20 Pakistani journalists who joined governments
ISLAMABAD—Syed Fahd Husain has become the latest addition to the list of Pakistani journalists accepting an official position in or outside the country or joining a politic

And that is a good story
Some days a good story finds its way to you. But most of the time not. Indeed, most of the time, you’ve got to recognize a good story and mine it because it’s probably hidden under laye

The chronicles of Mamu
Here we go again, and I'm going to indulge in an exercise that's borderline contentious, this despite being explicitly instructed not to do so. I was told quite explicitly that I was not to

Dark echoes from the Zia era
They say history repeats itself. I've never been one to subscribe to this view until now. I thought the oppressive Zia era censorship imposed on the media was a matter of the past. However, ove

It's like there's no tomorrow
Despite security being tight because of the JUI-F sit-in, there is an air of uncertainty and fear that hangs like a dark cloud over Islamabad. What is even more unsettling is the media coverage of the

The value of a mentor
I was recently told by this cocky young Turk that the day of ustaad-shagirid is long over. He asserted that there was nothing he could learn from any individual that he could not find

No need to get fancy
I’ve had a lot of people ask me how my English is so good, especially since coming to the United States. I’ve had a lot of people ask me how I’m so well-informed about world affai

It's okay to print profanity
Is it a reflection of the times and the standard journalists have stooped to that it’s now acceptable for sections of the Pakistani print media to publish profanity?

It certainly s

The media is not the enemy
With all the talk about journalists churning out fake news, being unduly biased, accusations of dabbling in power and political games, being steeped in corruption and taking advantage in various de

A matter of perspective
I’m going to cut straight to the chase. I’ve never been an admirer of Imran Khan. Not when he was young and doing great things with the cricket bat and ball and certainly not when he de

Integrity lost
I have tried in vain to convince my good friends Imran Naeem and Stephen Manuel to quietly discontinue JournalismPakistan.com.

Four reasons not to watch the news
Watching the local news channels these days is turning out to be an exercise in extreme restraint. At the forefront are four main factors to blame, and each of them become so overwhelming that one

For aspiring reporters and anchors
Ever so frequently we get queries from individuals and visitors to our website JournalismPakistan.com who wish to know how they can become an anchor or

Jamil Akhtar - We called him Daddy
He had many names. To his face, we referred to him as Jamil Sahib. On a more formal note, he was introduced to newcomers as the night editor. For those whose pages he pored over late into the night

Journalism: One profession so easy to get into, only in Pakistan
You cannot practise medicine without passing MBBS. You cannot be called a lawyer without completing LLB. You cannot qualify to be a professor if you have not completed PhD. You cannot even claim to

Hamid Mir - Just another journalist
I like to think of myself as an easygoing, relaxed, ‘nothing bothers me’ kind of person. But every now and then along comes an incident that gets me frothing at the mouth and literally

The fake news invasion - take care!
Journalism after witnessing many changes over the last two decades has entered the age of fake news. This age is going to last for quite some time unless Internet users use judgment and think twice

Inside the newsroom on budget day
ISLAMABAD - The newsroom is in a flux. A hectic day with lots of work and activity. In the good old days everybody, including the editor, would be in the office early. Though reporters come up with

Nasir Zaidi and his group: They stood up to a dictator
ISLAMABAD - Press freedom or what it is perceived as in Pakistan, still has a long way to go and what has been achieved so far has been done at a great price and through great sacrifices.

When editors were editors
Nowadays when owners and editors of newspapers in Pakistan flaunt their photos and statements prominently on the front and back pages, it is obvious they have failed the test of an unwritten princi

Sins of the crime reporter
All you have to do is pick up the newspaper and read through the city/local pages to realize that in the past so many decades nothing has changed when it comes to reporting crime. It’s simply un

By-line - A contentious issue
The scene is familiar. A fired up reporter, a stubborn sub-editor or producer, the newsroom looks on with rapt attention as accusations and counter accusations fly thick and fast. There are snigger

The 'one' that's not needed
ISLAMABAD: Ever wonder why subediting becomes monotonous over a period of time? Well, that's because the subs get to edit and rewrite much the same stuff each day. Their creativity hardly comes

How a paper was shut down 50 years ago
With hundreds of newspapers, TV channels and FM radio stations, Pakistani media today report everything under the sun – well almost everything. And there is no fear of being permanently close

Time to get a khoka
Ran into one of the younger guys I once mentored at a news channel. He was a participant in one of those workshops that have become all the rage these days. I was there as a skeptical observer look

Newsrooms, hardly the place for women
Journalism is serious business. It's a profession not an excuse for one. It is motivational and educational. There is honor involved. There are ethics. There is ambition involved. It's not fun

Why I rejoined the newsroom?
Working the night shift in different prestigious English newspapers — beginning 6:30pm to 2:00am — for over 20 years had been a thorn in my side. Slowly but steadily, it was eating into

Workshop trekkies and online mullahs
Absolutely positively confident that you must have been bamboozled by the headline. I apologize. Let me say from the very get go that neither have anything in common other than plenty of time on th

The league of extraordinary multi-taskers
My colleague Imran Naeem has been bugging me again. "Give me a story," he demands. I send him a list and point out, quite unequivocally too I must add, that I'm not in the mood to wri

The day Dawn became Herald
It was on 1 April 1950. No, it was not an April fool’s day joke but a pressing matter of where Dawn newspaper belonged – Dawn Trust or Pakistan Herald Ltd. The editorial &

Newspapers vs anchors
Came across this interesting piece about how technology has changed our everyday life in so many ways in what we do or no longer do, or do differently. It got me pondering about how we no longer use b

Pranks and newsroom tales
It’s inevitable; when two journalists meet after a long time and are done bitching about incompetent chief subs, bossy chief reporters, stupid news editors, the editor’s blue-eyed boy,

The newsroom bullshitter
There’s at least one in every newsroom and he doesn’t feel shy to air his opinion at the drop of a hat. Of course, he knows more than you; has more contacts than you do, has done more s

Getting into journalism
At JournalismPakistan.com we frequently get requests from students and other individuals interested in knowing h

The yearly visit and false promises
ISLAMABAD: It’s an annual scene, visit, and ritual at newspapers. The desk people are busy in their routine work in the newsroom, with reporters looking for news and of cours

Lost in transition
Although the chatter and clamor of editors and reporters in a newsroom remain the same, it’s truly amazing how technology and culture have changed so many other aspects that were once integra

Our media's embarrassing degeneration
Certainly there are more reporters and journalists now than when I was in active journalism. But this doesn’t necessarily mean more is better. On the contrary, it has proved just the opposite. A

A scoop too hot to handle
ISLAMABAD: Today all news is breaking news, no matter how trivial. Moreover, triviality is only enhanced by the never-ending repetition of breaking news. In yesteryear when somebody h

Yaar... I do not have a story!
If you’ve been in a newsroom long enough there is one lament you will hear often enough: “Yaar… I don’t have a story!” You look around and of course it’s a reporte

An enduring affair with foolproof security
We live in insecure times – both physically and mentally. As Pakistan has been at the forefront of the ‘war on terror’ every festive occasion is also marked by fear of violence. T

Catwalk glamor to newsroom clamor
The problem with fashion photography is that everything is fake… from the models’ make up to the lighting to the final product, but news photography is the genuine thing; often you nev

The voice is free to speak
The Pakistani media has a come a long way over the years. From an industry comprising a handful of newspapers and a couple of news channels, of which two were state-owned, it now has close to 100 T

Journalists and fellowship antics
The general perception in the journalistic community in Pakistan is that the difficult part is managing to wangle a fellowship in a Western country, be it through the right connections, being at th

Ramadan in the newsroom
It's Ramadan again, that time of the year when the newsroom has a certain ambience and mood that’s not there for the other 11 months of the year.  Seen plenty of newsrooms in my time an

If Veena were an editor...
Hit a writer’s block today. Just could not decide on what to write. The words refused to stick until my friend called me and said, “Why don’t you do a Veena story?”

TV anchors and their wicked, wicked ways
Gone are the days when actors were the sole participants in the race for the ‘No. 1’ position for attention. Television anchors today are very much part of this game but in a different

The vicious cycle of delayed salaries
Pakistani journalism has witnessed sea changes over the last decade. It has become more aggressive in its outlook with the arrival of TV channels as has now an army of young journalists, who are bold

Nusrat's obsession with Veena
ISLAMABAD: Every writer should have a muse. This source of inspiration could be a person, a place, a thought, even an object. But yes, a muse is a quintessential part of a writer’s person

Those damn press releases
Be it a newspaper or news channel newsroom, in this particular scenario the reaction is always the same: "Not another bloody press release" or "Bhain---d!! Yeh kahan say ah tapka

TV talk shows...no substance, all bluff
I’ve always enjoyed a good healthy argument for the simple reason that new and interesting perspectives are aired, alternative logic is exchanged and, more often than not, a viable, favorable an

Forgotten on the desk
Sub-Editors are an endangered species in Pakistan. They are fast disappearing. So much so that today many, including some ‘senior journalists’, question if Sub-Editors are journalists or n

Is this ethical?
KARACHI: At the risk of putting my foot in my mouth I do declare that it’s never been better for certain journalists in Pakistan i.e. in terms of making a few quick bucks, op

Dedicated to our better halves
My Indian journalist friend and former colleague from the Khaleej Times, Asifullah Khan,  has a wry sense of humor. Ironically, he would and could find something amusing when nobody els

The newsroom, the centre of it all
A newsroom never changes, I have been told. Maybe, a few alterations here and there, some upgrading, refurbishing…but basically almost everything stays the same and it doesn’t matter what

Five-day week for journalists!
Asking for two holidays a week for journalists in Pakistan may be asking for something out of this world. But perhaps this is one thing Pakistani journalists need urgently that would help them have mo

More to him than meets the eye
In recent times he’s interviewed President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard A. Boucher and controversial f

Nothing quite like The Muslim
They come and they go, but no English daily has quite had the legend-like impact of The Muslim (1978-1999). Despite better technology and information network capability and capacity, not The

From 'urging unity' to 'enthralling audience'
Some headlines have become inseparable part of our genes, culture and of course the media. They automatically step forth as soon as they are needed. They are so strongly embedded that even an effort t