'Silent onlookers' - Learn why most media houses betrayed public trust

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 6 May 2018

Dawn newspaper highlights the failure of media houses to report on the Supreme Court's verdict regarding Bahria Town's illegal land acquisition. The editorial emphasizes the need for media accountability.

Summary

ISLAMABAD – Dawn newspaper said on Sunday that by not reporting on the Supreme Court’s verdict on Bahria Town illegally acquiring land for its projects, most media houses had betrayed the public trust.

“Instead of being a watchdog for the public interest, which is its duty, most media houses in this country chose to be silent onlookers so as not to antagonise a business tycoon. They too, in effect, betrayed public trust,” the paper commented editorially.

In the editorial titled ‘A landmark verdict?’, the paper said that monumental plunder of land has, at the very least, been highlighted in the highest court of justice.

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Friday delivered separate verdicts declaring that Bahria Town, the gigantic real estate developer, had acquired land for several of its projects through illegal means and that the transfers were null and void.

KEY POINTS:

• Supreme Court ruled Bahria Town's land acquisitions illegal.
• Media houses chose to remain silent on the issue.
• Dawn newspaper criticized this betrayal of public trust.
• The editorial calls for media accountability as watchdogs.
• Bahria Town's illegal activities were highlighted in court.