JournalismPakistan.com
July 05, 2012

KARACHI: Just when it was thought the sell-by date of the channel-hopping Dr Shahid Masood had expired, he has made a return to the ARY Network for a third stint.

A source tells JournalismPakistan.com, the ‘good doctor’ has joined ARY Digital, a subsidiary of the ARY Group. His designation could not be immediately known.

It is being said Dr. Shahid may eventually end up hosting a talk show on sister ARY News where Owais Tohid, the Executive Director News is the strong man. The two reportedly do not get along well.

Also hired is disgraced television anchor Mubashar Luqman, who most likely will be anchoring a talk show on ARY News.

Dr Shahid arrived on the scene courtesy ARY in 2001 where his program News on Views ran for a record six years. However, he quit the channel in 2007after Geo offered a hard-to-resist pay package.

By the time President Pervez Musharraf went in 2008, the doctor was rewarded by the state, appointing him the chairman of Pakistan Television (PTV). His stance on a sensitive audit report led to his resignation and he was later appointed Advisor to the Prime Minister with the status of a federal minister.

However, soon he wriggled his way back for another round at Geo before quitting and rejoining ARY and continuing from where he had left off with Views on News.

As luck would have it, he ran into the establishment again and for a while was ‘homeless’ before Express TV helped him out. Now he is back at ARY, the network he used as a launch-pad.