Media Watch: Collapse?
This is the worst times in terms of press censorship in the country’s recent history. Any discussion on the media has to be prefaced with this statement, till even this lukewarm assertion…
Media Watch: The boy who cried 75 percent
He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, the state minister for the interior. But perhaps a tool nonetheless. In the federal governments of most countries, the finance minister is deemed to…
Media Watch: ‘Happy to be ashamed…’
Not a bad performance, over all He wasn’t as bad at the BBC’s Hard Talk as his boss, the current prime minister, on the same programme before the elections. And Asad Umar’s…
Media Watch: Not Not The Dependent
Satire in the age of the CJP The reader might not have seen it yet. Because at the time of writing this, it had not yet gone viral. A Facebook event, scheduled…
Aleph Review steps up its game
Publishing is always the greatest obstacle that faces any writer. The where, why, when, how, who of what is going to happen with a piece of writing, any form of it, is…
Media Watch: The chosen few
The idea behind having a more intimate presser with the prime minister is to give more time to each questioner. That, obviously, means fewer journalists. Fewer journalists, obviously, translates into the resentment…
Obituary: Bush 41
They say the first year after the death of a spouse is crucial for the surviving partner. It is often the case with couples that have been married long, that when one…
This conspiracy goes all the way to the bottom
‘We were busy’, read the ad of minimalist design on the front pages of the English and vernacular press. Turn the page, it said below, after doing which, the reader would see…
Media Watch: Appearances
Justice, goes the adage, should not only be done, but also seen to be done. The British, who were quite particular about appearances, went above and beyond reasonable semblances of impartiality. Stories…
Media Watch: Vawda’s fancy dress show
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Suhai Aziz Talpur, the police officer who actually led the operation against the terrorists who had attacked the Chinese consulate in Karachi, was a bit understated in…
Faiz beyond ideology
This year’s season of Coke Studio has been a lot of things. There have been highs and lows, controversies and outrages, and all the other topsy turvy ups and downs that come…
So what’s your gut feeling?
As surprising a connection as it may sound, it is quite often the case that it is the gut which causes different manifestations of depression in a person. Diseases as common as…
Media Watch: This guy is an improvement?
Sometimes, there are situations that could be classified in the any-change-would-be-an-improvement category. It was thought that the Punjab Information Minister Fayyaz-ul-Hassan Chohan’s position as the Punjab government’s principal spokesperson was one of…
Media Watch: Not NAB DG’s finest hour
He’s good. Shahzeb Khanzada is now arguably the best news show host in the country. If you want to watch an informed account of national issues, his is the program to tune…
Media Watch: TLP and PTM
A common refrain from within the conservative commentariat during the TLP’s protests is that the country’s liberati do not call out the “anti-state” speeches of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) but elaborately…
Amir Liaquat Hussain: A rollicking 2018 timeline
Pakistan Tehreek i Insaaf MNA, televangelist, religious scholar and game show host Amir Liaquat Hussain has been indicted by a two member bench of the Supreme Court for contempt, adding to the…
Body Becoming: Mainstreaming performance art
A first for Pakistan Performance art, as a concept, is alien to Pakistan. For afficiendos, it is a vague concept. An outlier so unfamiliar and so far removed from the Pakistani reality…