’s poor media policy is to be blamed, the institution of a professional editor is almost extinct in this country. In the presence of owner-editors the assurance of content quality and adherence to media ethics becomes impossible. Our profession has become highly complacent and in a conflict between the business owners and a professional editor, most journalists wish to stand with the former. Had there been professional editors in place, even if unverified information was produced, it would not have made it to the screen or print. Also the professional editor, given the damage caused, would have sacked someone.
Of course, there is the issue of talk show hosts-anchorpersons and their reckless attitude. It must be recognised that since each anchor-host is responsible for the content of his program, he/she is usually expected to act as an editor for the content. But remember in the heat of live programming there always is the chance of some inappropriate behaviour. A professional editor as the media’s conscience should always be there to remind the anchor and to issue the corrigendum. Yet these are mad times and even at stations with elaborate infrastructure, a tendency of getting carried away has been witnessed.
Getting carried away has become not only a tendency, but an addiction. It is time to break the habit.
As government and military officials look more and more to China, members of Pakistan’s journalism community should take notice of certain recent developments. Chinese authorities announced this week that they are tightening regulations governing journalists, specifically, rule that require reports to fact check and have actual evidence before publishing sensational claims and conspiracy theories.
The new rules also require journalists to produce at least two sources for any “critical” news reports and to personally conduct interviews when gathering information.
False reports must be followed by corrections and apologies, the statement said, and serious violations could lead to the suspension or even the revocation of a news outlet’s government-issued license.
“False reports not only seriously hurt the interests of the parties involved, but also seriously undermine the credibility of the news media, or even seriously affect the social and economic order,” the agency stated in a question-and-answer article released by the state news agency Xinhua.
Because this blog does not support government restrictions on reporters, we hope that our colleagues in the journalism profession in Pakistan will implement a code of conduct to ensure professionalism voluntarily. The Zardari-Gilani government has demonstrated that it will allow all sorts of malicious rumour-mongering and conspiracy theories to be published without using the power of government to take revenge on the media, but no one can know if the next government will be as patient.
