Five years and going strong

The Express Tribune firmly established as a media outlet known for objective and unbiased reporting

Launched five years back with a young team The Express Tribune stands exalted as a mainstream media outlet today upholding journalistic values of objective and unbiased reporting.

With ever burgeoning outreach, both for its print and online editions, the newspaper during the past five years catered to the demand of both educated clique and the masses in general, who wanted to understand the true picture of daily events happening inside Pakistan and in the region.

We always espoused the cause of democracy. At the same time we tried to fulfill our responsibility by highlighting the guile of holders of public offices, exposed corrupt practices in the public sector and the chicanery of politicians, no matter how powerful.

We were one year old, when US conducted what was perceived a covert operation on OBL compound in Abbottabad. The events of that year resulted in the souring of Pakistan-US ties. The  newspaper’s reporters have many exclusives and scoops to their credit. When we highlighted corrupt practices, collusion of officials in misuse of authority and flouting of laws at will, a number of such stories became the basis of suo-motu notices taken by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. During hearings in the court, when the authorities concerned tried to disparage the newspaper in their alibis, saying the media  publishes unsubstantiated reports, the judges of the Supreme Court snubbed them and vindicated us with their remarks “we think The Express Tribune is a credible paper”.

We did not exonerate the rulers, but maintained a balanced approach. The Express Tribune is among those media outlets that explicitly reported shortcomings in the electoral system. We were the first ones to reveal that electoral lists on the basis of which the 2008 general elections were held contained dubious voters in millions.

Similarly before the 2013 general elections the paper exhorted the authorities that there were many flaws that, if left unaddressed, would raise questions on the credibility of the electoral exercise.

The Express Tribune was among those media outlets that had been persistently highlighting indifference of ruling parties towards the holding of local government elections. This ultimately led to the intervention of Supreme Court on whose orders LG polls are being organized in the country across Pakistan after a gap of almost 10 years.

We recently published detailed reports on arbitrary disbursement of funds to lawmakers during the five year term of last PPP regime. Our full page reports on the issue helped inform and educate people of the actual facts. In the ongoing Yemen crisis, the newspaper was the first one to report the demands of Saudi government from Pakistan with precision.

Throughout these five years, the team coalesced their energies to make the paper what it is today.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th, 2015.