Posts Tagged ‘Matthew Rosenberg’

The Nation and Xenophobia

Monday, February 15th, 2010

The Nation deserves praise for publishing Zaheeruddin Baber’s column, “Xenophobic tendencies” in which the author calls attention to the growing problem of intolerance being promoted by some media personalities. But, at the same time, The Nation would do well to read this column carefully and distribute it to its staff so that The Nation can work on cleaning up its own xenophobic tendencies.

Xenophobia is the fear or hatred of foreigners. This is becoming increasingly a problem, and Mr. Baber rightly points to media types for promoting this attitude:

The shocking intolerance, sectarian, secular, xenophobic and otherwise, increasingly displayed in ‘current’ societal structures here is fast getting dangerously out of control, the fires stalked by people who should know better such as Imran Khan and those who apparently don’t, Zaid Hamid of the red topi being a prime example of the latter, with the resulting conflagration, when it erupts, set to completely desecrate any remote semblance of sanity that tries to prevail in the country-shattering inferno that will, undoubtedly follow if left unchecked.

But Mr. Baber leaves out one other media organization that promotes fear and hatred of foreigners: The Nation.

Examples of The Nation‘s xenophobic tendencies are not hard to come by. From Kaswar Klasra’s infamous article in which he accuses American reporter Matthew Rosenberg of being a spy, to statements that any actions by India must be seen as “a deliberate pattern towards some nefarious goal,” to the recent column about Aafia in which Sikander Shaheen accuses the US, India, and Israel of being “in an unholy alliance to tighten the noose around a Muslim lady” – The Nation makes a habit of promoting xenophobia in its pages. In November, the newspaper even ran an article by Azam Tanoli that was all but a transcript of a speech by Zaid Hamid – the same who is so soundly criticized by Baber today – praising him as “a prominent” scholar” and echoing Hamid’s claims about the threat of foreigners to Pakistan’s existence.

I was glad to see The Nation step outside its usual ideological boundaries and publish Baber’s article. Let us hope, dear readers, that the editors of The Nation will take the time to read their own newspaper and consider the suggestion to avoid cheap xenophobia in the future.

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Posted in The Nation | 1 Comment »

Pakistani Journalist Kamran Shafi Threatened, Shot At

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
Pakistani Journalist and Military Veteran Kamran Shafi

Pakistani Journalist and Military Veteran Kamran Shafi

In more evidence of the growing threat to free media in Pakistan, veteran journalist Kamran Shafi’s house was strafed with gunfire over the weekend.

The shooting comes after repeated threats to Mr. Shafi’s life by telephone and warnings to him not to continue writing about security in Pakistan.

Police report that they have made no headway in identifying the shooters or those threatening Mr. Shafi. The woman caller, according to Mr. Shafi, spoke in broken Urdu.

Most troubling about this attack is that, when the shooter let loose a hail of bullets on Mr. Shafi’s home, he was celebrating Eid holiday with his wife and daughter who could have been killed in the attack. This demonstrates that not only are these killers intending to silence free and open media discussion in Pakistan, they are willing to commit the most devious of murders to get their way.

In addition to the obvious threats to the journalist and freedom of the media in Pakistan, this incident has not gone unnoticed in the international media and serves as an embarrassment for Pakistan.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, which has already condemned Pakistani newspaper The Nation for endangering the life of an American journalist, wrote that this is evidence of Pakistan’s media environment deteriorating:

“CPJ condemns this attack on such a prominent Pakistani journalist,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ Asia program coordinator. “Pakistan’s media environment is declining rapidly as a consequence of the political and military strife erupting under the government of President Asif Ali Zardari. Local and foreign journalists are coming under threat from all sides to the country’s many conflicts. Increasingly, Pakistan’s free press is under a threat almost as menacing as that under former president Pervez Musharraf ,” added Dietz.

I have written before about how threatening journalists threatens press freedom. Then, I was writing about Ahmed Quraishi’s dismissal of concerns about the safety of American journalist Matthew Rosenberg. But as the attempted murder of Kamran Shafi clearly proves, it is not just American journalists whose lives are increasingly in danger.

A free and unbiased media is the cornerstone to a healthy and stable democracy. By threatening journalists, the people involved in this incident have proven themselves to be enemies of our democracy. By using violence to try to intimidate and threaten innocent people, they have proven themselves to be nothing but terrorists.

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BREAKING: Ahmed Quraishi's Source Says He Misrepresented Them

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
Ahmed Quriashi Suffers Black Eye After Being Humiliated By His Own Source.

Ahmed Quriashi Suffers Black Eye After Being Humiliated By His Own Source.

In a shocking turn of events for the ongoing libel case between Ambassador Husain Haqqani and Ahmed Quraishi over claims by Quraishi that Haqqani threatened to reveal state secrets if fired over the Kerry-Lugar bill, Ahmed Quraishi’s main source says that he misrepresented their reporting and says The Nation publishes “unsupported accusations.”

Islamabad’s man in Washington, Amb. Husain Haqqani, has sued The Nation for libel after the newspaper published an article Oct. 14 accusing the ambassador of threatening to reveal state secrets if he were sacked due to the botched rollout of the Kerry-Lugar Pakistani aid bill.

The article in The Nation appears to be based entirely on an Oct. 12 Cable item quoting Haqqani as saying he was not being fired and also citing Pakistani sources as saying that “Haqqani has reams of documents that could embarrass the forces aligned against him and sacking him could open up a Pandora’s box of controversy.”

In the Nation article, however, writer Ahmed Quraishi, shown at right, states without evidence that the Pakistani source was “close to Ambassador Haqqani,” and states without evidence that Haqqani is “contemplating going public with embarrassing Pakistani official documents.” Neither allegation was part of the article in The Cable.

The title of Quraishi’s article goes even further in misrepresenting the reporting in The Cable, and reads, “If fired, Haqqani threatens to unveil ‘reams’ of Pakistan’s secrets.”

(Quraishi also mislabeled the author of The Cable as “Bill” Rogin; not sure where he got that one.)

Leaving Ahmed Quraishi humiliated, the magazine takes to task Majeed Nizami and The Nation for irresponsible reporting in general.

Nizami and The Nation also stand accused this month of endangering the life of Wall Street Journal South Asia correspondent Matthew Rosenberg, after publishing a front-page article Nov. 5 accusing him of being an agent for the CIA, Blackwater, and as having ties to the Mossad, the famous Israeli intelligence agency.

Sourced to one anonymous “official of a law enforcement agency,” the article sought to portray Rosenberg’s meetings with various officials and travel around the region as evidence he was something other than a regular journalist doing his job.

The Rosenberg article prompted the leaders of 21 top international journalism organizations to write to the government of Pakistan asking for protection for foreign journalists placed in danger by such unsupported accusations. The Journal‘s Daniel Pearl was killed in Pakistan in 2002.

“We strongly support press freedoms across the world. But this irresponsible article endangered the life of one journalist and could imperil others,” the letter stated. “It is particularly upsetting that this threat has come from among our own colleagues.”

Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thompson also sent a separate letter to Nizami and The Nation‘s Shireen Mazari defending Rosenberg’s status as a well-respected, objective reporter and demanding a retraction.

“Our profession has been done a great disservice by the utterly baseless article,” Thompson wrote. “At present, your paper is guilty of spreading falsehoods, but it could ultimately be complicit in a far greater tragedy unless this wrong is corrected.”

While this represents serious legal trouble for Ahmed Quraishi’s claims that he was not irresponsibly defaming the the Ambassador, it also demonstrates an added voice of influence to the many international news organizations that have criticized The Nation for unreliable reporting and unsupported allegations.

We hope that this will finally break through to Nizami and Mazari as well as all Pakistani media that they are truly embarrassing not only themselves but our country in the eyes of the world when they engage in such irreputable acts.

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Posted in The Nation | 2 Comments »

Threats to Journalists Threaten Press Freedom

Monday, November 16th, 2009

There is no defense for threatening journalistsThreats to the safety of journalists represent a serious problem in Pakistan, and the danger journalists face in our country has resulted in a respected international NGO ranking press freedom in Pakistan below Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, some people like Ahmed Quraishi are trying to defend these threats.

Reporters Without Borders recent 2009 Press Freedom Index lists Pakistan at 159 out of 175 nations represented. Mr. Ilhan Niaz took issue with the harsh ranking in Dawn yesterday, saying that “One can only wonder what methodology would enable Pakistan to be bracketed alongside one party dictatorships, theocratic police states and warlord infested polities on the issue of press freedom.” After inquiring with Reporters Without Borders, the newspaper was told that “The bad situation of Pakistan in the ranking is mainly due to the attacks against journalists by [T]aliban and other groups…”

This should not come as too much of a surprise to Mr. Niaz since in May of this year, Reporters Without Borders and International Federation of Journalists sent a joint letter to the President requesting him “to take urgent action to condemn any suggestion or threat of attacks against these three men and other media personnel in Pakistan.”

On Friday, Ahmed Quraishi defended his and other newspapers’ efforts to threaten journalists by unilateraly declaring them spies – a move recently condemned by the Committee to Protect Journalists as well as other Pakistani media outlets and Pakistani blogs.

Quraishi dedicates a significant portion of his column to listing incidents in which journalists engaged in such “unusual activities” as “travelling [sic] to sensitive parts of the country.” In other instances, Quraishi reports incidents that are completely unrelated to journalists or Pakistan, such as John Yettaw’s visit to Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and US special operations agents riding in a car with fake number plates. What do these incidents have to do with journalists? Nothing.

In fact, Quraishi even says in his article, “None of the above might be a spy…” and goes on to defend his paper’s irresponsible behavior by complaining that the US media misreported about Pakistan’s nuclear programme in the past. It’s as if Quraishi thinks that “two wrongs make a right.”

Quraishi, and The Nation‘s editorial staff as a whole, continue to miss the deadly point of their actions. Journalists in Pakistan have been repeatedly attacked and murdered – not for being spies, for being journalists.

A brief scan of the Reporters Without Borders haedlines for Pakistan over the past year reveal significant dangers for journalists in Paksitan. Here are only some of the headlines:

Ahmed Quraishi says of the Matthew Rosenberg accusations that “some of our commentators would do well to advise US media representatives to move to Islamabad instead of reporting on Pakistan from New Delhi. That might help the US media reduce some of its hostility toward Pakistan.” But Ahmed Quraishi clearly cannot ensure the safety of Mr. Rosenberg. In fact, he has all but signed his death warrant.

There is no defense for threatening journalists. Threats to journalists threaten press freedom. It is a sad day when international journalists feel they must report on Pakistan from another country because of concerns for their safety. It is a sadder day still when the safety of journalists is made even more threatened by people like Ahmed Quraishi.

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Posted in Dawn, The Nation | 1 Comment »

UPDATE: Committee to Project Journalists Condemns The Nation

Monday, November 9th, 2009

What are people saying about The Nation?

UPDATE: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned The Nation for publishing “a reckless and unsubstantiated story”. Last week, Pakistan Media Watch wrote about the incident – in which The Nation published an article with no facts calling an American journalist a spy. Here is what the CPJ wrote today:

Last Thursday, Pakistan’s The Nation newspaper published a reckless and unsubstantiated story accusing Wall Street Journal South Asia correspondent Matthew Rosenberg of being a spy. It’s an accusation that gravely endangers Rosenberg’s safety. Wall Street Journal Managing Editor Robert Thomson responded with a scathing letter to The Nation’s editor, Shireen Mazari, expressing his disgust at the publication of the story, which he called baseless and false. He demanded an immediate retraction.

It’s of course deeply disturbing to us at CPJ that a newspaper would publish a story like this that clearly puts the life of a fellow reporter in danger. But we are also concerned about the source for this scurrilous information, someone the reporter identified as “an official of law enforcement agency, who requested anonymity.” Could this be a deliberate government attempt to intimidate Rosenberg and other foreign correspondents working in Pakistan? That’s a deeply chilling possibility that must be investigated.

In addition, the Managing Editor of The Wall Street Journal, Robert Thomson, wrote a scathing letter to Shireen Mazari conveying his “disgust” over “the slanderous and dangerous falsehoods published on the front page” of The Nation.

Dear Ms. Mazari,

As a fellow Editor, I am writing to convey in the strongest possible terms our dismay and disgust over the slanderous and dangerous falsehoods published on the front page of your newspaper on November 5 regarding our reporter, Mathhew Rosenberg.

Journalism is an important vocation and Pakistan has many fine and courageous journalists who operate in extremely difficult conditions. Foreign correspondents also have an important social role and are similarly exposed to danger from extremists. So for your paper to have suggested, absolutely groundlessly, that Matthew had some intelligence connection was a betrayal of our collective calling and has endangered him, all other Wall Street Journal correspondents, and all journalists and foreign correspondents in your country.

Let me set the record straight: Matthew is an experienced foreign correspondent who has worked for many years covering the region, including Pakistan. In that capacity, he has pursued no other agenda than seeking the truth and has had no other aim than to bring to the world’s attention news and analysis of what is happening in your very important country at a critical time.

Our profession has been done a great disservice by the utterly baseless article, and I call upon you to print an immediate and prominent retraction to ensure that it is widely understood that the piece was without foundation. At present, your paper is is guilty of spreading falsehoods, but it could ultimately be complicit in a far greater tragedy unless this wrong is corrected. We obviously reserve our right to pursue legal action in this instance.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Thompson

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Posted in The Nation | 52 Comments »

The Nation Inciting Murder?

Friday, November 6th, 2009

The Nation Inciting Murder?Weaving fantastic stories out of rumour and innuendo is nothing new to The Nation, but yesterday’s article by Kaswar Klasra represents a new low in journalistic ethics and could result in the murder of fellow journalists.

In yesterday’s article, “Journalists as spies in FATA,” Mr. Klasra claims that journalists in NWFP and FATA are secretly spies for foreign intelligence agencies. While any self-respecting editor worthy of the title would require significant evidence before putting someone’s life in mortal danger by accusing them of being a spy, no such evidence exists in the article.

But Mr. Klasra goes beyond mere conspiracy theory and outright accuses a reporter for the American newspaper Wall Street Journal by name. The reporter, Matthew Rosenberg, has been reporting from South Asia for years, typically publishing articles with such unremarkable titles as, “India Rejects US Carbon Limits Plan,” and “US Courts Former Warlords in Its Bid for Afghan Stability”. Hardly the stuff spy novels are made of.

Instead of facts, Mr. Klasra offers as evidence unsubstantiated anonymous rumours such from “an official of law enforcement agency” and loose innuendo based in unrelated facts. For example, Mr. Klasra quotes a former intelligence officer as saying that the CIA has used journalistic cover in the past. While this very well may be true, the statement does not refer to Pakistan, thus bringing no bearing on the journalists currently reporting from Pakistan. This is a textbook of example of the Fallacy of False Inference.

Mr. Klasra goes on to accuse the reporter of threatening individuals who refuse to themselves become agents. In addition to providing no evidence – not even a fabricated quote by an anonymous “official” – this accusuation by Mr. Klasra is purely ridiculous on its face. What good would a person be as a secret agent if they have to be threatened?

This situation is troublingly reminiscent of the case of another Wall Street Journal reporter, Daniel Pearl. In 2002, Daniel Pearl was brutally murdered in Karachi by al Qaeda terrorists who, like Kaswar Klasra, claimed with no evidence that the journalist was a secret agent – first of the CIA, then of the Mossad. Despite international efforts to gain the safe release of the innocent journalist, the terrorists murdered Daniel Pearl on video camera. We pray this horrific event is not repeated.

Not content with the standard level of sensational tabloid journalism The Nation has come to represent, with today’s article, Mr. Klasra drags The Nation to a new low. That his editor approved the piece demonstrates a level of irresponsibility unrivaled in her field. If any harm comes to Mr. Rosenberg, The Nation will be in part responsible. Kaswar Klasra and his editor, Shireen Mazari, will have the blood of a fellow journalist on their hands.

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Posted in The Nation | 6 Comments »