Pakistani Readers discussion

My favourite newspaper is Dawn.Balanced and objective reporting,does not rely on sensationalism like many of the other papers.

Among the others,The Express Tribune is readable enough.However,it gives a lot of space to gossipy and trashy items,which aren't really news.
I don't particularly like The News.It has a biased approach,and lacks objectivity.I also found that it had little by way of real news.

I never liked daily Jang.
There used to be daily The Muslim from Islamabad.Now,it's long ceased publication.But I liked it well enough at the time.
There also used to The Pakistan Times,now long defunct.But it was owned by the government,and was an instrument of official propaganda.

Also,there used to be two monthly news magazines,Herald and Newsline.In-depth reporting,and investigative journalism.In the internet age,a monthly magazine becomes commercially unviable.Newsline has now ceased publication ! I liked it.

Never read any newspaper

I am interested in politics but tv zindabad

Alright.As for me personally,I have stopped watching cable TV news.Too sensational,too biased and agenda driven.

For me!
V pay cricket or talk shows political dekhnay ka mza hi kuch or ha

Pasand apni apni.

Sahi..

Baqi saaray kahan hai?

Wsm wrote: "Also,there used to be two monthly news magazines,Herald and Newsline.In-depth reporting,and investigative journalism.In the internet age,a monthly magazine becomes commercially unviable.Newsline ha..."

Herald and Newsline both have ceased publication.

Herald had it coming, given the decline in their quality of reporting. For the last couple of years, half the magazine was full of advertisements. The rest of the space was taken up by huge illustrations accompanying the articles. They were making up for the in-depth analyses with such fillers.

Investigative featured articles and comprehensive, in-depth analysis became infrequent, unlike a decade ago, when you can find one or more extensively researched article in every month's issue.

Perhaps readers have lost their appetite, and journalist has lost their patience for investigative and detailed reporting. The 24-hour news cycle and Twitter have made us conditioned to focus on the present moment only and ignore the context and background, which takes considerable time to research and study.

Also, people expect to receive news as they are happening. A couple of months ago, Dawn published a few detailed articles on land grabbing of Bahria Town and Airport Security Forces housing scheme. I can imagine why they opted to publish it in their daily newspaper, instead of waiting for the next issue of Herald. Printing it in Dawn, gave it more exposure. The news would have probably fizzled out until the next issue of Herald. So I can empathize with their decisions to some extent.

For all these reasons, I refused to renew their subscription a couple of years ago. To their credit Herald circulation team contacted me more than once to convince me to renew.

Nonetheless, what happened was inevitable. There is still a readership hungry for investigative reporting, detailed accounts in Bob Woodward styled books. Let's see who and how this niche market will be served.

Wsm wrote: "Among the others,The Express Tribune is readable enough.However,it gives a lot of space to gossipy and trashy items,which aren't really news.
I don't particularly like The News.It has a biased appr..."

The News has some good opinion writers like Babar Sattar, Mosharraf Zaidi and Ayaz Amir. Regardless of their political outlook, their writings are a pleasure to read.

Shukr hai koi or bhi jag gya

Lol...mind na krna

He has also just joined,I invited him.Thanks for accepting the invitation,Talha.And good to see your insightful analysis.

The montly news magazine has become a dinosaur in the internet age.But their reporting was a vast improvement on what passes for news on cable TV.Newsline,in particular,broke so many stories,despite a lot of pressure and threats.

Wsm wrote: "He has also just joined,I invited him.Thanks for accepting the invitation,Talha.And good to see your insightful analysis."

Thanks for the invitation, pleasure is all mine.

Wsm wrote: "The montly news magazine has become a dinosaur in the internet age.But their reporting was a vast improvement on what passes for news on cable TV.Newsline,in particular,broke so many stories,despit..."

True!

During the heyday of MQM, the Newsline team starred down the barrel and still chose to uncover and publish the truth.

Another thing that comes to mind is that Herald and Newsline reported on activities of Fazlullah, the infamous Militant leader from Swat, long before TTP challenged the state. I usually cite this as an example of how apathy and inaction of authorities let a militant mutate into a monster when two magazines from Karachi knew and openly reported about it.

Long long writings@talha

I like Ayaz Amir's newspaper columns,he is very forthright.Dawn has some very good columnists as well,Pervez Hoodhbhoy and Irfan Hussain,among them.

Don’t agree with the analysis on Herald done by Talha. I think Herald published great in-depth articles right up till the very end. The fact that it died has more to do with the quality of Pakistani readership than that of the magazine.

Also,Herald's demise had to do with the advent of instant news in the internet and cable age.Can't comment on the quality of its reporting in later years,as I used to read it a long time ago.

The late Razia Bhatti,made Newsline what it was.Starting with meagre resources,she and her fellow journalists launched the magazine.It was unflinchingly courageous reporting,and she was acknowledged internationally for her efforts.In Pakistan,however,she ruffled some feathers.The stress took its toll,and she died relatively young.

Yaar y r v talking newspaper in the first place?!

These magazines were also about news.

Hmm..

There are some other papers,including The Nation,The Daily Times,Pakistan Today and The Frontier Post.Writing this,I was reminded of their websites,and they are worth checking out for the odd good article.

Among English papers, Dawn, very balanced and most of the times, impartial.
Among Urdu papers, Jang, for exclusive news and better standards of investigative journalism than most of the Urdu papers.

If u say something would u guys mind?

There is also the weekly,Newsweek Pakistan.I don't find its reporting,particularly in-depth.It just recycles daily news.

Also,newspapers around the world are finding it tough to survive,financially.Most of them have to provide free news on the internet,thus decreasing their circulation figures,while already having to compete with the internet and cable news.I hope papers like Dawn can continue to survive.Cable TV news is no substitute for quality print journalism.