Historic shame: Jang prints without editorial, critics call it a stain on journalism

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 9 September 2025 |  JP Staff Report

Jang, Pakistan's largest Urdu daily, has come under fire for publishing its September 8 edition without an editorial. This unprecedented omission has raised concerns about journalistic standards and editorial independence.

Summary

ISLAMABAD — In a stunning first for Pakistan’s print media, the country’s largest Urdu daily, Jang, published its September 8, 2025, edition without an editorial—an omission that has sparked criticism from journalists, analysts, and readers alike.

The paper also failed to publish its editorial in the September 9, 2025 edition, marking a second consecutive day without its traditional voice.

Veteran journalist, poet, and analyst Mehmood Sham was among the first to flag the missing editorial. In a Facebook post, he wrote: “Today, for the first time in the 200-year history of Urdu journalism, the largest Urdu newspaper, Jang, was published without an editorial.” Sham, whose columns regularly appear in Jang, lamented in another post that the absence of an editorial represented a deeper decline in journalistic values. “The news had already departed, now the editorial is gone too, and with it, the mirror that reflected the spirit of the times,” he wrote.

Traditionally, Jang publishes two editorials daily. Instead, the September 8 editorial page featured only articles by Hamid Mir, Attaul Haq Qasmi, and others, alongside poetry by Anwar Shaoor.

The missing editorial triggered sharp criticism. Naseer Memon, a Sindhi scholar, condemned the newspaper’s role in fostering division: “It would be better if the entire newspaper didn’t get published at all. By continuously publishing biased and hateful content, this newspaper has played a poisonous role in spreading ethnic divisions in Sindh. It has also had a prominent role in promoting extremism and narrow-mindedness. This newspaper is nothing but a shameful stain on the name of journalism.”

Adding his voice, veteran journalist Shaheen Sehbai expressed disbelief at the unprecedented lapse: “What happened to Jang: Today, I saw something unprecedented in the media—the editorial page of the biggest newspaper, Jang, was missing its editorial altogether. Are all the editors on vacation, or did they not find a topic to praise the government? I feel sorry for this group; I worked there for 11 years, and this never happened. The 9/11 attack in New York occurred in the evening Pakistan time; the editorial page was ready, but an editorial was written that very night and published with the news. The Jang folks have forgotten all principles.”

Editorials are often described as the soul of a newspaper, not merely recounting facts but interpreting events, critiquing policies, and guiding public opinion. The absence of one in Jang’s pages has reignited debates about the decline of editorial independence and credibility in Pakistani media.