Political reporting
The obvious stereotype here being the often-misplaced false dilemma of beauty-versus-brains.
The criticism still held sway on our first anniversary – and I’m fairly certain it still does on our second.
But the fact is that, while the criticism may have had truth to it initially, it certainly no longer does.
The storm-troopers of purity will still disparage and quip, “Achha hai, layout zabardast hai … magar poltikul nahi hai, you know?”
A first impression can be a powerful, and most unfair, opponent.
We have worked particularly hard on the political reporting of the paper, and a daily reading and comparison of the three top English papers will testify that the Trib has made tremendous strides in this department, particularly over the last year.
Weaving political narratives, instead of isolated reporting, has become somewhat a hallmark of our reporting. We’ve been accurate with even the minutest of quotes and details, and taken care to not fall for the lure of the righteous populism of one rival, or the self-censoring conservatism of another, when it comes to political reporting.
In terms of exclusives, we have had a number of stories hit the bulls-eye. One recent example is our report on the ruling party’s use of secret Intelligence Bureau funds for political purposes in 1989 and in 2008-9 – a matter that has now been taken up by the Supreme Court.
This has been the result of a lot of hard work by a lot of people – both bylined and nameless. Now that we’ve caught up, the next step is to get ahead.
In this effort, we have moved towards specialising our political coverage. Having been moved to the position of Political Editor, I have been entrusted with a lot of great projects ahead.
Stay tuned for Year 3, because we’ve got a lot in store to feed your insatiable appetite for the often twisted world of Pakistani politics – served up like it has never been done before.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 12th, 2012.
COMMENTS (3)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1725877703-0/Tribune-Pic-(5)1725877703-0-165x106.webp "article")
1726722687-0/Express-Tribune-Web-(9)1726722687-0-270x192.webp "instability hurts progress cm punjab")
ET is extremely biased and serves a niche audience. The tactics used by your team to generate views are less than kosher and I predict they will catch up with you before year 3 is over. The method I have seen you use most often is sensationalism of issues that excite liberals and foreign audiences and make Pakistan and Islam look bad. You will predictably respond with something along the lines of the truth making us look bad, not the reporting, but a large part of the audience can testify to what I'm talking about...ET is intentionally misusing the emotions of its liberal audience and is intentionally insulting to the conservative public. This will catch up with you before year 3 is over....its a sure thing. Unlike the Jang Group, the Lakson Group is a business group more than a media group. They have a checkered history involving loan defaults, jail and NAB cases. I really dont see Express being able to sustain the rough times ahead, and they're just about to get started.
Although I trust the Tribune is balanced about most topics, there has been an influx of very anti Imran Khan and PTI articles which are not based on concrete facts but mere speculation and distortion. Does that have anything to do with the political editor's personal bias?
Keep it up!