Re: Pak media supporting Secular killers
I don’t know if I quite agree with your statements, and here is why.
First of all, media in Pakistan (like elsewhere) is not a homogenous group. They all have different agendas and have different influences. While reporting the same thing ARY and PTV will have a different spin than Geo or AAJ television. This is just the way media operates and this disunity (if we can call it that) is a source of strength for any free society.
Coming back to the role of media, for Pakistanis in the US we have access to several Pak television channels ARY, Geo and PTV (I don’t subscribe to PTV). From some news report and talking to friends, it seems there is a channel in Pakistan called AAJ television (same one that was attacked by MQM in Khi on May 12th), which is supposedly extremely anti-government. These days all they are doing is praising the militants (in the name of Islam etc). I am not sure if AAJ is quietly sponsored by Nawa-e-Waqt or Nawaz Sharif etc. Point is that there are channels that are extremely pro-Mullahs (or whatever you want to call it). *.
Of the more mainstream channels, Geo and ARY have all kinds of talk shows and news reporters. Some, like Dr Shahid Masood (on Geo) are extremely opinionated and generally extremely anti-government. Some others like Capital Talk (Hamid Mir) and Kamran Khan puportedly are more balanced as they invite people with differing views and make them answer each other and often times tough questions. Hamid Mir, in particular comes across as very decent and sincere and usually tries to portray a journalistic approach to events highlighted by tough questions and a general cynicism to dicey answers given by participants. However, the true feelings of these anchors are displayed when they write their newspaper articles. Here is what Hamir Mir wrote in Jang today about Maulana Ghazi.
The article is in Urdu, and its title is “Death of a Baaghi (mutineer)”. In summary its a eulogy of Ghazi and excuses for all his misdeeds. I find so many holes in his commentary that I can literally drive a tank through them, but the point is again role of media. I don’t think they are supporting government (or “secular killers”, as you ecall them) en masse. There will be elements in the media who support one or the other party. To say that “media is supporting secular killers” is probably very simplistic, generally untrue and missing the point.*