Herald explains why it dropped 'Khalai Makhlooq' for person of the year contest

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 15 January 2019

Herald withdrew the nomination of Khalai Makhlooq for its Person of the Year contest after facing significant online backlash. The controversy stemmed from accusations related to political biases and criticism of the nominee.

Summary

ISLAMABAD - Herald has said it has had to drop a nomination - Khalai Makhlooq - for its person of the year contest as it became controversial and the magazine faced vicious online abuse.

“The online survey became controversial immediately after it was opened for voting early last month,” the magazine said as it explained the process of selecting the person of the year.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Saqib Nisar is the Herald Person of the Year for 2018.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif used the term Khalai Makhlooq on some occasions as he faced the Panama case trial.

“While we received some usual criticism for putting together people from different walks of life in the same list of nominees, as well as for mixing ‘good’ people with ‘bad’ ones, an online campaign began to discredit the entire Person of the Year exercise.”

The magazine maintained that a hashtag #IndianDawnHerald began trending on social media, accusing Herald of being an enemy agent.

“The criticism was particularly vicious over the inclusion of Khalai Makhlooq, or aliens – a term used as a euphemism for the powers that be – in our nominees.”

After this, the magazine decided to withdraw the online survey for the person of the year. “We withdrew the online survey. We also dropped Khalai Makhlooq as a nominee.”