ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Last November, 30 of Pakistan's most influential journalists boarded a plane bound for Saudi Arabia. The occasion was the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslims are expected to perform at least once in their lifetimes, if they can afford it. On this trip, however, money wasn't a problem: The Pakistani government picked up the tab. For months, the story of the government-sponsored hajj went unreported. The fact that reporters were accepting gifts from the government hardly qualified as news. Plus, reporters in Pakistan have an unspoken rule, a kind of omerta: You don't write about other reporters. Unless you're Matiullah Jan. Jan, an anchor for Dawn News in Islamabad, launched a new show in January called Apna Gareban—the name means "under our collar," an Urdu idiom that translates as "our own underbelly"—in which Jan investigates the conduct of his fellow journalists. On the show, he acts as a kind of one-man ombudsman for all of Pakistan, badgering reporters, ambushing them Bill O'Reilly-style, and guilt-tripping them on air for their alleged misdeeds—behavior unheard of in the Pakistani media. "This is a very revolutionary thing," says Mehmal Sarfraz, op-ed editor at the Daily Times in Lahore. "Somebody had to do it." REFERENCE: The Ombudsman: How one TV reporter tried to reveal the underbelly of the Pakistani media. By Christopher Beam Posted Friday, May 20, 2011, at 4:17 PM ET http://www.slate.com/id/2294826/
News Night with Talat - Part - 1 (Dawn News Pakistan 30 May 2011)
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Isedf2SENQ
ARY NEWS Hires a Murderer & Blasphemer (Aamir Liaquat Hussain).
QUESTION: The last question on close allies. Pakistan is a close ally of the U.S. We were here last year and we are here today. A governor has lost his life, a minister has lost his life, and thousands of people. What are we going to do? We have been pumping billions of dollars, so next year, again, we’ll have a report. Do you have anything about --
ASSISTANT SECRETARY POSNER: Yeah. I --QUESTION: -- talking – walking the walk instead of just talking the talk?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY POSNER: No. These are – the issues you raise are of great concern. I was in Pakistan in January. I met with Governor Taseer’s family three weeks after he was assassinated, continue to be in contact with them. I met with Minister Bhatti there and again here. Secretary Clinton and I met him together several weeks before he was killed. The issues of intolerance in Pakistan trouble us greatly, and I think they trouble most Pakistanis. I am particularly concerned about the Urdu press and the role it plays in that. Again, we can’t force that change, but we are very mindful – our Ambassador Cameron Munter is very, very attuned and very sensitive to the real challenges that we and the Pakistani Government face in trying to tamp down the intolerance that now is so pervasive. REFERENCE: Remarks to the Press on the Release of the 2010 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices Remarks Michael H. Posner Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Washington, DC April 8, 2011http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/rm/2011/160393.htm
According to the AHRC, in May 2009 Maheen Usmani, a senior anchorperson for Dunya Television News in Islamabad, allegedly received two late-night telephone calls from Yusuf Baig Mirza, the channel's managing director, in which he made inappropriate comments. Usmani informed the channel's director of news and chief executive officer, but no action was taken. She claimed that she experienced professional setbacks; on June 15, she resigned, citing "continued harassment, coercion, and highly unethical conduct of the top management of Dunya News." An internal investigation committee and the National Press Club investigated the claim, but there was no progress by year's end. Mirza filed two defamation lawsuits against Usmani, who was approached with offers of money and jobs in exchange for dropping the case. According to The Nation, M. Zar Nigar Ali of PTV accused the head of the current affairs department, Tahir Mahmood, of sexual harassment and threatening behavior. Ali allegedly received late-night telephone calls from Mahmood in which he made threats if she did not reciprocate his advances. REFERENCE: 2010 Human Rights Report: Pakistan BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND LABOR 2010 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices April 8, 2011 http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/sca/154485.htm
News Night with Talat - Part - 2 (Dawn News Pakistan 30 May 2011)
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYG3IXynD9g
Mubashir Lucman & Dunya News "RAPE" Mukhtaran Mai "Again"!
In 2009 I used to work for Express News TV as a Researcher and I was asked by the Executives to provide Question for General Pervez Musharraf which I did and now watch the Intellectual Dishonesty of this Loudmouth Braggart i.e. Mubashir Lucman and compare the question which I had sent with proper references and see for yourself how "soft" Mubashir Lucman was on a "Military Dictator" and compare the same Mubashir Lucman's program with any "Elected Representative" and you may note that he not only misbehave rather put the guest in embarrassing position [shame on our Politicians who accepts insults from a two bit TV Anchor]. Such Interviews should be called "Press Conferences" Compare the questions which were sent and watch what Mubashir asked! REFERENCE: Alleged Trial of General Pervez Musharraf! http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2009/07/alleged-trial-of-general-pervez.html Real & Ugly Face of Express News Group & GEO/Jang. http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2010/10/real-ugly-face-of-express-news-group.html and the same Mubahir Lucman [Former Caretaker Provincial Minister Punjab under General Pervez Musharraf, nowadays Dunya TV Anchor] literally Raped a Rape Victim Ms. Mukhtaran Mai in April 2011. Intellectual Dishonesty of Mubashir Luqman & Dunya News. http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2011/01/intellectual-dishonesty-of-mubashir.html
In February, Jan aired an hourlong report outing the journalists who visited Mecca on the government's dime. Many of the reporters defended themselves. One said God had called him to Mecca, and he had to obey, despite having gone on hajj twice before. "God called you three times?" Jan asked, incredulous. Others said they didn't know where the funds had come from, and they never bothered to ask. Pakistan's supreme court soon ordered the reporters to pay back the money, though some have appealed the decision. The issue wasn't necessarily that journalists had taken a trip that was paid for by the government; journalists, Pakistani and otherwise, do that all the time. (This article, in fact, was made possible by the East-West Center, which organized a trip to Pakistan funded by the U.S. State Department.) The trip to Mecca wasn't a reporting trip—some journalists even brought their families—nor was it acknowledged publicly until Jan brought the issue to light. The growth of the Pakistani media over the last decade has exacerbated journalistic corruption. Newspapers flourished in the 1980s and '90s, but there was only one cable TV channel, the state-run Pakistani Television. That changed in 2003, when Gen. Pervez Musharraf, frustrated that Pakistanis were getting much of their news from India, relaxed the ban on cable channels, or "electronic media." The medium boomed, as Pakistan went from one cable TV station to dozens in 2011. REFERENCE: The Ombudsman: How one TV reporter tried to reveal the underbelly of the Pakistani media. By Christopher Beam Posted Friday, May 20, 2011, at 4:17 PM ET http://www.slate.com/id/2294826/
News Night with Talat - Part - 3 (Dawn News Pakistan 30 May 2011)
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG3LySjWhWo
Mubashir Lucman & Dunya News "RAPE" Mukhtaran Mai "Again"!
In 2009 I used to work for Express News TV as a Researcher and I was asked by the Executives to provide Question for General Pervez Musharraf which I did and now watch the Intellectual Dishonesty of this Loudmouth Braggart i.e. Mubashir Lucman and compare the question which I had sent with proper references and see for yourself how "soft" Mubashir Lucman was on a "Military Dictator" and compare the same Mubashir Lucman's program with any "Elected Representative" and you may note that he not only misbehave rather put the guest in embarrassing position [shame on our Politicians who accepts insults from a two bit TV Anchor]. Such Interviews should be called "Press Conferences" Compare the questions which were sent and watch what Mubashir asked! REFERENCE: Alleged Trial of General Pervez Musharraf! http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2009/07/alleged-trial-of-general-pervez.html Real & Ugly Face of Express News Group & GEO/Jang. http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2010/10/real-ugly-face-of-express-news-group.html and the same Mubahir Lucman [Former Caretaker Provincial Minister Punjab under General Pervez Musharraf, nowadays Dunya TV Anchor] literally Raped a Rape Victim Ms. Mukhtaran Mai in April 2011. Intellectual Dishonesty of Mubashir Luqman & Dunya News. http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2011/01/intellectual-dishonesty-of-mubashir.html
News Night with Talat - Part - 4 (Dawn News Pakistan 30 May 2011)
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RiU1GFBq6E
Ugly Role of Samaa TV & Meher Bokhari in Salman Taseer's Murder.The brutal assassination Salman Taseer has opened a can of worms in an already contaminated social landscape of Pakistan which is struggling with modernity in the second decade of the 21st century. The odious adulation over the extremist security turned homicidal goon Qadri is as disturbing as it is, the media was also not far behind in scoring sensationalist ratings on the Taseer/Asia Bibi fiasco. Below are two clips from Mehar Bukhari’s show on Samaa TV where she interviewed the late Governor on the 25th of November 2010. Observe the rabid antics of the above mentioned TV anchor and her uber-provocative assault on Mr Taseer. The media must draw a line on their point scoring, foaming behaviour and a call for the said TV anchor to take a fraction for inciting hate against Salman Taseer and pandering to the radical conservatives. REFERENCE: Meher Bukhari has Salman Taseer’s blood on her hands as well Zia Ahmad January 11, 2011 · 3:00 pm http://pakteahouse.net/2011/01/11/meher-bukhari-has-salman-taseers-blood-on-her-hands-as-well/
As the sector has grown, so has its power. "The media is more unrestrained now than ever," says Najam Sethi, a columnist and the editor of the Friday Times in Lahore. "We can get away with murder." Sensationalism abounds, fact-checking is a foreign concept for many outlets, and TV reporters who have rushed in to fill the media vacuum often have no journalistic background. The agency that regulates cable channels, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, prohibits content that is "defamatory or knowingly false," but it rarely takes action. Many Pakistani journalists accept gifts from politicians, presumably in exchange for favorable coverage. Less blatant forms of corruption—caving to threats from militant groups after a suicide attack by replacing the word "died" with "was martyred," for example—are common. In the most egregious cases, "reporters" aren't reporters at all but simply businessmen with press cards who use their access to the press to help friends, punish enemies, and blackmail law enforcement. If you're pulled over by a traffic cop and you have a press card, says Jan, you don't have to pay. REFERENCE: The Ombudsman: How one TV reporter tried to reveal the underbelly of the Pakistani media. By Christopher Beam Posted Friday, May 20, 2011, at 4:17 PM ET http://www.slate.com/id/2294826/
News Night with Talat - Part - 1 (Dawn News Pakistan 31 May 2011)
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8msZMBrcTzY
Jang Group/GEO TV Published the Fatwa of Murder of Salman Taseer.WASHINGTON, Jan 18: Four US Congressmen have asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to refuse visas to those who praised the assassination of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer and showed support for his assassin Mumtaz Qadri. In a letter sent to Secretary Clinton, Congressmen Gary Ackerman, Steve Israel, Peter King and Michael McCaul said: “Some of the most prominent clerics, journalists and lawyers who have praised Mr Taseer`s death and have demonstrated support of his murderer, are people who frequently travel to the US and hold American visas.Thursday, November 25, 2010, Zilhajj 18, 1431 A.Hhttp://www.jang.com.pk/jang/nov2010-daily/25-11-2010/main4.htm
News Night with Talat - Part - 2 (Dawn News Pakistan 31 May 2011)
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMXBgmjnkuM
Kashif Abbasi (ARY NEWS) Misquote Dr Zulfiqar Mirza & Quote Dr. Qadir Magsi.
http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2011/04/kashif-abbasi-ary-news-misquote-dr.html
Yet the media rarely critiques itself. Only one Pakistani newspaper, the Express Tribune, has hired an ombudsman, and his mandate is limited to that paper. He doesn't write a column, either—he just handles reader complaints in-house. Media "navel-gazing" may have a bad name in the United States, but the Pakistani media's belly could use some inspection. That was Jan's thinking when he created Apna Gareban. The purpose was to turn the same critical eye on journalists that they turn on politicians. Jan has worked for several years as a court reporter for Dawn News in Islamabad. "In court, we talk about right and wrong, black and white, accountability, justice, equality of treatment before the law," he says. But those terms are almost never used in conversations about the press. "All of the sickness of society is being scrutinized by the media, but the media is not being held accountable itself." Apna Gareban became the first major TV program to dig into the backgrounds of influential journalists, essentially making Jan the ombudsman for all of Pakistan.REFERENCE: The Ombudsman: How one TV reporter tried to reveal the underbelly of the Pakistani media. By Christopher Beam Posted Friday, May 20, 2011, at 4:17 PM ET http://www.slate.com/id/2294826/ http://www.slate.com/id/2294826/pagenum/2
In the first episode, Jan visits the federal government's Press Information Department, where publishers—and often reporters themselves—go to solicit government ads. (A big chunk of the ads that appear in Pakistani newspapers and on TV are paid for by the government, usually to promote new projects or to congratulate officials for their achievements.) There, he interrogates a reporter who's asking for ads. "If they don't give you ads, do you publish stories against them?" says Jan. "Well, they do give us ads," says the reporter, "so why should we say anything against them?" The transactional relationship between the government and the press is a recurring theme. In one episode, Jan examines the 290 million rupee ($3.4 million) "secret fund" set aside by the Information Ministry for journalists. The fund covers everything from buying ads in newspapers to providing medical care for reporters to paying for their daughters' weddings. All this is to the good, former Information Secretary Ashfaq Gondal tells Jan: "There is no one to look out for the welfare of these journalists." Jan plays along. "These are great deeds," he says. "So why would you keep this a secret?" Gondal responds that the purpose of the information ministry is "to establish a sort of goodwill within the populace so that the populace tilts toward progress and keeps up with the times." What better way to "establish goodwill" than to buy off the press? REFERENCE: The Ombudsman: How one TV reporter tried to reveal the underbelly of the Pakistani media. By Christopher Beam Posted Friday, May 20, 2011, at 4:17 PM ET http://www.slate.com/id/2294826/ http://www.slate.com/id/2294826/pagenum/2
News Night with Talat - Part - 3 (Dawn News Pakistan 31 May 2011)
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAfLq7ij71Y&feature=player_embedded
Kashif Abbasi (ARY NEWS) Misquote Dr Zulfiqar Mirza & Quote Dr. Qadir Magsi.
Friendly journalists - Mr Zardari's supporters believe that cancelling the trip would not have helped him. "He would have been remembered and criticised even if there were no floods in the country," said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday. And indeed, the current anti-Zardari campaign in the media started before the floods hit the headlines. The criticism began after British Prime Minister David Cameron made remarks in India on 28 July where he accused some in Pakistan of "looking both ways", exporting terror to neighbouring countries. On 31 July, Pakistan's Geo TV reported that the chief of the ISI intelligence service, Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, had cancelled a scheduled trip to the UK because of Mr Cameron's remarks, but Mr Zardari was continuing with his planned trip. Pakistan's ubiquitous TV news presenters began questioning President Zardari's patriotism and personal integrity. The print media was not far behind. While President Zardari's European tour had been "reduced to a pleasure trip" after Mr Cameron's remarks, "the army reacted in a timely and dignified manner" by cancelling the ISI chief's UK visit, an editorial comment in the Pakistan Observer newspaper said. The News newspaper called Mr Zardari's visit a "pursuit of his own dynastic aggrandizement". The floods only intensified this initial criticism. Two significant developments took place on Thursday. Firstly, Bilawal Bhutto denied he was planning to address the Pakistan Peoples' Party rally in Birmingham, one of the main reasons for Mr Zardari's trip. Secondly, Prime Minister Gilani informed journalists that the ISI chief had not, in fact, scheduled a visit to the UK in the first place. Many quarters insist Bilawal Bhutto's "cancellation" of an appearance at the Birmingham show may be the result of a rethink on the part of Mr Zardari's advisers to minimise political damage. But what about the confusion over the story about the ISI chief's visit to the UK? The initial report on Geo TV had come from mysterious, unnamed sources. And even more mysteriously, the army's media wing - which normally keeps a hawkish eye on the news, correcting reports at the first possible stage - had not stepped in to clarify the report. The ties between the military and the media are strong. The military often use the media to protect its hold on the giant corporate empire which it has built. In the 1980s the military did this through open censorship. Since the 1990s it has evolved subtler ways. It controls almost all access to big stories, and has therefore been able to raise a corps of "friendly" journalists who now control most key jobs in Pakistani media due to their "contacts". President Zardari's supporters suggest the media could have made up the story of the ISI cancelling its trip to the UK in order to spark an anti-Zardari campaign, which intensified as the scale of the flood damage became clear. REFERENCE: Criticism of Zardari in Pakistan hides a political game By M Ilyas Khan BBC News, Islamabad 7 August 2010 Last updated at 15:10 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10901583
News Night with Talat - Part - 4 (Dawn News Pakistan 31 May 2011)
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_cShSMDHQA&feature=player_embedded
Safma took serious exception to the conspiracies and sinister moves to bring undemocratic and unconstitutional changes and overstepping of various institutions of the state, including a section of sensational media, going beyond their legitimate sphere, professional and ethical limits. It also express dismayed at deteriorating quality of the governance at various tiers of governance and across all institutions of the state and worried about a lack of inconsistency in eradicating terrorism and appalled by the insistence on keeping sanctuaries of terrorism as so-called “strategic assets” and not strictly stopping terrorists outfits from operating in various disguised forms. Disturbed over the alienation, deprivation and sufferings of the Baloch people, perturbed over continuing inflation and hardships being faced by the common man, especially the people affected by the floods and terrorism, Safma is disappointed over not changing the media laws, especially the Information Law, Pemra Law and Press Council Law and condemn killing, torture and victimization of working journalists by various state and non-state actors, non-implementation of Seventh Wage Board Award, retrenchment of media persons and a lack of protection and insurance coverage for journalists reporting from conflict zones. Media persons reiterate full faith in constitutional, democratic and representative system that ensures freedom and fundamental rights, an independent judiciary, a free and responsible media and above all sovereignty of our people reflected through federal and provincial legislatures. Safma emphasized the need for evolving a broadest national consensus among all stakeholders on major national issues, such as terrorism, economy (macro-economic policy, state corporations, taxation, non-development expenditure, energy, rehabilitation and reconstruction of flood and terrorism affected), foreign policy, national security and neighbors; Crisis of Balochistan and transparent and accountable governance and across the board accountability; The media persons are of the considered view that future of the federation and our nation-state lies in democracy and continuation of constitutional, federal and democratic setup while submitting to the will of the people, which is represented by the elected legislatures and governments responsible to them. The state must retain its writ across the land without in any way, allowing state or non-state actors to undermine it, nor must it allow any autonomous sanctuary undermining its sovereignty and international obligations. All organs of the state and media must perform their functions in accordance with the letter and spirit of the 1973 Constitution, democratic norms and avoid transgressing their institutional limits while respecting the mandate of the people. Both the state and society can face up to the challenges of natural calamities, terrorism, lawlessness, economic meltdown, poor-governance, human and physical security by reaching a national consensus on major policy issues. REFERENCE: Institutions including media overstepped: Safma Monday, November 08, 2010 Zilhajj 01, 1431 A.H. http://www.thenews.com.pk/08-11-2010/National/14482.htm
Another episode focuses on the awarding of lavish government housing to top-tier Pakistani journalists at cheap rates. Jan kicks off the program by reading the names of the 24 journalists, displaying their pictures, and describing their homes and how much they pay in rent. When confronted, one reporter insists it's his "right" to get preferential treatment. Another compares his situation to that of a BBC reporter, whose salary is subsidized by the government. "Do BBC's journalists get premium apartments from their rulers?" asks Jan. "I don't have that information," says the reporter. "Forget information," says Jan, "they don't get any, you know this." Jan's interview technique, a one-two combo of logic and shame, drives his subjects into contortions. At first, the well-known anchor Asma Shirazi defends her decision to go on the government-funded hajj by saying she was misled about its funding. Then she says that even if she knew it was publicly funded, she would have gone anyway. Then she accuses Jan of failing to go after the "real big criminals," like journalists who take land as bribes. Finally she agrees to pay back the money. REFERENCE: The Ombudsman: How one TV reporter tried to reveal the underbelly of the Pakistani media. By Christopher Beam Posted Friday, May 20, 2011, at 4:17 PM ET http://www.slate.com/id/2294826/
Jan is more than happy to play populist demagogue, despite being the son of a retired Army colonel and living in a relatively comfortable neighborhood of Islamabad. "The taxpayers are hungry for food and thirsting for water," he tells Shirazi, "scrounging for every cent they can get, and instead you spent hundreds of thousands of rupees to go on a free ride to the pilgrimage." His crusade hasn't exactly endeared him to his colleagues. "Watching fellow journalists squirm" is "painful," writes Steve Manuel, who worked at Pakistani newspapers for 25 years and founded the website Journalism Pakistan. "There are other ways to expose such people … tattling on fellow journalists is not one of them." Manuel also argues that Jan could be more critical of his bosses. "[W]hy not also highlight the corruption practiced and encouraged by big media houses including Dawn?" Jan says he's been careful to investigate his friends, too. And he's paid a price. For one episode, Jan invited prominent columnist and longtime friend Rauf Klasra onto the show to explain why he lives in a high-end government residence. "I told him at the start of the show, we're not friends in the studio—I'm a journalist and you're a journalist," says Jan. During the interview, Klasra turned the tables on Jan by producing documents that accused the CEO of Dawn Media Group, Hameed Haroon, of corruption. Jan invited Haroon onto the show on the spot, but he never came. Jan and Klasra's friendship hasn't recovered. REFERENCE: The Ombudsman: How one TV reporter tried to reveal the underbelly of the Pakistani media. By Christopher Beam Posted Friday, May 20, 2011, at 4:17 PM ET http://www.slate.com/id/2294826/
The most profound moments of Jan's program are not his attacks on the media, but what they reveal about broader systemic problems in Pakistan. When Jan asks a judge why he doesn't punish media organizations that fail to pay their journalists—not uncommon in Pakistan—the judge blames the system. "I really want to prosecute them," the judge says, and salary issues fall squarely within his jurisdiction. But "there's always a reason or a loophole that the defendant exploits to circumvent penalization." Even when the judge orders someone to appear in court, they often don't show up. "I tell the police to summon the person to court, and they come and tell me the person is unavailable. What am I to do?" REFERENCE: The Ombudsman: How one TV reporter tried to reveal the underbelly of the Pakistani media. By Christopher Beam Posted Friday, May 20, 2011, at 4:17 PM ET http://www.slate.com/id/2294826/ http://www.slate.com/id/2294826/pagenum/2
In April, Apna Gareban was shut down after 12 episodes. The final straw was an investigation into the conduct of a reporter at Dawn News, Jan's employer, who was making money on the side by selling goods from a kiosk provided by the government—a clear conflict of interest. "We knew [Apna Gareban] was going to be an experiment," says Jan, who has returned to reporting on the courts full time. "I'm reconciled to the fact that there were pressures on the organization from the highest levels of the media industry." The journalists who'd been exposed were angry, and media owners were worried they'd be next. "They looked in the mirror and saw what they looked like," says Jan. "Then they decided to break the mirrors instead of washing their own faces." REFERENCE: The Ombudsman: How one TV reporter tried to reveal the underbelly of the Pakistani media. By Christopher Beam Posted Friday, May 20, 2011, at 4:17 PM ET http://www.slate.com/id/2294826/ http://www.slate.com/id/2294826/pagenum/2
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