Sex sells on the Pakistani Media. Sensational stories on sex crimes sell even better.

Sex sells. Sensational stories on sex crimes sell even better. And in the gang-rape case of Uzma Ayub, the Pakistani media seems to have truly set up shop. The 17-year-old victim has been hounded by journalists from her house to her hospital bed, narrating her experiences of abduction and gang-rape to reporters and millions of [...]

Hamid Mir Publicizes a Death Threat

By Bob Dietz/CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Geo TV’s television anchor has just circulated a detailed email message of threats he has been receiving. Hamid Mir’s open, public response to the threats is a textbook case of how to handle the steady stream of intimidation that journalists face, not just inPakistanbut in other parts of the world [...]

Veena Controversy is Pre-arranged to Give Her Publicity

A furor has erupted in India and Pakistan involving a men’s magazine, a seemingly nude Pakistani actress and a tattoo of the initials of ISI on her arm. Many are of the opinion that it is all a farce on Veena’s part to give her publicity and on the magazine’s part to boast up the [...]

TV Discourses Hardly Contributing to Our Intellectual Development

Discourses, discussions, dialogue, conversations and arguments have always been recognised as a means to enhancing knowledge, to know another’s point of view without necessarily agreeing or for that matter, disagreeing. Even the Greek philosophers considered debate as a useful medium of teaching. These discourses were meant to be civilised and meaningful exchange of opinions and [...]

Most of Journalists in Pakistan are Corrupt

Beat reporters and desk editors at the leading English and Urdu newspapers in Pakistan are reluctant to publish news stories without receiving some sort of gift or reward. 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 [...]

Faisal Qureshi Brother of Shahid Qureshi Murdered by MQM?

Faisal Qureshi brother of Dr Shahid Qureshi editor of The London Post (an online paper) was murdered inLahoreon Thursday October 6, 2011. The murderers have yet to be caught. Dr Shahid Qureshi has been an open critic of MQM’s policies. Faisal Qureshi reported receiving death threats fromKarachibased MQM after London Post published stories exposing MQM’s [...]

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just

Statement of Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai After His Arrest It has been my lifelong commitment to the people of the State of Jammu & Kashmir, irrespective of their religious background and cultural affiliations, to help achieve the right of self-determination to decide their future. God willing! I will continue to do that in days, weeks, months [...]

Plagiarism in Geo: Sana Bucha

Sana Bucha, the anchor of Geo TV, has landed in trouble and facing serious question about her professional ethics and honesty after the appearance of her latest article published in The News on Sunday (dated: July 17, 2011). Geo TV anchor’s article has been plagiarized–in certain cases word to word–from an article that appeared in [...]

Jamaati Islami Proposed Law to Protect the Journalists

[To be introduced in the Senate of Pakistan]  A BILL  To provide protection, security and RELIEF to the journalists WHEREAS the Constitution of Pakistan gives every citizen right of protection, respect and relief; AND WHEREAS it is necessary to give protection to the journalists to better perform their duties. It is expedient to enact a law [...]

Why Did Dawn News Stop Apna Gareban Show?

Matiullah Jan’s program to expose the media, its hypocrisy and the corruption within the media was bound one time or the other to face bottle-neck and an eventual shut down. Matiullah must have been mentally prepared for it. He exposed several journalists and must be feeling satisfied. One can only wish that he had been [...]