In a changing landscape

Sailing through troubled waters and shaping a new course

This five-year journey with The Express Tribune has been incredible. We not only broke a new path in print journalism in Pakistan, but with success. More than the challenge of charting a new course, the stated mission of the paper, “to promote liberal and democratic ideals” in society, is what prompted me to leave the country’s iconic daily, Dawn, and join the startup.

Once on board, I found other colleagues who were equally  red up, and together we tried as best as we could, stuck to a set course in choppy waters. I found myself to be the lucky one among them, to be battling the waves under one of the same captains who had steered the launch of my earlier daily in Islamabad in 2001, M Ziauddin.

Working with a young, but talented team was a refreshing experience. The biggest challenge, however, was to dig out stories from a small and relatively clean and organised city.

Initially, it was a major problem for the young reporters to contextualize and relate issues with the complex socioeconomic system of the country, but later, through weekly meetings and individual discussions, things improved remarkably. They worked hard and came up with good stories on social issues, particularly education, health, environment as well as human interest features with graphs and illustrations --- a hallmark of ET --- that caught the eyes of the readers, in. uenced policies and became a voice for the hapless. Though getting them to  le precise, concise stories in a timely manner was a major headache.

These  ve years have had their lows as well. There were times when attacks on the media and external pressures demoralised our young journalists, all of whom believe in objectivity, ethics and freedom of expression. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say ET has emerged as a trend-setter --- breaking with the traditional format in both content and presentation, compelling its rivals to reshape and redesign their products. Its emphasis on persona, art and culture, bold editorial policy, strong local colour, and human content has made ET one of the leading newspapers in Islamabad, a city which has started to witness changes at an unprecedented scale, ticking with life of its own.