Letter from Citizens for Free and responsible Media, Pakistan, emailed to top executives of Dunya TV News, Mr. Mian Amer Mahmood, Mr Naveed Kashif, and Mr Sami Abrahim, signed by prominent journalists, academics, and professionals in support of Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy
Screenshot from the show
Dear Dunya News,
We are writing to express our concern about the shameful incident at your TV channel on Oct 26, 2013, in which the anchor Kamran Shahid allowed his guest Prof. Pervez Hoodbhoy to be abused and shouted at by another guest, violating Dunya News’ own code of conduct for anchors that is supposed to be monitored by a three-member editorial Board.
Prof. Hoodbhoy is a man of great integrity, highly respected in Pakistan and abroad. Regardless of whether he ‘started it’ by terming Dunya TV anchor Kamran Shahid and his guests as liars, it is reprehensible that Mr. Shahid smilingly ‘allowed’ these guests to continually shout down and abuse Dr Hoodbhoy, clearly enjoying the situation. Any decent producer would have cut off their audio.
Both as a matter of principle and given the atmosphere in Pakistan, it is highly irresponsible and unethical to raise accusations of “Islam Dushmani”, “blasphemy”, etc. even if they are only implied. We support free speech, but like any right, it comes with a responsibility towards ethics and responsibility. Incitement and slander cannot be tolerated. Mainstream broadcast media has the widest audiences and thus their responsibility is also the biggest in this regard.
As Dr Hoodbhoy has subsequently explained, he had asked who the other guests would be but was not given an answer. Mr Shahid also did not inform Dr Hoodbhoy that this program was about the book “I Am Malala”. Towards the end, the audio was turned off from Dr Hoodbhoy’s headset, leading him to think that the program had ended and didn’t know that the camera was still on as he removed his headset and walked away. The anchor Kamran Shahid then misleadingly said that Dr Hoodbhoy had “left” the program. (see Dr Hoodbhoy’s letter below)
Mr Shahid has a history of encouraging such abusive exchanges. Here’s the link to the protest against his show on Express TV last year, that was (like this one) not only unbefitting to any respectable current affairs programme, but also fanned the flames of conflict in already-burning Balochistan.
It is disappointing to see that Dunya TV allows such behaviour. If this kind of treatment is meted out to the progressives in Pakistan, they will end up withdrawing, leaving space for zealots to further pollute the psyche of the entire society.
We hope you will take this matter seriously and launch an enquiry giving precedence to social responsibility over ratings and corporate interests.
Text of Dr. Hoodbhoy’s email letter sent to some friends:
“Because some facts are being widely misinterpreted, I would like to set the record straight.
“1. The anchor, Kamran Shahid, telephoned me repeatedly to invite me to his program. I was reluctant because of my demanding academic schedule but he insisted that it was very important to counter the wrong trends that we see in Pakistan and for people like me to raise their voices. I agreed to participate, not knowing that he had also invited the media extremists, Orya Maqbool Jan (OMJ) and Ansar Abbasi (AA). He had deliberately withheld those names from me, although I had asked who else would be on the show.
“2. Dunya TV sent a DSNG unit to my house in Islamabad. I could hear but not see the anchor or the other guests. During the shouting match that developed during the program – a consequence of OMJ and AA savagely attacking Malala Yusufzai and misrepresenting the contents of her book – I naturally thought that my voice was getting through to the audience. I was wrong.
“3. This program was about the book “I Am Malala” but I had not been thus informed. Else I would have had a copy in front of me to refute the inventions of AA and OMJ. Therefore I had to rely on my memory rather than have access to the exact text.
“4. The next morning, when the program had been loaded on to the internet, I was astonished to note that the audio level from my end had been turned down so low that my voice was inaudible. However AA was hurling abuses against me and these were coming through loud and clear. I also noted that AA and OMJ would occasionally appear full-screen whereas I was shown as a tiny image even when speaking. This was clear manipulation and bias at the technical level.
“5. After some time had passed, the audio was abruptly turned off from my headset. I naturally thought that the program had ended, perhaps prematurely. So I took off my headset and walked away. What else was there to do? But, on watching the televised program, I realized that they had kept the video camera on! The program was actually in the final stages and AA (full screen) had been given the full opportunity to vent his venom on me. The anchor said that I had left the program. This was a complete lie.
“To conclude: I DID NOT WALK OUT. Using google, I discovered that several blogs/newspapers have reported that I walked out in defeat. These are gutter tactics. Sadly, in pursuit of ratings, Dunya TV is pandering to the extremist right wing.”
Sincerely (alphabetically)
Abdul Hamid Bashani Khan, Barrister, Solicitor & Notary Public, Mississauga, Canada
Ali Kazim, Group Captain (Retired), Pakistan Air Force, Karachi, Pakistan
Prof. Akbar Noman, Senior Fellow, Columbia University, New York, USA
Amin Ansari, President of an IT company, Lahore, Pakistan
Amir Jafri, Professor, Islamabad/Pakistan
Anis Dani, Lead Evaluator, Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank Group, Washington DC, USA
Asif Alam, Global Head of Machine Readable News (company name witheld), New York, NY
Babar Ayaz, columnist and author, Karachi
Beena Sarwar, journalist, Pakistan
Farooq Sulehria, Co-editor Viewpoint Online, Pakistan
George Fulton, Broadcaster, U.K.
Ghazala Kazi, MD, Columbia, USA
Hasan Pervez, Wing Commander (Retired), PAF, Karachi
Huma Yusuf, journalist, Karachi
Hussein El-Edroos, Manager Business Development & Training, Islamabad
Prof. Ijaz Khan, teacher, Peshawar
Ijlal Babar, MD, Ocean Springs, MS
Imran Munir, teacher, Vancouver, Canada
Iqbal A. Alavi, Hon. Treasurer, National Council of Academics, and Hon. Treasurer, Gulshan Education Society, Karachi
Javed Qazi, advocate, Forum for Secular Pakistan, Karachi
Jehangir Masud, banker, France
Joseph Gerson (PhD), Convener, Working Group for Peace and Demilitarization in Asia and the Pacific, USA
Jugnu Mohsin, Publisher & Managing Editor, The Friday Times & GT, Lahore.
Khalid Masud, Management consultant, Houston, Texas, USA
Maheen Usmani, freelance writer, Paris
Maroof Syed, Senior Director at (company name witheld), Boston, MA
Muhammed G Ayub, M.D., New Jersey, USA
Muneer Memon, Chief Executive, Jeay FM network Sukkur, Larkana, Moro, Mirpurkhas
Dr Mustafa Kamil Kidwai, Technology and Management Consultant, London / UK
Nadeem F. Paracha, Senior Columnist at Dawn Newspaper and Dawn.Com
Nadir Cheema, SOAS, University of London
Naziha Syed Ali, journalist, Karachi
Noman Quadri, social activist, Karachi
Nuscie Jamil, Director Latitude PR, Lahore, Pakistan
Nausheen Ahmad, advocate, Karachi, Pakistan
Omar Ali, MD, Wisconsin, USA
Quratulain (Annie) Zaman, journalist, advisor at bytesforall, PakVotes and author/contributor Global Voices
Rafiullah Kakar, Master of Public Policy, Rhodes class 2013, Green Templeton college, Oxford
Sabahat Ashraf, Communicator, Founder & Strategist SA Relief, Principal iKolachi, California
Sadaf Mujeeb, Student, Karachi
Shaheryar Azhar, banker, Abu Dhabi/UAE
Shamim Malik, Management consultant, Ridgefield, CT, United States
Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, CEO Sharmeen Obaid Films, Karachi, Pakistan
Shams Z. Abbas, Ex Gen. Manager, Director, National Fertiliser Corp, Lahore
Sohail Khurshid, Software Developer, Toronto Canada
Syed M. Abbas, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, U.K.
Dr. Taimur Rahman, Assistant Professor Political Science, Lahore University of Management Sciences
Tariq Suleman, SOAS, University of London
Umair Javed, Department of Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science
Waqas Butt, freelance writer, UK
Umber Khairi, BBC World Service, London
Usman Rana, student, Lahore
Zahid Imran, MD, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Zakia Sarwar, professor and teacher trainer, Karachi
Note: If you have the stomach for it, watch the show here:
Pervaiz Hoodbhoy left the show after horrible… by dm_50c42dc2e3ee0