tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post8726449225716748511..comments2023-10-28T17:24:41.752+05:00Comments on Cafe Pyala: The 'Out of Business' BusinessXYZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17120968316026139059noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-771897663657510472010-03-04T16:03:45.873+05:002010-03-04T16:03:45.873+05:00anon -- how in the world could i possibly know whe...anon -- how in the world could i possibly know whether u were a journalist or not -- but u sure as hell sounded like management and hence my questionOmar R Quraishihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17571023775558659727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-32319308320351658232010-03-04T12:17:20.472+05:002010-03-04T12:17:20.472+05:00@Omar:
anon above - r u an owner/management persi...@Omar: <br />anon above - r u an owner/management persion yourself <br /><br />No. But I've worked as an auditor for media organizations. Does that answer your question? Or were you just trying to point out that my opinion is possibly coloured because I'm not a journalist?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-7702168864730545272010-03-04T09:50:03.357+05:002010-03-04T09:50:03.357+05:00oh well -- mahir ali has been writing for dawn for...oh well -- mahir ali has been writing for dawn for more than the three years according to which dawn veered red<br />the rest of what i said pretty much stands as wellOmar R Quraishihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17571023775558659727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-32840333756829913562010-03-04T09:04:16.080+05:002010-03-04T09:04:16.080+05:00Here is the offending article. There's an arch...<a href="http://www.tvexplore.com/2009/03/pandora-box-of-television-in-pakistan/" rel="nofollow">Here</a> is the offending article. There's an archive full of these conspiratorially (Jamaat lite?) toned pieces.WyseGuynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-38969965803037171262010-03-04T08:52:41.605+05:002010-03-04T08:52:41.605+05:00u obviously have not been around for that long
de...<i>u obviously have not been around for that long</i><br /><br />define long?<br /><br /><i>asinine</i><br /><br />Oh come on, asinine on a blogspot page? Thats the definiton of an comment on the internet. Myabe I was being facetious, its the internet, who cares?<br /><br /><i>mazhar ali khan, i a rehman or ahmed ali khan</i><br /><br />Never "heard" of them, because aside from IA Rehman, I've never "Read" their name in Dawn. IA Rehman is a head in a major Pak Human Rights organisation? I also vaguely recall him writing favourably about the MQM. I also don't know about Mazhar Ali Khan, cause I do not recall "Reading" his name. I do read Mahir Ali and I remember many times he lapses into retro Marxist analysis.<br /><br />The reason I'm on this site - I might mention - is because I like the Pak media, and am interested in how its machine keeps working.<br /><br />And while we're at it debunking myths, heres another one for you guys to look at from a Pak Channel Streaming website. The statement is facetious but certainly fodder for cnspiracy theories (murmurs of the US Gov funding Geo TV)<br /><br /><i>However the question is as to how can dozens of TV channels run profitably in a country, where the total volume of the advertising industry is not more that six to seven billion rupees?</i><br /><br />So yeah. Is the channel bubble currently bursting in Pakistani media or is there some MNC directed foreign financial activity at hand thats been busted by the web admin of a streaming site with too much time on his hands? LOL.Wyseguynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-91489148438919482432010-03-04T08:52:01.520+05:002010-03-04T08:52:01.520+05:00The standard news articles at Dawn always remain f...<i>The standard news articles at Dawn always remain fairly non-biased.</i><br /><br />Thnx for defining the metrics Hamza. Maybe I should redefine my question to ask if the Op Ed section of the Dawn newspaper has become more left wing.Wyseguynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-17942067605557347572010-03-04T05:04:43.368+05:002010-03-04T05:04:43.368+05:00wyseguy: Nadeem Paracha and Kamran Shafi are both ...wyseguy: Nadeem Paracha and Kamran Shafi are both opinion writers, so their columns on Dawn's opinion pages don't suggest that Dawn has become a more 'leftwing' newspaper. As far as I can tell, the standard news articles at Dawn always remain fairly non-biased.<br /><br />A standard news/reporting article at 'The News', on the other hand, and I'm pointing at Ansar Abbasi, Saleh Zaafir, etc, are so loaded with the author's right wing bias, that I struggle to understand they are published in the news/reporting section.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05766627366952786032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-42915611929050012112010-03-04T00:48:25.406+05:002010-03-04T00:48:25.406+05:00anon above - r u an owner/management persion yours...anon above - r u an owner/management persion yourself <br /><br />wyseguy - u obviously have not been around for that long or you wouldnt have made your asinine comment above -- i doubt it if you ever heard of mazhar ali khan, i a rehman or ahmed ali khan<br /><br />and btw having an article on 'pakistan's new left' doesnt necessarily make the paper leftwingOmar R Quraishihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17571023775558659727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-61391063615370549792010-03-04T00:28:33.163+05:002010-03-04T00:28:33.163+05:00I'll elaborate.
If the news on this site has ...I'll elaborate.<br /><br />If the news on this site has been accurate on how Dawn has been losing money, would the website like to address that as Dawn has been losing money in the last three years, it's editorial content has become more decidedly left wing. Not just the obvious inclusion of Nadeem Paracha, but amongst the general tone of the editorial contributions (and definitely the Dawn Blog contributions), having Benazir's ex-press secretary Kamran Shafi as the Tuesday editorial special, as well as a host of observable political positions the paper has taken on present day issues.<br /><br />Just as an example today, here is an article from today's online edition written in a style reminiscent of old Desi Surkha tracts:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/editorial/pakistans-new-left-330" rel="nofollow">Pakistan's New Left</a><br /><br />So yeah, it comes back to the question, is Dawn hiring left wingers cause it's cheaper?<br /><br />Or inversely, is Dawn losing money because it's voice is trending very far to the left for Pakistan?<br /><br />Or (just to increase choice) are left wingers so cheap to hire, that Dawn chose this path to save money (penny pinching?) but it resulted in the deterioration of their paper?wyseguy - tlwhttp://theselongwars.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-76443716574823637812010-03-04T00:27:03.607+05:002010-03-04T00:27:03.607+05:00I was wondering if the Cafe Pyala community would ...I was wondering if the Cafe Pyala community would like to address a trend that I've seen in Dawn.<br /><br />Has the loss of money over the last three years led to Dawn hiring more left wingers who would work more cheaply as long as their voice got out?<br /><br />Just wondering.Wyseguynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-3080448522685469732010-03-03T20:47:23.809+05:002010-03-03T20:47:23.809+05:00Cafe Pyala, I really like the way you write and lo...Cafe Pyala, I really like the way you write and love reading your blog.<br /><br />I see the closure of these media publications from a different light. I think its unfortunate as you have pointed out for journalists, editors and support staff. I do think you conveniently forget to consider the views of business owners themselves (yes I'm sorry at the end of the day, I do think these so called experiments need to make money. Like one of the bloggers pointed out the Chicago tribune went bust, the New York Times is in trouble [with the demon Murdoch out to swallow the publication] and the BBC would be but a fart in a hurricane were it not supported by the UK Government). <br /><br />I think people on this forum in their potshots at the business owners forget to acknowledge that the Lakhanis, the Taseers, the Saigols and Rehmans have had the courage to invest in such ventures, and I, a Pakistani, do believe we need to give them some credit in helping develop for the better the media industry in Pakistan. Quite apart from the fact that some of these ventures were doomed from the very start (I am sure there is tremendous mismanagement in these organizations), I believe this one-sided stance of sympathizing with the journalist while demonising the entrepreneur is unfair and getting quite monotonous.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-67049421400930476582010-03-03T13:17:36.552+05:002010-03-03T13:17:36.552+05:00Business Recorder -- less than 500 copies -- seems...Business Recorder -- less than 500 copies -- seems a bit too lowOmar R Quraishihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17571023775558659727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-38204294593608566132010-03-03T13:09:10.748+05:002010-03-03T13:09:10.748+05:00A newspaper shutting down is not an unexpected occ...A newspaper shutting down is not an unexpected occurrence in the current economic environment; austerity measures taken by corporates result in shrinking ad revenues which can severely dent the profitability of such ventures.<br /><br />Also, 500 copies is not an exceptionally low figure. I could be wrong but the circulation of Business Recorder is less than that amount. Revenues from retail sales typically don't cover more than the distribution cost of the newspaper.Juvariahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01953117506211416763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-73317173047242982672010-03-02T22:19:02.449+05:002010-03-02T22:19:02.449+05:00umair -- yes i know in the US it seems all downhil...umair -- yes i know in the US it seems all downhill but as you say yourself in pakistan it's a bit different -- as for how old you sound or dont sound well the thought never crossed my mindOmar R Quraishihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17571023775558659727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-27031472735904340762010-03-02T19:52:10.767+05:002010-03-02T19:52:10.767+05:00@Omar...I was referring to the world wide trend.. ...@Omar...I was referring to the world wide trend.. for example when an American institution like the Chicago Tribune was forced to declare bankruptcy and sell their building and when you have newspapers in the UK shifting over their focus to website editions as opposed to the actual paper versions. <br /><br />I know its not going to happen anytime soon especially not in a country like Pakistan where the market for the English press can only grow larger. But i just find the trend of watching the news as opposed to reading it a little.....err.....crass?....(and i sound at least twice my age..i know)Umair Javedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10064852000088504669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-79668814799761588412010-03-02T19:28:00.961+05:002010-03-02T19:28:00.961+05:00quite a shocker this shut down has been!quite a shocker this shut down has been!Americanising Desihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04089753612782157378noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-51315569964700167602010-03-02T12:47:42.825+05:002010-03-02T12:47:42.825+05:00hmmm - umair i wonder from where do you get that p...hmmm - umair i wonder from where do you get that print journalism is dying - a paper like business day was hardly read by anybody -- dawn (maybe out but certainly still around), the news, nation and daily times are still around and i think they will all be around for a whileOmar R Quraishihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17571023775558659727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-20668696365303089722010-03-02T02:09:00.899+05:002010-03-02T02:09:00.899+05:00@Ahsan and @Umair Javed: Oops! Sorry guys, I can c...@Ahsan and @Umair Javed: Oops! Sorry guys, I can completely see how you would read that as a "thinly veiled" / "snide" potshot at the Lakhanis. But I was actually not thinking of just them. I meant it in a larger sense of business owners from other disciplines (Salman Taseer, Tauqir Muhajir, Taher A. Khan, Haji Razzaq et al spring to mind too) getting on the news media bandwagon. Really.<br /><br />Of course, the problem is compounded because many of the traditional media owners have now spread their wings into other businesses, which is as much of a conflict of interest.CPMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08419619127466764527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-13984598234428987472010-03-01T22:57:54.529+05:002010-03-01T22:57:54.529+05:00That really sucks for the people who are now unemp...That really sucks for the people who are now unemployed, kind of makes you wonder how the smaller papers are now going to survive and if Pakistan isn't in the midst of a media 'bubble' particularly as most of the channels are new and are losing money hand over foot. <br /><br />I wonder if these are the last casualties, or are there more to come?Alpha Zahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09940520964761065276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-2427969519345354432010-03-01T22:56:35.613+05:002010-03-01T22:56:35.613+05:00The demise of print journalism is such a sad sad t...The demise of print journalism is such a sad sad thing....and please stop taking thinly veiled shots at the Lakhanis, they hired a lot of people from my undergraduate class....i see it as philanthropic employment...keeping the unemployment rate low etc etc hahaha....Umair Javedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10064852000088504669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110720279777344316.post-8428819870799907262010-03-01T21:51:48.532+05:002010-03-01T21:51:48.532+05:00"Two, corporate houses get into media for rea..."Two, corporate houses get into media for reasons usually other than a passion for journalism and those reasons can change overnight. So, if one is being lured into a spanking new media venture with promises of great lucre, one should go in at least with one's eyes open."<br /><br />Hahaha. I love these snide little potshots the Pyalaites take. Come on yaar, if you're going to shame, at least take a name.Ahsanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13662937883149553514noreply@blogger.com