ET comes home

Of all the bold decisions ET has taken, hiring an inexperienced team of sub-editors was the most controversial.

The Pakistani media industry is small; news spreads rapidly and is dissected heavily. So it came as no surprise when in the summer of 2009, the community of English-language journalists were consumed by talk of The Express Tribune. As good jobs in the English news media are even fewer, talk of recruitment strategies and content dominated the discussion. Not only was it a new paper that was bringing the International Herald Tribune to Pakistan but it also sought to have complete convergence between the Urdu and English newspapers of a media group. The idea of launching a new paper – with a team that was mostly young and inexperienced - didn’t fly well among most journalists.

As The Express Tribune marks a year, it is interesting to look back and note how a project many were sceptical of has propelled English news media forward. Of all the bold decisions ET has taken, hiring an inexperienced but highly educated team of sub-editors was certainly the most controversial. Yet it has turned out to be the most rewarding, not only for the paper, but also for the industry.

It is easy to spot the team’s energy and fresh ideas in the newspaper. The choice of stories and treatment and the editing, design and layout have been consistently engaging. Guided and trained by some of the best in the industry, the young team has come a long way.

Their presence is perhaps felt most strongly on the award-winning website. The website has very rapidly become one of the most popular news URLs in Pakistan and abroad. From live blogging major news events to keeping a close eye on digital media from Pakistan, the website serves as a virtual public sphere. It was a daring step to allow readers to comment on every story on the website, and has fuelled the website’s popularity and interactivity.

For consumers of the print edition, the layout was and is the USP of the paper. The design philosophy was well thought out and is executed daily by a frighteningly creative team that works very closely with the newsroom. The end product has definitely raised the bar for design aesthetics in Pakistani newspapers.

A lot of the ideas that make The Express Tribune a success come from its young staff. Personally, it was an honour to work with the motivated and brilliant team of subeditors, not just on the national desk but across the newsroom. I think I ended up learning more from them than they did from me. The rules of the game, which were so possessively maintained by the old guard, have been remixed at ET. I, for one, am glad for it.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th,  2011.