SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2011
Dawn's yellow blood transfuses to The Express Tribune (2)
Special Report
“OCTOBER 4, 2010 was marked as a black day for journalism in Pakistan when Zaffar Abbas – reportedly involved in a mass murder plot and attacks on journalist Habib R. Sulemani – took over as Editor of the daily Dawn. This is for the first time in the journalistic history of the country that a man accused of criminal charges has taken over as the Editor of the prestigious newspaper founded by Mr. Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Professional ethics are dead in the country, and intellectual dishonesty has crossed limits and has reached the stage of intellectual terrorism in the terror-hit country.”
The Express Media Group has strongly refuted a media campaign being run by daily Dawn in its pages over the past year. A statement by the Group issued on Thursday stated that daily Dawn has been running biased and misleading stories about the affairs of the McDonald’s chain in Pakistan for the past year in the guise of “public interest journalism.” Express Group and McDonald’s are sister companies. “25 articles have appeared in a space of one year. Each story is riddled with gross inaccuracies, fabricated information, twisted facts and original fiction. This ‘reporting’ can only be described as malicious and malafide,” said the statement by the Express Media Group, of which The Express Tribune is a part.
From the above article, one thing is clear that the editorial policy of The Express Tribune is now against theDawn—the organization, not the powerful Editor appointed by Dawn Media Group's powerful CEO Hameed Haroon, whose brother represents Pakistan in the United Nations.
Also, The Express Media Group has realized that the Editor of daily Dawn runs media campaigns against different political and business groups in the typical way—yes Dawn runs biased and misleading stories about those who want a globalized world as it has been a den of the opportunist Leftists and so-called communists since the very beginning. The autonomous editorial management of Dawn can destroy anyone’s career or life in the guise of “public interest journalism” but no one can dare to do anything in this regard.
The LUBP had said in a post: “The irony of highlighting Jinnah, the Shia founder of Pakistan, as the founder of Dawn escapes its ownership who themselves are allegedly Shia. Ingratiating themselves with the establishment is probably more lucrative for Dawn than honest journalism and caring for the plight of minorities. Carry on Dawn, no one can do euphemisms better than you. In doing so, you churn out the best de-contextualized reports that ensure that the establishment and its Islamofascist proxies will never be held to account for the crimes against the Pakistani people!”
Every day there are planted stories in Dawn! If you carefully observe and keep a record, you’ll find the stories “riddled with gross inaccuracies, fabricated information, twisted facts and original fiction.” The reporting at Dawn has been "malicious and malafide" but everyone can't talk on this taboo subject! This is a good thing that The Express Media Group has finally taken the courage but why The Express Tribune has not realized it? Are the two going on different tracks?? The answer of this question you may’ve found in the first part of this post. Also see the related posts there.
--
NOTE: If anyone wants to clarify any point, we're ready to publish every point of view.—The Terrorland Team
This is what The Terrorland group blogs had written last year. And now, besides working journalists, different media outlets and cyber-citizens are also validating this point as a universal truth—some directly others indirectly. Let’s read this article published in The Express Tribune and then try to analyze it.
Misreporting by daily Dawn: Allegations against McDonald’s refuted
Hence, it is now incumbent upon the Express Group to speak out against what can only be described as a witch-hunt. “It is unclear what interest such malicious stories serve Dawn group – but it is of particular interest that the disinformation is being spread deliberately while the matter is before the honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan. Despite McDonald’s having followed every instruction of the Court in letter and spirit, Dawn has continued to claim to the contrary,” adds the statement.
The misreporting against McDonald’s began with an article published on January 3, 2010 under the heading “50 years of Islamabad: failures over shadow achievements.” The article states that the “Establishment of Jinnah Convention Centre and McDonald’s in F9 Park were some of the violations of the master plan”. No violation had occurred, but Dawn passed its judgment.
More baseless allegations followed. The title of the article (in italics), date of publication, allegation levelled (in italics) and the on-ground facts are summarised as follows:
1. “City bosses scramble after SC hard talk”, dated May 14, 2010, “The meeting also took notice of the disappearance of record regarding approval of establishment of the McDonald’s outlet in the Fatima Jinnah Park” – No files / documents regarding the approvals of the project were missing. This false story was planted to create doubts regarding the transparency of approvals.
2. “McDonalds told to fold up”, dated June 9, 2010, “The CDA has leased 6,000 square yards of the park land to Messrs SIZA Food, a franchise of the McDonald’s for 20 years at the rate of Rs317,000 per month.” The article fails to mention that the rent approved was Rs317,250 or five percent, which ever was higher. CDA till the closure of the restaurant was getting approximately Rs900,000 per month (280% higher than the amount
mentioned in the article.)
3. “McDonald’s is outside park, say CDA bosses”, dated June 15, 2010. “According to a senior official of CDA, SIZA Foods has been paying to the authority Rs0.8 million per month under the lease agreement and has so far earned over Rs570 million since 2006” – daily Dawn crossed all limits of misreporting in its attempt to discredit McDonald’s. – The amount of Rs570 million is sales revenue. This amount is from the sales of burgers, french fries, cokes, ice cream, etc – this is not the income made by McDonalds as reported. Dawn was juggling the numbers to portray that McDonald’s was raking it in while paying CDA only Rs800,000 per month.
4. “CDA to lease McDonalds land again” dated August 28, 2010, “The area under the use of McDonald’s is 6,000 square yards – 1.2 acres covered area and 5.62 acres open space.” The fact is that McDonald’s has covered only 8,800 square feet (980 square yards) out of the leased land area of 6,000 square yards (1.2 acres). This is only 16.33 % of the leased land. The remaining area of 5.26 acres of land was developed by McDonald’s (as part of the lease agreement) as a park for the general use of the citizens of Islamabad at a cost of Rs13,976,315. There is no levy of any fees, and the park is maintained by McDonald’s and not an inch of this area is in the use of McDonald’s. The annual cost of such maintenance is Rs1,020,000.
5. “McDonald’s to make a comeback” dated 29 December 2010. “The city managers on Tuesday paved the way for McDonald’s management to make a comeback in Fatima Jinnah Park by disqualifying two main contestants from the bidding held to again lease out land of the closed fast food chain, sources told Dawn.” Dawn now takes a shot at the reputation of the city managers, insinuating that they are working with McDonald’s to disqualify other main contestants. The fact is that CDA invited Request for Qualification from National and International fast food outlets on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 with the deadline of submission of application as September 15, 2010. This was extended till September 30, 2010. Only three bidders responded, all international food franchises. To encourage more contestants, another Expression of Interest for pre-qualification of local and international food chains was published on Friday, October 29, 2010 with the deadline for receipt of applications as November 23, 2010. The same three and two more applied. These additional two were local companies. Three were qualified – McDonald’s, Dominos and Hanif Rajput. As per rules of prequalification, Rahat Bakery did not qualify as it is only a bakery and Hardees did not qualify as they had less then three years of experience. No rule of prequalification was changed or altered an any manner to disqualify. A totally open and transparent bidding process was followed and after a tough contest of bids, McDonald’s came out as the highest bidder. Daily Dawn is now making its last ditch effort to derail the entire process of transparent bidding.
In the same article it is stated that “Experts say if compared with the price paid by builders of Centaurus, the land of McDonald’s should have been auctioned for over Rs1 Billion.” The fact is that daily Dawn in its articles has continuously written about the Centaurus project of Islamabad and keeps comparing it with the McDonald’s restaurant in F9 Park. In at least foure different articles they have continued to make convoluted comparisons between the value of the space McDonald’s has and the value of the space Centaurus has. To set the record straight, it is important to let everyone know the true figures.
Centaurus is an approximately two million square feet project, consisting of two residential towers of 22 stories each, one office tower of 22 stories, one seven star hotel of 30 stories and a five storey, 550,000 square feet mall. They own the land which is approximately 6.59 acres. Compared to this McDonald’s covered area of the restaurant is approximately 8,800 square feet and all of it on the ground floor and while Centaurus holds the land in perpetuity, McDonald’s is a tenant.
No other newspaper has covered this issue in the libelous and slanderous manner that daily Dawnhas and that is of great concern, the statement adds. These malicious reports have been continuously ignored by the management of McDonald’s – giving daily Dawn the benefit of doubt – but it is now seems this gratuitous campaign, which goes against all tenets of journalism, has no end in sight.
Some comments
Usman Ahmad: Here we go! Cheap mud-slinging…Express isn’t an ‘angel’ media group either!…but I honestly I wasn’t expecting this type of journalismm from DAWN.
Arachnid: Fight! Fight!
Shez: Using your newspapers for launching personal/business campaigns is nothing new in Pakistan. It looks like McDonalds Pakistan is not giving the Dawn its fair share of ad revenue. I guess their guns will be silenced then.
Talha: I support the Tribune, Dawn never publishes my comments. I blame prejudice.
Azfar Naik: What I want to know is, why hasnt anyone contradicted DAWN before this? true the media has freedom but to use its powers to misreport and bad mouth a company that is so well known is disgusting I must say. People across the nation read and believe what is potrayed in DAWN and if this is how they play with their power, then who do we trust?
Fahd Abbasy: Hey how come there were no comments when Dawn was attacking McDonalds and printing all those news items … read them personally. What if a company without any media on its back was in this position. Then no one would hear their version of the story, they would have been out of business, hundreds of jobs lost, so many families affected. This is such irresponsible journalism.
Zubair Zafar: This is unacceptable. Dawn should be penalized for such yellow journalism. I am an avid reader of Dawn since last 15 years and i sometimes feel there is alot of propaganda involved in its reporting.
Fayaz Ahmed: Should the park be there or not the court will decide that, but how Dawn has been reporting the issue is really shameful, this is the level of journalism in this country? That too by a news paper started by Qauid-e-Azam himself. They should have reported the facts and let the people build their opinion rather than leading them to their own agenda.
Sadaf: How was this article allowed to be published??!!
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31, 2010
Analysis
Also, The Express Media Group has realized that the Editor of daily Dawn runs media campaigns against different political and business groups in the typical way—yes Dawn runs biased and misleading stories about those who want a globalized world as it has been a den of the opportunist Leftists and so-called communists since the very beginning. The autonomous editorial management of Dawn can destroy anyone’s career or life in the guise of “public interest journalism” but no one can dare to do anything in this regard.
The LUBP had said in a post: “The irony of highlighting Jinnah, the Shia founder of Pakistan, as the founder of Dawn escapes its ownership who themselves are allegedly Shia. Ingratiating themselves with the establishment is probably more lucrative for Dawn than honest journalism and caring for the plight of minorities. Carry on Dawn, no one can do euphemisms better than you. In doing so, you churn out the best de-contextualized reports that ensure that the establishment and its Islamofascist proxies will never be held to account for the crimes against the Pakistani people!”
Every day there are planted stories in Dawn! If you carefully observe and keep a record, you’ll find the stories “riddled with gross inaccuracies, fabricated information, twisted facts and original fiction.” The reporting at Dawn has been "malicious and malafide" but everyone can't talk on this taboo subject! This is a good thing that The Express Media Group has finally taken the courage but why The Express Tribune has not realized it? Are the two going on different tracks?? The answer of this question you may’ve found in the first part of this post. Also see the related posts there.
--
NOTE: If anyone wants to clarify any point, we're ready to publish every point of view.—The Terrorland Team
Related Posts
2- Criminal inquiry sought
3- Alas! Mr. Jinnah's Dawn is dead, long live Pakistan
4- Pakistan escapes but Dawn succumbs to coup d'état
5- The paradigm shift — Dawn takes shelter under Islamic extremism
6- Mr Jinnah's Dawn in danger
7- Intellectual dishonesty 2010 (Part 1)
8- Intellectual dishonesty 2010 (Part 2)
9- Intellectual dishonesty 2010 (Part 3)
3- Alas! Mr. Jinnah's Dawn is dead, long live Pakistan
4- Pakistan escapes but Dawn succumbs to coup d'état
5- The paradigm shift — Dawn takes shelter under Islamic extremism
6- Mr Jinnah's Dawn in danger
7- Intellectual dishonesty 2010 (Part 1)
8- Intellectual dishonesty 2010 (Part 2)
9- Intellectual dishonesty 2010 (Part 3)
FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2011
Dawn's yellow blood transfuses to The Express Tribune (1)
Special Report
“With the arrival of some sick minds from the sick newspaper,” a mediaperson said, “the transfusion has unfortunately taken place."
The Express Tribune's Executive Editor M. Ziauddin is a former Correspondent/Resident Editor of Dawnwhile its City Editor Farman Ali is a former News Editor of Dawn Islamabad.”
Another journalist also expressed similar grievances over some reports, columns and blogs of The Express Tribune. He had sent three samples from the newspaper to The Terrorland blogs, seeking "detailed analysis of the sick culture of the old newspaper (Dawn) being developed at the new newspaper (The Express Tribune)." He has requested to publish these articles as well "because some controversial reports after publication suddenly disappear from the website (of The Express Tribune)."
It’s a professional tragedy. But this might not be the dream of the young Publisher, Bilal Lakhani, of The Express Tribune, who is proud of being in association with The New York Times group! Anyway, if you had not seen the ‘malicious’ stories earlier, or were not aware of the 'behind the scene' stories, then let's read the first article in this episode and then analyze it. Here is the article:
Change of editor at English paper
By Omar R Quraishi
Mr Abbas takes over from Abbas Nasir, who himself was appointed as editor in May 2006. Mr Nasir, a former head of the BBC Urdu Service, had taken over from Tahir Mirza, the last of what many thought were the old-style traditional editors of the paper.
Mr Nasir was approached for his comments for this report but declined to respond. He brought in change to the newspaper, particularly as far as salaries were concerned. However, he was also asked to take charge of Dawn News, at that time a fully English news channel, which was struggling. Mr Nasir was seen by many staffers as accessible but at least two rounds of dismissals at the television channel somewhat tainted his staff-friendly reputation.
Under Mr Nasir’s stewardship, changes were brought to the newspaper’s website, www.dawn.com, for which a separate staff and editor were hired. However, there were allegations of favouritism given that the editor, Musaddiq Sanwal, did not have editorial experience prior to this in Pakistan’s English print media, and also happened to be a good friend of Mr Nasir’s.
A staffer who has been working at the paper since 1987 said – he didn’t want to be quoted by name, for obvious reasons – this of Mr Nasir’s tenure: “The man perhaps had too much to do – he started off well by significantly raising staff salaries, but then got bogged down in the Dawn News fiasco, and then over time it seems that the inertia of the organisation overtook the editor and prevented him from doing all the things that we all thought he would do.”
Another staff member, who joined the organisation after Mr Nasir, said: “To his (Abbas’s) credit, he was accessible and encouraging, especially of the lower staff, and he did manage to get some of the deadwood out of the organisation by not renewing contracts of staffers who had reached retirement age.
Zaffar Abbas, the new editor, has previously worked at the monthly news magazine Herald and the BBC. In August 2006, he joined Dawn as resident editor of its Islamabad edition. He was also approached for comments for this report but did not respond. Mr Abbas made his mark as a reporter, first for Herald and later as a BBC correspondent in Karachi and then Islamabad.
Aamer Ahmed Khan, former editor of Herald, and currently the head of the BBC Urdu Service in London, has worked many years with Zaffar Abbas. Of his association with him he said: “Zaffar Abbas has been a key player in Dawn’s editorial strength for as long as I have known him. It is exciting to see a journalist of his experience take charge of one of Pakistan’s best known newspapers in today’s highly competitive environment.”
Another former colleague of Mr Abbas – he was editor of Herald and both him and Mr Abbas worked there at least for around 10 years – is the current editor of The News, Karachi, Talat Aslam. Mr Aslam said: “I have always found Zaffar a solid, reliable and dependable individual and it was very good to have him at the magazine. His feet are firmly on the ground and he would always give us very useful and realistic feedback and assessment. During my time at Herald, I saw Zaffar evolve and grow – though as a person, of course, he never changed. I think he will make a very good editor at Dawn – and it will be good to have a good friend as editor of a rival newspaper.”
Muhammad Ziauddin, Executive Editor of The Express Tribune, said: “I have been watching Zaffar’s career since the early 1980s – since he began at the Star. During his days with Herald in Islamabad we met frequently. He is a top professional and a man of integrity.”
Comments
· Saad Durrani: Zafar does bring a lot of expertise on the table. It would be beneficial for not only for the Dawn but for the industry as well.
· Ammar: Quality of programming at Dawn News is terrible now. It’s like a wannabe Geo-tv now.
· Sufi Shams: Zafar Abbas – isn’t he the brother of Maj. Gen Athar Abbas? Wonder what that means for the paper. Also, wonder if Zafar Abbas’s professionalism will mean that the agents of the intelligence agencies will not get printed on Dawn newspaper’s front page
· Ayesha Siddiqa: Abbas Nasir has the honor of contributing to Dawn’s decay. He and his team were responsible for raising a young, cocky and extremely arrogant editorial team which has no sense of respect and lack knowledge. This is what happens when owners begin to temper with the editorial. Dawn moved from Altaf Hussain to Ahmed Ali Khan, and back to the days of Altaf Hussain!
· Meekal Ahmed: I hope the new Editor puts some life into the paper. Over the years I find it to have become dull and on the verge of downright boring.
· Muhammad Ilyas Khan: Omar R Quraishi sb, for me the best days of Dawn were when you were editor of a section of the paper to which I regularly contributed for sometime. I feel you really encouraged and included articles from a wide range of people, belonging to all parts of the country and with diverse backgrounds, completely on the basis of merit and without any favouritism. I don’t feel the same kind of openness, diversity, merit and ‘depth’ in terms of the quality of the material printed on that section of the paper anymore since you departed. I don’t see much ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking or creativity on that page of my interest for a long time now. I wish Dawn regain that glory again in terms of the quality of stuff in its various sections especially its Sunday edition and its section such as EDUCATION, MAGAZINE and Books and Authors. Dawn (when you were there) has played a vital role in the development of my career and in broadening my mental horizens. I owe a lot to this prestigious newspaper and I wish it becomes more open and responsive to the common readers (and contributers) in terms of representing their views on its pages.
· T. Ali: I wish Abbas Nasir good luck and hope that Zafar Abbas comes up to the expectations of Dawn readers, who still have not forgotten icons like A.A.
· Khan: So another change at the daily Yawn. I thought Abbas Nasir would bring the newspaper up-to-date but he didn’t. As for the arrogance of the new editorial staff, I second Ayesha Siddiqa’s views. Let us hope Zaffar Abbas – a talented and experienced journalist – is finally allowed to make the necessary changes by the increasingly ‘sethia’-minded owners.
After reading the above article and the comments, you may have got a rough idea of the “news behind the headline.” Zaffar Abbas is the one who ended M. Ziadudin’s carrier at the Dawn Media Group in the most humiliating way. Here are some interesting points especially for the researchers of the future as currently, finding truth in the 'free' media has become impossible due to militarization of the outlets. Plus, search for the truth in Pakistan has become a big crime and very dangerous for journalists.
1- In his typical way, Zaffar Abbas, as a correspondent of the BBC Urdu, interviewed M. Ziauddin at his office, Dawn Islamabad, but didn't mention Mr. Zia as editor or even as a journalist, but as aneconomist (this is his typical tactic, but some professional economists say it's very funny to call a journalist, covering business affairs, an economist). And the next time Mr. Zia was out of the office and Zaffar had replaced him as Resident Editor. See video: BBC Urdu
2- After kicking his boss, Abbas Nasir, out from Dawn, Zaffar Abbas chopped out the hands of M. Ziauddin who was struggling hard to become Editor Dawn. An insider says: “Both are reporters and don’t know even the basics of editing—but are experts in shenanigans... so they're editors. Our current editors mostly belong to this breed of journalists.”
3- M. Ziauddin, after taking over as Executive Editor The Express Tribune, adopted a 'liberal' policy regarding Zaffar Abbas and his powerful brothers, especially Maj-Gen. Athar Abbas, chief spokesperson of the Pakistan Army. Critical comments regarding the Abbas Brothers were allowed in the pages but nothing was said about Dawn, the organization of Mr. Zia’s dreams.
4- Cafe Pyala was used against the newborn newspaper, The Express Tribune—“ they (Cafe Pyala) are a team of journalists led-by Omar R. Qureshi and patronized by Zaffar Abbas of ISI-fame..." saidA Reluctant Mind."
5- A perturbed Zaffar Abbas decided to take revenge on M. Ziauddin in his hidden-hideous way! Thus he planted one of his “partners in crimes” – Farman Ali – as City Editor in The Express Tribune. And then started the blunders... and many more—Link-1, Link-2; then the representative blog of Zaffar Abbas said: “Express Tribune has a circulation of under 2500 nationwide Link-3”.
6- Insiders say that M. Ziauddin became ready to publish the above given story along with his own 'forced' comments about Zaffar Abbas for two reasons. 1) he got a call from someone more influential— 2) an ‘illiterate’ nephew of the editor of The Express Tribune, Munawar Azeem, is an employee of Dawn and a co-accused in the Habib Sulemani case.
7- Observe in this video M. Ziauddin’s response to a 'burning' question... note the body language of the 71-year-old gray-haired 'master chameleon'... his name tops the list of those journalists who have got residential plots in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
“I VISIT The Express Tribune (a collaboration of Express Newspaper in Pakistan and International Herald Tribune of NYTimes) daily, not because of their quality journalism but as they allow comments on their news which gives one an idea of what the nation (or the English reading elite that visits ETribune) is thinking. However, since they are new on the scene, they are guilty of more than a normal mindfucks."
This is what Two Paisa said in a post. Many journalists, who were having highest expectations from this newspaper of ‘international standard’ earlier, are now saying: old daily Dawn's yellow blood has been transfused into the young body of The Express Tribune.
“With the arrival of some sick minds from the sick newspaper,” a mediaperson said, “the transfusion has unfortunately taken place."
The Express Tribune's Executive Editor M. Ziauddin is a former Correspondent/Resident Editor of Dawnwhile its City Editor Farman Ali is a former News Editor of Dawn Islamabad.”
Another journalist also expressed similar grievances over some reports, columns and blogs of The Express Tribune. He had sent three samples from the newspaper to The Terrorland blogs, seeking "detailed analysis of the sick culture of the old newspaper (Dawn) being developed at the new newspaper (The Express Tribune)." He has requested to publish these articles as well "because some controversial reports after publication suddenly disappear from the website (of The Express Tribune)."
It’s a professional tragedy. But this might not be the dream of the young Publisher, Bilal Lakhani, of The Express Tribune, who is proud of being in association with The New York Times group! Anyway, if you had not seen the ‘malicious’ stories earlier, or were not aware of the 'behind the scene' stories, then let's read the first article in this episode and then analyze it. Here is the article:
Change of editor at English paper
By Omar R Quraishi
KARACHI: One of the country’s oldest newspapers, Dawn, saw a change of editors on Oct 4, with its printline (on the back page) formally changing to reflect the transfer to Zaffar Abbas. This is the fifth editor the newspaper has seen in the past decade, and hence this can be seen as a time of transformation for it given that prior to that period the paper had the same editor for almost 30 years.
Mr Abbas takes over from Abbas Nasir, who himself was appointed as editor in May 2006. Mr Nasir, a former head of the BBC Urdu Service, had taken over from Tahir Mirza, the last of what many thought were the old-style traditional editors of the paper.
Mr Nasir was approached for his comments for this report but declined to respond. He brought in change to the newspaper, particularly as far as salaries were concerned. However, he was also asked to take charge of Dawn News, at that time a fully English news channel, which was struggling. Mr Nasir was seen by many staffers as accessible but at least two rounds of dismissals at the television channel somewhat tainted his staff-friendly reputation.
Under Mr Nasir’s stewardship, changes were brought to the newspaper’s website, www.dawn.com, for which a separate staff and editor were hired. However, there were allegations of favouritism given that the editor, Musaddiq Sanwal, did not have editorial experience prior to this in Pakistan’s English print media, and also happened to be a good friend of Mr Nasir’s.
A staffer who has been working at the paper since 1987 said – he didn’t want to be quoted by name, for obvious reasons – this of Mr Nasir’s tenure: “The man perhaps had too much to do – he started off well by significantly raising staff salaries, but then got bogged down in the Dawn News fiasco, and then over time it seems that the inertia of the organisation overtook the editor and prevented him from doing all the things that we all thought he would do.”
Another staff member, who joined the organisation after Mr Nasir, said: “To his (Abbas’s) credit, he was accessible and encouraging, especially of the lower staff, and he did manage to get some of the deadwood out of the organisation by not renewing contracts of staffers who had reached retirement age.
Zaffar Abbas, the new editor, has previously worked at the monthly news magazine Herald and the BBC. In August 2006, he joined Dawn as resident editor of its Islamabad edition. He was also approached for comments for this report but did not respond. Mr Abbas made his mark as a reporter, first for Herald and later as a BBC correspondent in Karachi and then Islamabad.
Aamer Ahmed Khan, former editor of Herald, and currently the head of the BBC Urdu Service in London, has worked many years with Zaffar Abbas. Of his association with him he said: “Zaffar Abbas has been a key player in Dawn’s editorial strength for as long as I have known him. It is exciting to see a journalist of his experience take charge of one of Pakistan’s best known newspapers in today’s highly competitive environment.”
Another former colleague of Mr Abbas – he was editor of Herald and both him and Mr Abbas worked there at least for around 10 years – is the current editor of The News, Karachi, Talat Aslam. Mr Aslam said: “I have always found Zaffar a solid, reliable and dependable individual and it was very good to have him at the magazine. His feet are firmly on the ground and he would always give us very useful and realistic feedback and assessment. During my time at Herald, I saw Zaffar evolve and grow – though as a person, of course, he never changed. I think he will make a very good editor at Dawn – and it will be good to have a good friend as editor of a rival newspaper.”
Muhammad Ziauddin, Executive Editor of The Express Tribune, said: “I have been watching Zaffar’s career since the early 1980s – since he began at the Star. During his days with Herald in Islamabad we met frequently. He is a top professional and a man of integrity.”
Comments
· Saad Durrani: Zafar does bring a lot of expertise on the table. It would be beneficial for not only for the Dawn but for the industry as well.
· Ammar: Quality of programming at Dawn News is terrible now. It’s like a wannabe Geo-tv now.
· Sufi Shams: Zafar Abbas – isn’t he the brother of Maj. Gen Athar Abbas? Wonder what that means for the paper. Also, wonder if Zafar Abbas’s professionalism will mean that the agents of the intelligence agencies will not get printed on Dawn newspaper’s front page
· Ayesha Siddiqa: Abbas Nasir has the honor of contributing to Dawn’s decay. He and his team were responsible for raising a young, cocky and extremely arrogant editorial team which has no sense of respect and lack knowledge. This is what happens when owners begin to temper with the editorial. Dawn moved from Altaf Hussain to Ahmed Ali Khan, and back to the days of Altaf Hussain!
· Meekal Ahmed: I hope the new Editor puts some life into the paper. Over the years I find it to have become dull and on the verge of downright boring.
· Muhammad Ilyas Khan: Omar R Quraishi sb, for me the best days of Dawn were when you were editor of a section of the paper to which I regularly contributed for sometime. I feel you really encouraged and included articles from a wide range of people, belonging to all parts of the country and with diverse backgrounds, completely on the basis of merit and without any favouritism. I don’t feel the same kind of openness, diversity, merit and ‘depth’ in terms of the quality of the material printed on that section of the paper anymore since you departed. I don’t see much ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking or creativity on that page of my interest for a long time now. I wish Dawn regain that glory again in terms of the quality of stuff in its various sections especially its Sunday edition and its section such as EDUCATION, MAGAZINE and Books and Authors. Dawn (when you were there) has played a vital role in the development of my career and in broadening my mental horizens. I owe a lot to this prestigious newspaper and I wish it becomes more open and responsive to the common readers (and contributers) in terms of representing their views on its pages.
· T. Ali: I wish Abbas Nasir good luck and hope that Zafar Abbas comes up to the expectations of Dawn readers, who still have not forgotten icons like A.A.
· Khan: So another change at the daily Yawn. I thought Abbas Nasir would bring the newspaper up-to-date but he didn’t. As for the arrogance of the new editorial staff, I second Ayesha Siddiqa’s views. Let us hope Zaffar Abbas – a talented and experienced journalist – is finally allowed to make the necessary changes by the increasingly ‘sethia’-minded owners.
· Kazim: @Khan: Daily Yawn… hahahah
Analysis
After reading the above article and the comments, you may have got a rough idea of the “news behind the headline.” Zaffar Abbas is the one who ended M. Ziadudin’s carrier at the Dawn Media Group in the most humiliating way. Here are some interesting points especially for the researchers of the future as currently, finding truth in the 'free' media has become impossible due to militarization of the outlets. Plus, search for the truth in Pakistan has become a big crime and very dangerous for journalists.
1- In his typical way, Zaffar Abbas, as a correspondent of the BBC Urdu, interviewed M. Ziauddin at his office, Dawn Islamabad, but didn't mention Mr. Zia as editor or even as a journalist, but as aneconomist (this is his typical tactic, but some professional economists say it's very funny to call a journalist, covering business affairs, an economist). And the next time Mr. Zia was out of the office and Zaffar had replaced him as Resident Editor. See video: BBC Urdu
2- After kicking his boss, Abbas Nasir, out from Dawn, Zaffar Abbas chopped out the hands of M. Ziauddin who was struggling hard to become Editor Dawn. An insider says: “Both are reporters and don’t know even the basics of editing—but are experts in shenanigans... so they're editors. Our current editors mostly belong to this breed of journalists.”
3- M. Ziauddin, after taking over as Executive Editor The Express Tribune, adopted a 'liberal' policy regarding Zaffar Abbas and his powerful brothers, especially Maj-Gen. Athar Abbas, chief spokesperson of the Pakistan Army. Critical comments regarding the Abbas Brothers were allowed in the pages but nothing was said about Dawn, the organization of Mr. Zia’s dreams.
4- Cafe Pyala was used against the newborn newspaper, The Express Tribune—“ they (Cafe Pyala) are a team of journalists led-by Omar R. Qureshi and patronized by Zaffar Abbas of ISI-fame..." saidA Reluctant Mind."
5- A perturbed Zaffar Abbas decided to take revenge on M. Ziauddin in his hidden-hideous way! Thus he planted one of his “partners in crimes” – Farman Ali – as City Editor in The Express Tribune. And then started the blunders... and many more—Link-1, Link-2; then the representative blog of Zaffar Abbas said: “Express Tribune has a circulation of under 2500 nationwide Link-3”.
6- Insiders say that M. Ziauddin became ready to publish the above given story along with his own 'forced' comments about Zaffar Abbas for two reasons. 1) he got a call from someone more influential— 2) an ‘illiterate’ nephew of the editor of The Express Tribune, Munawar Azeem, is an employee of Dawn and a co-accused in the Habib Sulemani case.
7- Observe in this video M. Ziauddin’s response to a 'burning' question... note the body language of the 71-year-old gray-haired 'master chameleon'... his name tops the list of those journalists who have got residential plots in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
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