Fresh tensions between Pakistan and India started after the 18 September attack on an Indian Army brigade headquarters in Uri, near the Line of Control (LoC).
The attack was followed by Indian claims of surgical strikes along (not across) LoC and raised the spectre of escalation of conflict into a potential war between the two nuclear states. (Although in a PTV News live show, I didn’t foresee prospects of war.)
It was at the same time that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had left Pakistan to address the UN General Assembly (UNGA 2016) session in New York on 21 September.
(Based on watching the UNGA 2015, in this Facebook Live video, I wanted PM Sharif to make the economy our top priority is his activities on the sidelines instead of routine handshakes, which Uri attack did not allow him.)
Considering very little authentic information was and is available on our TV channels on all issues Pakistan (See ProjectIgnorance), but particularly so when it comes to India, labelled as our archrival, we decided to run a random survey on social media on who can provide us authentic and factual coverage.
Health warning: This is NOT a scientific survey.
The survey question was: On Pakistani TV, who do you turn to for factual coverage/ insightful analysis on current Pakistan-India tension?
In order to get the names of TV news anchors/ show hosts to be included in the survey, we first asked an open-ended question on Twitter and Facebook: who do you watch on TV for news coverage of Pakistan-India issues.
All those names that came up with multiple responses were included in the survey.
The pre-survey question gave us 21 names of TV news anchors.
One caveat: all names we received were male news anchors and hosts.
The online survey was done using Google Docs, now closed.
It was an open survey, without any filter or email authentication requirement. People were requested (and expected) to vote only once.
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The survey remained open between 1 and 6 October. It received a total of 2,033 votes.
Who are top 10 Pakistani TV news anchors?
Here are the results of ‘Who is your favourite news & current affairs guide on Pakistan TV?’ Names of their TV shows and channel are also provided.
1 Nusrat Javeed | Bol Bol Pakistan | Dawn News | co-host: Gulmeenay Sethi
2 Zara Hut Kay: Zarrar Khuhro, Mubashir Zaidi, Wusatullah Khan | Dawn News
3 Najam Sethi | Aapas Ki Baat | Geo News | co-host: Muneeb Farooq
4 Ejaz Haider | Belaag | Capital TV
5 Syed Talat Hussain | Naya Pakistan | Geo News
6 Dr Shahid Masood | ARY News
7 Rauf Klasra | Muqabil | 92 News | co-hosts: Amir Mateen & Sarwat Valim
8 Dr Moeed Pirzada | Tonight with Dr Moeed Pirzada | Dunya News
9 Shahzeb Khanzada | Aaj Shahzeb Ky Saath | Geo News
10 Hamid Mir | Capital Talk | Geo News
You can see each news anchor’s number of votes and percentage of votes in graphics, top and bottom.
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Results of different days showed different rankings.
For example, in Day 1 results tweeted on 2 October, Syed Talat Hussain ranked Number 1.
As soon as it was tweeted and got dozens of RTs, some anchors used their Twitter ‘muscle’ by encouraging their followers to vote. The followers did come in ‘massive’ numbers.
On Day 2, the top ranking went to Team Zara Hut Kay. Tweeted on 3 October.
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The Day 3 result brought Nusrat Javeed to the top position. This trend remained consistent until the end of polling on beginning of 7 October.
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Here’s the final result of ‘Who is your favourite news & current affairs guide on Pakistan TV?’:
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Wali Zahid is a futurist, disruptor, blogger, social media strategist, reformer, LinkedIn writer and author of iBook, Great Training in 10 Steps.
He runs a #Pakistan2050 hashtag on Twitter and appears on national TV on issues of significance to Pakistan. His claim to fame is this recent piece: Wali on The Pakistan 2050 Opportunity
On walizahid.com, he’s writing a series called How We Messed Up Pakistan.
As CEO of SkillCity, he coaches several Fortune-500 CEOs on leadership.
He’s founder of a global movement for humanizing medical education and practice.
He can be reached on Twitter @walizahid