Authorities concerned should put some penalty in place to discourage anchors from making claims
RAWALPINDI: Just last month Pakistan witnessed its civil society get together for a single cause: justice in little Zainab’s brutal rape and murder case. While people and many media anchors were busy educating the masses on the importance of teaching our children about good and bad touches, a popular anchor went on air to brew up a national controversy — Dr Shahid Masood claimed that Zainab’s rapist and murderer was working for some MNA in Punjab and together they were running a child pornography business.
Such a claim made at his own prime-time talk show not only sidelined the national discourse on sex education but also took the focus out of the case and put it on members of the government. However, the joint investigation team that was formed to identify if there was any truth in his claims has now stated in their report that all of his 18 claims were false and baseless.
In the wake of this, especially considering the damage such baseless claims can make, the authorities concerned should put some penalty in place to discourage anchors from making claims that they themselves have no evidence for. Meanwhile, Mr Masood should make a public apology.
Taimur Nawaz
Published in The Express Tribune, March 2nd, 2018.
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