The announcement was officially made internally at Dawn at an 'emergency meeting' called by Dawn Media Group owner, Ms. Amber Saigol, a couple of days ago. Nasir will continue in his post till June, when the changeover would take place.
As we reported earlier, Nasir's resignation had been in the works for a while now and was motivated mainly by personal reasons - he and his family would like to move back to London. However, there had also been murmurs of resentment within the group about the slide in Dawn's cache as the paper of choice for readers as well as, for some, in its quality. For what it's worth, I personally think it had really improved in certain aspects such as the front page and its reporting from the Frontier and tribal areas. Former editor Ahmed Ali Khan's era is often touted as the golden era of Dawn, yet in reality was also one of its most boring and staid periods, where you were more likely to find what was happening in Togo on the front page rather than in Karachi. Abbas Nasir had at least brought Dawn back to earth in Pakistan.
The problems at the paper had much more to do with increased competition from the electronic media (television and the web), falling revenues because of economic conditions (leading to ill-advised moves like the confused amalgamation of all the magazines as Images on Sunday), and the white elephant DawnNews that the newspaper was burdened with.
In fact, the fall in revenues has been so drastic that reports say Dawn is off by 50 per cent on its advertising targets. Obviously this is largely because of the recessionary trends in the country as a whole, which has seen marketing budgets slashed across the board in Pakistan. Couple this with dollar devaluations and rising costs - of newsprint, printing machinery and salaries (which Nasir raised all over Dawn to his credit) - and you can pretty much see where things are headed. The result has been retrenchments, the first bunch of which occurred at DawnNews a few months ago, and which have now been supplemented by further sackings within Dawn.
According to sources, many people in production sections have already been laid off recently while the next to go are likely to be those on contract (i.e. not permanent employees), which includes a number of people on the editorial staff as well as those seniors hired post-retirement. These fresh retrenchments have obviously also led to employee resentment within Dawn and may have hastened Nasir's departure.
Posts
97 comments:
Your bias for Mr Nasir shines through. Possibly his was the worst period for the paper - Dawn has not only seen a slide in its finances but also in editorial quality. He relegated the back page into a foreign news page and it was during his tenure that one day a front page story was about the launch of a model ship in London! Remember the headline "Good Riddance Killer Baitullah!"
Zafar Abbas may be a better human being but his analyses in the front pages were pretty shallow and those who edited his copy in the Herald will tell of how poor it was. To compare Abbas Nasir's period with Khan sahab's when editorial independence was not compromised only reflects Cafe Pyala's bias.
I like the part which says, like Nasir no one doubts his professional credentials. While we all have respect for Zafar Abbas, the same cannot be said about Abbas Nasir who was only in love with himself. His was a black period at Dawn
To the first anonymous poster above: Actually, it's your bias that shows thru, loud and clear! I would bet anything that you are a former senior Dawn employee who could not get along with the Dawn editor and is now working at a rival newspaper. Considering the quality of the rival papers, headlines and biased campaigns included, I don't think you have much to show in terms of your own better work. :)
Agree with you - Images on Sunday - is a total nonsense idea of merging all Dawn weekly magazines. I foresee Abbas Nasir will revisit this and restore old weekly magazines.
Nasir did wonders for dawn. It has remained to stand out as the most balanced, progressive and liberal newspaper amongst the media madness we are surrounded with. I think Zafar will bring the same to Dawn.
Hat's off to Abbass for a terrific job.
Any idea what led to the emergency meeting called by Mrs Saigol? Also, has Zaffar Abbas officially been designated as the new editor? Who will replace him? Come on Cafe pyala! Get the scoop!
I think Cafe Pyala makes a valid point with regard to the increase in salaries. Images on Sunday is a complete and utter disaster. Heck, my mom, an avid Dawn reader, stopped reading it ever since the magazines were turned into a foul-tasting khichri.
Personally, I respect Abbas Nasir as a professional. Having said that, however, he did make some stupid mistakes. For example, hiring that sorry excuse for a magazines editor, Murtaza Razvi. The man has absolutely no vision and is infamous for unabashedly favouring some staffers while ignoring the rest. And of course, he has completely rubbished the magazines -- or magazine rather -- as well.
I think you are vastly overstating the importance of individuals in making a difference in Dawn. Editors may come and go, but the ghost of Ahmed Ali Khan still stalks those corridors, reimposing orthodoxy and convention over creativity. There is something stifling and musty in those corridors which seems averse to change.
Yes, we should be grateful for some of the values he set in stone which still make Dawn so different and such an institution. But the world has changed and Dawn has dragged its feet in accepting that fact. The paper (and I am not referring here to its brave new website)has been unable, despite the best and worst individual efforts,to break entirely with its old-fashioned legacy and reach out to a wider and younger post-electronic media readership without sacrificing its core values. It has also not succeeded in creating too many dazzling stars due to its aversion to risk and innate conservatism (with a small 'c').
Whatever Saleem Asmi, Tahir Mirza or Abbas Nasir have done to make a difference, has therefore been minimal and cosmetic. Cumulatively, they have actually made the paper one of those neither-here-nor-there affairs, hence the dissatisfaction and rumbling discontent among both staff (some of whom live perpetually in an Ahmed Ali Khan nostalgia trip) and readers.
Given this context, I can only wish Zaffar Abbas the best of luck in finding the right balance between a veritable old legacy and changing realities. His solid professional reputation and 'company man' credentials may ensure a smooth transition but will it make that necessary break with the past?
Individuals may not matter that much difference but Leaders do. Only to spot just one matter - as Maryam mentioned - selection of Individuals to run the show.
Dawn's been losing ground for the past few years. Subbing quality had gone down considerably and this was evident. Reporting was mundane as well.
Having previously worked in Star, and having teachers from Dawn's newsroom, the place has a minimum age level of 35. Of course it only caters to the oldies.
Having said that, the financial crunch which saw its pages being reduced and growing competition from other local dailies (with a very biased general opinion on their quality IMO) Dawn continues to lose ground. If Zafar Abbas can bring about a refreshing change and lose its Old Lady stature, it may regain its credence once more.
P.S. Hats off to Dawn for furnishing the best packages in the industry - that is till Express Tribune walked about!
I see a member of the Dawn staff here venting it out against magazine editor, Murtaza Rizvi. Rizvi is one of the reasons why in this age of dwindling newspaper sales, Dawn remains to be Pakistan's number one newspaper. And turning the magazine like it is now was the management's idea and not Abbas' or Murtaza's.
Abbass will be missed, but am expecting a lot from Zafar. He needs people like Rizvi who are straight forward and genuine journalists.
I can clearly see comments from individuals who are either friends or foes of people like Abbas Nasir and Murtaza Rizvi. The fact is that hindsight is always 20/20. Comparing Ahmed Ali Khan with Abbas Nasir is quite ridiculous. Under Ahmed Ali Khan Dawn survived extreme press censordhip eras like that of Ziaul Haq, and subsequent ones garbed under democracy. During Ahmed Ali Khan's time Dawn earned the distinction of being the only newspaper in Asia with complete editorial freedom and zero management interference. Can we say the same for the Dawn of today. Hence the detereoration in standard.
i totally disagree. In terms of freedom, there is absolutely no comparison at all between dawn under khan sahib and dawn now. lets face it, dawn before abbass and rizvi came in was totally dry, safe and boring. Abbass and Rizvi have turned it into one of the boldest and most exciting papers. And what's more, it still remains to be the most trusted as well.
Dawn, according to one sycophantic commentator above, is " one of the boldest and most exciting papers." Huh? Are we reading the same paper? The one I get delivered to my doorstep is dull, dull dull. And generally safe, smug and pro-government to boot.
And who is Razvi to be given such a generous share in this praise? For all I know, he is the magazines editor and a pretty bad one too given their atrocious quality
The praises of Abbas and Rizvi seem to be quite funny. One suspects that they may be writing them!
Anyway, if we see editorship of Abbas Nasir, these are the points that we need to note and these cannot be denied.
1. The departure of Ayaz Amir to The News - Pakistan's best columnist gone
2. Back page relegated to foreign news - stories bearing no news value being taken on these pages
3. The departure of people like M. Ziauddin who left because he was treated shoddily by Nasir
4. The shabby treatment to such great reporters like Sabihuddin Ghausi- who suffered a stroke after getting a letter that told him his services were no longer required
5. Side-lining many good editorial staff and reporters in favour of Nasir's favourites.
6. The departure of greats like Zubeida Mustafa, MA Majid
7. Departure of very promising people like Muna Khan - these people were supposed to take over from the old guard
8. Poor editorial judgement - like the inclusion of White Noise column on the front page of the Dawn Metro on a Sunday. That column should be in the magazine!! Shows biases again
7.
I think anonymous above is getting carried away by his dislike for Abbas Nasir. Yes, White Noise is really poorly placed in metropolitan and yes there are tales of sycophancy and poor decision-making at Dawn. And yes Dawn is still predictable and lacks punch.
But Ayaz Amir's departure was because he had been elected as an MNA and was no longer deemed neutral by the Dawn editorial team.
And let's face it, Zubeida Mustafa, MA Majid and even Ghausi and Ziauddin had very long innings at Dawn and needed to move on to make way for a younger lot. You yourself make a contradictory plea for retaining old staff and then lament the departure of younger talent. Surely you can't have it both ways?
You are missing the point. Ayaz Amir was not removed because he was elected MNA, after all in the past he was an elected rep but was retained. Second, old people have to go but not in the way they were removed by Mr Nasir and Co. It was not the decision but the reasons for it and the manner it was handed that causes me to say that this was indeed not a "golden period."
Sorry you are wrong. Ayaz Amir stopped writing, whether voluntarily or not, last time he was elected too.And this was during the reign of the great Khan sahib btw. Anyway, principles aside, Dawn's loss and The News' gain for sure.
As for forced departures, I am not aware of the manner in which Ghausi and Ziauddin were shunted out. I can believe that the end might not have been graceful given the shoddy handling of the Dawn News redundancies by Abbas Nasir and co. But at least Zubeida Mustafa and MA Majid were honourably retired. And about time too given that both had been there for over four to five decades each, for God's sake!
It's a fact that Dawn's Sunday magazine is today the shittiest weekly ever produced in the history of Pakistani journalism. But, to all those who are against Mr Murtaza Razvi's 'unique' abilities, eat your hearts out coz he's been promoted and he'll be the next Resident Editor, Islamabad, after his untiring lobbying efforts...a new dawn, indeed!
Oh no!!!! That man is the nastiest piece of work to his subordinates and servility and sycophancy personified to his bosses. Knew Razvi would go far. But after his disastrous stint in Lahore and the magazines, I thought someone at Dawn would see the light. But seeing through sycophancy is not Abbas Nasir's strongest point unfortunately. Surely news of his promotion is just a bad dream?!! Must verify independently before I believe what is written here anonymously and freak out completely
I have heard Khaliq Kayani is being tipped for Islamabad editor and Omar Quraishi from that failed venture, Express Tribune, is in the loop for position of editorial pages editor. Murtaza stays where he is
Actually, Omar Quraishi is in the loop for the position of the Magazines Editor. Which probably means that Razvi is sure to go. Achi hi hai -- good riddance to bad rubbish (even if it only goes as far as Islamabad).
On a side note, word is Kamal Siddiqi at the Express Tribune has gone completely mental (as revealed in an earlier post by Cafe Pyala) and Omar Quraishi can't wait to get out of there.
How can Kamal Siddiqi be going "completely mental"? He handpicked his staff, trained them as well as he could arrange, designed how the organization is going to function, everything. Is it really going so badly that he's become "mental" before the paper has even launched?
Omar Quraishi will be wasted as magazines editor. I think he is close to Kamal, and thats why he left The News. But if your reports are true, he'll be wasted as Magazines Editor. He was very daring during his time in The News, and gave that paper its fiery approach. Surely Dawn need Omar for its editorial pages AND someone more competent than Murtaza. Nadir Hasan or Farah Zia are better suited for the magazines job.
God, from Abbases to Murtaza to ORQ to Nadir Hasan and now Farah... is there any name left?
Errr Kamal Siddiqui was never normal to begin with ... He was a mediocre fellow with God complex, what do you expect when mediocrity meets superiority complex ... kaboom.... straight jacket and padded room beckons Kamal Siddiqui ... much sooner than later
Fasiha: Hahaha. I love your take on Kamal Siddiqi. What about Omar Quraishi though? He's also a bit of a basket case.
And someone up there said Muna Khan is 'talented'. Is it just me or do we tend to celebrate mediocrity in Pakistan?
The anon above:
Omar Quraishi might be a basket case, but he is a talented basket case. The man knows his shit; Kamal on the other hand is DULL. In fact he is so dull, he invokes dullness in others.
The person who said Muna Khan is talented would not what talent is even if it hits him/her on the face? Don’t you guys remember her attempts at trying to become Pakistani version of that Sex and the City columnist and her man-crazy-I-want-to-marry-next-rich-guy-with-a-tight-ass “Single Woman Over thirty” column.
Basket case is right indeed. ORQ was often ridiculed at Dawn for not putting his 'foreign' degree to good use. I don't think they will make the mistake of hiring him again.
@Fasiha: Have you ever worked with Kamal Siddiqi?
We are moving away from the issue -- Murtaza Razvi (God knows why he spells his name in that asinine fashion!), his reducing the magazines to mere drivel and his sneaky, back-stabbing tricks that have enraged many a friend (and foe)
This is so entertaining, I am laughing like a mental person. Having worked with most people mentioned here, I know most things said are true.
PS: Someone is eager to go back to bitching about Murtaza Razvi ... hilarious
Actually, forget ORQ, Rizvi and all of them...how about making miniba kamal as magazines editor of dawn? can u imagine what wil hapen then? images on sundy wil be a magazine just placatng her fav designrs and buddies tht she so opnly promotes in instep. yes miniba kamal for magaznes eidtor
Lol,
Looks like someone is trying to offload Muniba Kamal from The News ...
Anon above:
First off, please check your spelling. It's Muniba Kamal and not 'Miniba' Kamal. Secondly, Images on Sunday already has a Muniba Kamal of its own. No prizes for guessing who it is...
Who is Dawn's Muniba Kamal? Come on anon, don't leave us in suspense here.
Nazia, I'll give you a hint: her name starts with 'M' and her byline is all over the place
Oooooh, how could I not see this. Madeeha Syed, of course. Someone needs to pass her the hemlock and tell her she can't write to save her life and that sucking up to celebrities will only take you so far.
Oh my, this is hilarious. But seriously, why is Kamal going mental? How exactly?
To talk about the original staroy that has sparked off the meaty debate,
i remember i was interning at the Dawn Sunday Magazine when i first encountered Abbas Nasir. I did not know who he was at the time and bluntly gave an opinion about content when asked. He was quite receptive at the time and came off to be a good person who kept in the know up to down of what was going on in his paper.
For all his misgivings, Nasir will be missed at Dawn and by the Dawn subscribing fraternity!
Best wishes for his next venture.
Glad you gave the editor input as an intern on the quality of the magazine. He obviously didn't take your opinion terribly seriously, as the quality of the magazine continued to plummet!
Btw my take is that Nasir was not the least bit interested in 'lesser' sections of the paper such as magazines, sports or even metropolitan and focused all his energies on what he saw as the main pages and on Dawn News -- with decidedly mixed results
@ Fasiha: I have worked with Kamal and I don't think he is dull.He could at least make the "laziest" of reporters file good stories too. Besides, City News was not a waste of paper and money when he was heading reporters.
@ Anon above:
my suggestion on the Magazine was regarding certain sections only, not on the whole. He was receptive, because in the very next issue my suggestion was taken up. And he turned to me after spending half an hour with the then Magazine editor Humair Istiaq, and an additional half hour with Humair's assistant (her name escapes me)!
However, my meeting was brief and before dawn news walked out on to the stage. So i may not be the best person to comment at his stint as the Dawn editor. Regardless, since its a thread on the end of his term, his memories (good or bad) should be shared, IMHO talking about Kamal Siddiqi or Omar Qureishi, is kind of pointless here!
@ Anonymous at 9:44 -- Hi, Kamal!
Omar Qureshi and Kamal Siddiqui are known to be mediocrities and are the laughing stock of journalists for taking themselves so seriously without having any journalistic achievements beyond kissing ass to advance themselves.
Muna Khan and Nadir Hasan are far more talented but they are both very temperamental. Muna was known for his legendary tantrums at Dawn. Nadir gets fired, rehired, quits, rejoins jobs and is considered a general nuisance. But they are both very good at what they do. The Review under Muna was as good as its ever been and Nadir has made Newsline a quality publication after years of decay.
If Dawn wants sycophancy they will bring back Omar and promote Murtaza. That seems to be the route they are going.
If Kamal Siddiqi and ORQ are 'mediocres',pray tell me what u r because from where I see it,they are the ones in important positions working on a new project people thought them worthy of while u are just trashing everybody's achievements. I would like to see how u write and how 'good' u r!and I mean not in ur own opinion.
@ anyn above : Well said!!
Oooooh I see people talking about themselves in the third person while pretending to be, well, not themselves. The question is: do they know that they're doing this? Wait, is that a cuckoo I hear in the background? :-P
oh please!Bolshevik. I am neither of the two and at least I don't have a wanna be name. That would be too obvious!
If KS and ORQ did that, I would be disappointed
Struck a nerve, have I? :-D
PS: I wasn't talking about Omar at all. :-P
@Anonymous at 10.16: ????????
Are all journalists such dogs to each other? I was thinking of becoming one but now think I'd rather not.
A friend's brother told me to follow this blog so I could keep up to date with the developments in media. I must say, you guys aren't that nice. I don't want to turn into your clones a decade from now.
The ass kissing anon:
Bhai this is Pakistan. When was the last time an able and suitable person got elected or selected for the right job? This is the country where Zardari gets elected with heavy mandate and unopposed in some province and Kamal Siddiqui gets to run a newspaper despite being very very average.
Samajh lain ke Kamal Siddiqui journalism ke Zardari hain ....
For Anon above Sadaat:
wishy-washy (adj): lacking in decisiveness; without strength or character; irresolute; lacking in strength of character or purpose; ineffective.
[Ref: www.dictionary.com]
@ anonymous: why do u think kamal siddiqi is not an "able" and "suitable" person to run et?
p.s. its not Siddiqui its siddiqi
ACHA TO "AAP JAISAY" SAB "ABLE" LOG BAHAR BAITHAY HAIN? TSK TSK.
HOW UNFAIR! :(
ARE YOU SERIOUSLY COMPARING ZARDARI AND KS? KOI SHARAM KARO TUM LOG.
@ Anon @ 12:27 AM.
Don't worry Anon. At the rate they've been saying kamal Siddiqui to people who so as much as disagree with them, there are already 10 KSs FOR REAL. Pointing their fingers towards you won't make much of a difference.
Let them have their fun, sorry, bitter a**es that they are
Kamal is quite capable. A lot of young, bright journalists, including some from Dawn, are planning to move to his paper because they think he would be an able boss.
If Kamal is Zardari, Murtaza is perhaps no less than Nawaz Sharif. 8-)
Young and bright journalists, able bosses
Yaar where do you work, this does not look like Pakistani journalism scene
I think if people like KS, why should you be so bitter about it Fasiha? I mean, seriously :)
Personal attacks aside, the quality of ET will define how good Kamal really is... not anything else. His personality, and that of his teams, will be reflected in what they print.
I wish him the best, but he really doesn't have the team to make him look good. He doesn't have good reporters, his desk is inexperienced, and no one experienced wants to work with him, or his City Editor, because of personal reasons. No wonder he had to get some corporate types trained.
If the Lakhanis decide to say enough is enough, and tell Kamal Siddiqi and his staff to stop coming to work...just like they did to Buisness Today, that will be his biggest failure. Dont rule out ET right now, wait for it to come out to make a judgement. They might just make something out of it.
Here I was waiting to bitch out Abbas (me, my, myself) Nasir and Murtaza (brown nose) Rizvi but suddenly this post was hijacked by lovers and haters of Kamal Siddiqui, who has nothing to do with the topic in hand. Doesn't anyone have manners any more? Can't these hate-mongers and sycophants learn to wait in queue before they start bitching?
ET may have the same fate as BT but Dawn is not known for its ethics either. Downsizing in Dawn News and now the rest of the organization is only going to encourage people to ditch it for other organizations. In any case, they need to shut that parasitic channel Dawn News which is eating the whole Group up.
Ow My God!
This is so funny. I'm sitting in Dawn and reading this first thing in the morning. All of you who observe things from the outside don't have a clue as to what really goes on here. It doesn't matter who comes and goes, how good Nasir and Razvi are, or how bad. We're all missing the point here. Pakistan's biggest English Newspaper is dying a slow death and none of this is going to help. If this reaches Zafar, or Mr Haroon, or any of the Saigols... do something now or all will be lost. No matter how big your ego, DawnNews has to die for Dawn to survive.
P.S. The front page heading in Images on Sunday last week was painful. Wake up EDITORS.
awww
I came for the bitch fest because I enjoyed it so much yesterday but looks like people are growing up and actually talking about what is wrong with Dawn.
Come on Murtaza and Kamal Siddiqui's bitches, get on with it ... make us happy, keep us entertained.
They won't shut the parasite down. Dawn News will live at Dawn's expense. In the end, only Dawn News will be left, the paper and everything Dawn being gone, but eventually Dawn News too will FAIL, mainly for being an impractical venture to begin with
Hmmm interesting, to think we all thought that Dawn.com would be death of Dawn itself and this i say right after watching Tina Brown on HardTalk!
Media is moving fast and newspapers should have died 30 years ago, Tv should have died 10 years ago and film should have died 60 years ago.
The future is as interesting as what political practical joke Zardari is going to pull off next.
Now where is that bitching cup of coffee that wakes me up this morning ;)
BolsheSICK: who's ass did you have to kiss to be where you are today? I mean we all remember your falling out with mahim maher at daily times. I guess you know now that ass-kissing always pays. So point that finger right back at yourself, will you?
Ive worked with all the people mentioned in the comments and you guys have it all wrong. Kamal, QRQ and Murtaza are very professional and have a record of achievement. If they are difficult to get along with, its not because of their personalities but because they demand excellence. Muna, Nadir and Farah talk a good game but have no accomplishments to their name.
Anonymous baeta:
Mahim is responsible for teaching me around 97% of what I know about editing and reporting, and for that, I'll always respect her. Any "falling out," etc that we may have had, happened more than 2 years ago; I've gotten over it and moved on.
Secondly, anyone who knows me -- especially someone who claims to know me as closely as you do -- also knows that I'm super-blunt and speak my mind regardless of consequences.
Aglee dafa chaweleiN maarni ho tou behter points le ker aana. Iss dafa kaafi thandi maari hai aap ney. :-P
Much love.
Urooj: MATLAB KHUD Hi TAREEF APNI. U REALY NEED SOME HELP. U shd go to kamal sb n learn smthing frm him.
Saba: Aap haiN na seekhney k liyay. Besta luck. :-D
First of all, it NOT QRQ, it ORQ. ORQ will mind. People are being spelling Nazis over Siddiqui's and Razvi's spellings, I thought I should mention that. Apparently ORQ does not have any bitches like Razvi and Siddiqui and I kinda felt bad for him.
Can Mahim teach anyone anything except for cussing and using profane language in office?
What a circus this is. grow up everyone.
BolshePRICK... dun think i need 2 say anythin after tht.
@Anonymous 6:56pm...Hi, Murtaza!
@ everyone who thinks Kamal Siddiqi is anon defending himself: I know Kamal since long and I can tell for sure that he is decent enough to resort to such cheap tactics. He is a thorough professional who has achieved success because of his committment to work and a person like him therefore doesnt need to defend himself under cover
Clearly you don't know the man, he's a hypocrite of the highest degree.
may be he is but it is his professional skills, achievements that we are talking abt right now ... who cares if he is a king of hypocrites in his personal life?
@ Bolshevik's "Mahim is responsible for teaching me around 97% of what I know about editing and reporting, and for that, I'll always respect her." I wish mahim had taught u sum work ethics 2 :P:P
Thank you Anon @ 8.42PM. Couldn't agree with you more.
Peace out
Sheesh! I'm away for a couple of days and look what happens! How CPM's post about Dawn degenerated into this bloodfest about unconnected journalists I just don't know. But much as I enjoy a good bitching every now and then, there's no fun in seeing very personal likes and dislikes flaunted anonymously (especially ones without an iota of wit or professional insight) here.
Chill out people. And stick to the topic. I don't wish to moderate comments but please do refrain from personal and vindictive attacks. It would also help if people did not provoke others by (in some cases) over-defending themselves anonymously. :)
XYZ, you know I thought along the same lines initially (when this post was put up and the comments started pouring in), but I quickly changed my mind. Yes, I know journalists, like any other group of professionals, should stick together and not lash out at one another on a public forum like this, but the thing is that most of the peole mentioned in the comments, connected and otherwise, probably stepped on quite a few toes to get where they are today. I know such tricks are common in other professions too but sometimes I feel that journalism is all the more cut-throat given the power the profession wields. I am all for using better language and being civil in arguments but I think it is about time the likes of Abbas Nasir, Murtaza, KS, ORQ etc know how their fellow journalists, especially those who are relatively knew and have worked under them at one point or the other, feel about them. That what they mistake for 'respect' and 'affection' towards them is just the fear that their careers will be ruined if they dare to speak out against these so-called 'bigwigs'.
What's worse is that some of the people mentioned in this discussion are mediocre as someone else pointed out. Yet they are no less than pissy PMSing demi-gods. While I know that these words will not make an iota of difference on them and they will continue to be the nasty, sychopant bosses that they are, at least here on an online forum, they are as equal (may be even less) than us children of a lesser god :)
lol. i love this.
Ha Ha..I love this too
In the interest of journalistic balance I think it is important to make a few points:
1) KS is not mediocre, if he were he would not be the editor of a paper today
2) Perhaps ORQ stepped on a few toes - who hasn't?
3) Mahim's language may not be above reproach. So?
4)Muna Khan and Nadir Hassan are temperamental - again SO?
Journalism is a serious business. Lets try to keep things in perspective.
Yea, who the fuck is Nadir Hassan?
Anyways, I think Mhamood Rashidullah Ghani too is pretty good.
Yea, who the fuck is Nadir Hassan?
Anyways, I think Mhamood Rashidullah Ghani too is pretty good.
for the record i am reading this post for the first time -- am away in thailand with family -- lost my eticket and came to the hotel's business centre to get a printout -- and my friend salman masood of NYT told me to read it -- and i was like WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OOoohhh, looka me Im ORQ sittin me ass in Thailand n sum bigshot journo tells me chk dis post 4 da 1st tyme. cum up wid better lies, wil u?
oh god, i love this orqksrazvinasir hater. you're zee best!
One anal editor loses his ticket. The other anal editor loses his marbles. Both work for the same anal organisation. Can't wait to see what sort of strange beast they give birth to
^Umm you do know you can't conceive from anal sex.
yawn -- now this board would get exciting and fun if people didnt hide behind 'anonymous' or other such moronic pseudonyms
Omar R QurAishi, Hows the Expreess Tribune coming alonG? I hear things are not lookin gud 4 u. KS and Mahim Maher have ganged up against u. Hahahha. Beta, bakray ki maaa kab tak khair manaaye gi? Time 2 go crawlin bak 2 Dawn n News
anonymous beta chhup kar kiyun baat kar rahay ho -- samnay aao -- phir baat karein gay
Wow. This is the most fascinating train wreck of a comments section I have ever seen. And I just got done reading through the "Saima Mohsin parties with Black Water" nonsense over at some other blog, so that's saying something.
I've worked under Abbas Nasir, Murtaza Razvi and Zaffar Abbas. I've also worked at Dawn News until a few months back (I actually produced the launch bulletin of that channel along with their first breaking news).
Personally, I found Abbas, Murtaza and Zaffar all great great people to work for. Each has his own style. I think Abbas did some bold experiments with the paper, some worked some didn't. I also agree that the Magazine/Images/Sunday creature is absolutely disastrous, more so because of the quality of writing and editing. But every media organization makes mistakes and they all are trying to save themselves in this rapidly changing media landscape. Globally newspapers are suffering and it's a tragedy that Dawn is going through the same.
The TV Channel should at this point be shut down. It was an experiment that failed for a variety or reasons and it is just hurting the venerable paper now. The paper needs to be given room to weather the financial storm by sticking to its values, not spastically flailing about doing short term fixes. That mismanagement killed Dawn News and it will do the same to the paper.
There. My unsolicited two cents. Thanks for the fascinating reading folks!
well put sami
I have been looking and reading other articles about A New Dawn, Again, and yours is the one with the most interesting, accurate and useful information.
Thanks for sharing and have a nice day.
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