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The News says no to Mosharraf Zaidi's column

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 17 April 2018

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The News says no to Mosharraf Zaidi's column
Columnist Mosharraf Zaidi revealed that The News has declined to publish his column after ten years. This incident raises concerns about press freedom in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: Columnist Mosharraf Zaidi on Tuesday said The News had refused to publish his column for the first time in ten years.

“For the first time in over a decade, @thenews_intl has refused to publish my column,” said Zaidi’s tweet.

He termed the refusal to publish the article an “unnecessary muzzling of debate is not healthy.”

With his tweet, he also provided an image of his rejected article.

Commenting on Zaidi’s tweet, analyst Najam Sethi maintained that Jang Group had been muzzled. “Aapas Ki Baat Najam Sethi Kay Saath went off GEO air last June. And JANG stopped printing my column a few months ago. But it's not their fault. They have been muzzled.”

Last week Babar Sattar, lawyer, and analyst also tweeted to complain that his column was not published in The News as it discussed the Pashtun Tahfauz Movement.

Photo: Twitter (@mosharrafzaidi)

Key Points

  • Mosharraf Zaidi's column was rejected by The News for the first time in over a decade.
  • Zaidi criticized the refusal as an attempt to stifle healthy debate.
  • Najam Sethi commented on the situation, mentioning broader issues of censorship.
  • Babar Sattar also faced a similar issue when his column on the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement was not published.
  • The refusal to publish has sparked discussions about media freedom in Pakistan.

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