In his public meeting at Raiwind on September the 30th 2016, Imran Khan had sarcastically drawn the attention of the nation to the tons of money being showered on some segments of the media, by the special cell of the PML (N) government, setup to control and regulate the consciences and minds of those who are willing to be bought out.
He had pointed his finger at two unnamed TV Channels in particular— but when he asked the audience to guess which these channels were, the chant that rose in unison from the crowd was ‘Geo’. The other channel was left unnamed. But being an inquisitive analyst I have been doing my guess-work quite seriously for all these days. Even though ARY has toned down its hawkish stance quite noticeably, I have ruled it out. Also Samaa. And Channel 92. That leaves Express News and Dunya News to choose from.
Express News is run by a man who plays his cards like a good businessman. He doesn’t take extreme positions. I am talking obviously about Sultan Lakhani. Quite clearly he hasn’t minded the presence of a Javed Chaudhry in his team whose ‘leanings’ are well-known. I used to watch Express News for Ayaz Khan alone, but he is out of circulation now.
That leaves Dunya News to ponder upon.
Does any anchorperson or analyst appearing on the screen of Dunya News sound unaffected by the famous dictum: Every One Has A Price?
I think even Dr Moeed Pirzada’s immune system has failed. There is the spirit of Habib Akram and my friend Majeeb-ur-Rehman Shami even in the way News are telecast.
Let us not dispute the power of money. Let us pray that the likes of Shahid Masud, Arshad Sharif, Rauf Klasra, Aamir Mateen, Nadeem Malik, Arif Bhatti, Sami Ibrahim and some others (who are not coming to my mind at this moment) keep the invaders at bay.
This piece will not be complete if I don’t mention the names of Talat Hussain and Kashif Abbasi. They certainly are not up for sale— and hardly deviate from their known positions.
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