Dear Wajahat S. Khan: You did know about Bol, but you didn’t give a damn!
Editor note: An edited version of this article was published in The Nation and then removed. LUBP located the original source of this rebuttal and is cross posting it. LUBP awaits the day when Pakistan’s other media conglomerates such as Geo/Jang and Express are not only held accountable to the same standards being demanded of BOL/AXACT but are also taken to task for nepotism and Tax evasion with the alleged contrivance of some Sunpreme Court judges. LUBP awaits the day when Declan Walsh -an offspring of the Sherry-Sethi lobby- highlights how ISIS affiliated Deobandi terrorists and hate mongers like Ludhyanvi and Ashrafi are provided an unchallenged platform by the Hamid Mirs and Najam Sethis of Geo/Jang Group. We also hope that Mr Walsh will write a report on the AXACT awarded PhD degree of Geo TV’s Vice President Aamir Liaquat Hussain.
So, I recently came across this NAUSEATING article by Wajahat Khan, a “defence analyst” par excellence (or so he would have you believe, if you look at him strutting around on your screen with a self satisfied smirk on his face, the man is nothing if not in love with himself), in which he COMPLETELY shifts blame on others, under the guise of contrition and shame (which he never shows throughout this long drawn bullsh*t of an article). The article was published by blogger Raza Rumi’s Pak Tea House blog with a flattering note in support of Wajahat.
For reference, the dude, along with some of his “similarly minded” (read, completely for sale and totally up for grabs for anyone who could give them such a high pay raise) colleagues decided to join a yet to be launched television station called “Bol”, which was owned by Axact. I think it’s enough to say that Axact has always had a dubious reputation and its credibility was COMPLETELY demolished by an article in the New York Times by Declan Walsh. And, after the typical “it was a conspiracy against us by the other media houses” noise died down, followed by a still ongoing investigation that has already acquired quite a bit of incriminating evidence against the media house and the release of documents by Declan Walsh, the typical exodus of rats from the sinking ship has begun.
It was only a matter of time before one of these “journalists” (and I use that term VERY loosely) decided to come up with a sham apology cum explanation of just what made him/her join and how it wasn’t his/her fault. Surprise Surprise, it was that smug little , Wajahat, who decided to be THAT guy.. you know, that guy who hangs out with the “cool kids” cos they can afford good dope and he totally wants some of that? And who totally ignores the fact that they’re complete Idiots who bully others and bunk classes and are involved in arson? You know, THAT guy who complete turns into a crying snivelling mess the MINUTE the cool gang is caught stealing from a store, and starts telling the cops about how he has a shitty home life, and how he only looked up to these people, and only wanted to be seen as cool, and how it’s not his fault, because, again, his mom drinks and his dad is in jail, and the OTHERS made him do it? Yeah… HIM!
The whole guise behind printing that not-even-worth-being-toilet-paper-had-it-been-printed-on-paper article on Raza Rumi’s blog was just to be that person who points his finger at EVERYONE other than himself for whatever has hit the fan. Yes, he idolised those other “journalists” (again, I’m using it VERY loosely), you know, the ones who were younger than him, and this one other older dude, and yes, he completely was kicked out and left many other media houses before being rehired by one of them for 12 years, cos hey, what’s a brothel without its whores, eh? And yes, he COMPLETELY ignored all the warning signs and joined the network cos he was being paid a lot. And, OF COURSE, he was completely won over by the luxurious lifestyle promised to him. And, for sure, he forgot to actually be a journalist and research a bit about just how this small media house that hadn’t even begun its operations could afford to pay him and the host of other greedy “journalists” who’d joined. But NO, he (his own words) MAY HAVE POSSIBLY let his country and those who trusted him down, while others not only “let themselves down”, they also let HIM down. And oh, btw, he’s from a middle income broken home, who just happened to go to some good institutes.
How is his family history relevant you say? I don’t know, except maybe Mr. Khan wants to humanise himself, while completely dehumanising those who have “let him down”, from never naming his “idol”. which everyone knows is Kamran Khan, but who Wajahat Khan is too idiot to name, who let poor old vulnerable and completely naive Wajahat down, to listing the deviancies of his previous employees, he just draws this picture of complete and utter moral deviants who want nothing but money and power, while telling us about what a “struggle” it was for him. This coming from a guy who went to Harvard and University of Michigan (yeah, because you were that much of a middle class guy, right?), and who describes himself as “Known for his tough, investigative reporting, Khan has pioneered the study and use of social media in Pakistani broadcast, empowering his audiences” in his LinkedIn Profile,
No no, Wajahat is this poor little lamb, who just lost its way and MAY HAVE POSSIBLY done something wrong. He even tells you about how, during his 12 years career, he quit his work for “principle stands” as well! Please ignore the fact that he also says how sometimes it was for being offered more money, and a few times he was fired, and that when you add that up to 7 job changes, you’re left wondering just HOW MANY principle stands were there. Because hey, he wants to put it out there, lest you take him for a completely money hungry ethics be damned kinda “journalist”, you know.. the kind he showed himself to be when he joined Bol? Yeah, because facts are inconveniences to the narrative that Mr. Khan comes to you with.
After reading through the complete LACK of apology, but a lot of shamefaced hemming and hawing in the act of being a greedy little git, which is this article. I came to read the comments. While most of them took this guy to task for being the spineless a—— that he is, some of them went ahead with the “I’m so sympathetic to your plight, Dear Wajahat. Nobody knows what you’re going through. You’re definitely the bigger man for apologising and realising your mistake, because it takes a BIG man to do such soul searching” rhetoric, that made me SICK.
Aren’t you, Wajahat Khan, amongst that ilk of people in our midst who go about not only “reporting” on people but actually harassing them when they haven’t done their job “properly” (and that, too, only in your inexpert opinion)? Aren’t you self-proclaimed consciences of the society who go about making us see our own face in the proverbial mirror? Doesn’t it strike you, with your intelligence, pomposity and wit that you seem to think makes you god’s gift to mankind, as maybe SLIGHTLY ironic, that you were caught with your pants down, and you did EXACTLY what those you “reported on” were doing? i.e. pointed at everyone else’s bare ass and going all “but see, even those people are doing it, naaaaaaa, and they’re more powerful than me, so please look at them before you come to me”, whilst completely pretending that we couldn’t see YOUR face?
Your article is NOTHING like the apology you want to make it seem.. it is NOT the result of a “soul searching” irrespective of what you get your friends to write on your s–t-article (yeah, I hyphenated it, cos I feel this word needs to be coined just for that piece you wrote). You went to work at Bol because they paid you more, CONSIDERABLY more, and you didn’t give a damn where and how the money was coming to you, just as long as it came to you. If it hadn’t been for that pesky Declan Walsh and that “yahoodi saazish” of a New York Times, you’d still be working at that exact same place, and won’t’ve given any more of a shit than you did when you agreed to work for them. So please, spare us the fake contrition which is nothing more than a ploy to get back into the field and look for “greener pastures” wherever they may be, so that you can tell us again from your moral high horse about what abject sinners we all are, while you and your ilk are the paragons of virtue and all things pure and holy.
The greedy rat is jumping the ship and wants to be parised too!
The Article Nobody Will Publish – by Wajahat S Khan
May 26th, 2015 | 121 Comments
Editors Note:
Wajahat S. Khan sent me an email with this heartfelt piece on his recent experience with the ” the all-consuming, thankless revolving door that is Pakistani broadcast media”. He rightly complains about his seniors and colleagues in the industry. I am reproducing his email that was sent with the article:
“Hey, Champ: Wrote this three days ago. Soon after my resignation. “They” won’t publish it. They don’t want to. They say it’s good, but now won’t return my calls now. Can you read it? And run it on Pak Tea House? And help me get the word out?”
Many other media workers have been let down by the leading lights in the recent saga of BOL TV’s meltdown after the expose in New York Times. I support my friend Wajahat – at least he has the courage to admit his oversight, the candour to say it all. This too shall pass Waj. Raza Rumi
The Article Nobody Will Publish: “We should have known, but we didn’t want to”
By Wajahat S Khan
wajahat3
Image Source: web
I should have known. When Declan Walsh called me the Wednesday before the story broke, I should have known. When he questioned me and had the distinct privilege of making me feel awkward about my own institution, I should have known. When I called up one of my bosses and told him what the New York Times was working on, and heard a pause, and then a diffident “who cares, we will sue them”, I should’ve known.
I should have known when I saw the flash, the cars, the protocol officers, the waiters and the chauffers. I should’ve known when I heard the carefully crafted, contrived American accents and emphasis everywhere: in the recording in the elevator that told me I was joining a global elite, in the human resource officers who were designated to provide me with a restaurant-level chef, in the photographer who would conduct my “branding photo shoot”, in the gym-instructor who would chisel me into shape for the big screen.
Obviously, I misread the vulgar as the virtuous. I should have known better. When the hype of organizational self-belief became religious, then invective, then zealous, I should have known. But the confidence, pouring from the Axact gurus to the Bol executives to me to a thousand other colleagues, was contagious. This was an organization that had grown out of a back office in northern Karachi to cover a few blocks of DHA, I was told. This was an organization that represented the true potential of a modern, connected, online and tech-savvy Pakistan, I was told. This was an organization that I – a nobody kid from a middle-income broken home who was lucky and loud enough to attend a couple of good schools and persistent enough to ride the wave of broadcast journalism in Pakistan as it unleashed upon the national polity – would actually own, not just work for. I was stunned by the possibilities.
But arrogance has a tone. Denial has a deafening silence. And mirages are self-constructed. I contributed to all three, in my three months at Bol. And played along with the best of them, because of where they came from, who they are, and what it all meant.
First, denial: In an industry, which is in the business of compounding transparency, I am not the only one who has put on blinders while running the course over the years. Simply, denial is the price of survival in Pakistani media, nothing else.
It’s not an excuse when I admit that like many other colleagues of my broadcast generation, I’ve had it pretty rough. Bol was my seventh channel in 12 years of broadcasting in Pakistan: Indus, Geo, Dawn (the last two I helped launch), Samaa, PTV Sports, Aaj and then Geo again (where I saw the post-Hamid Mir ‘ban’ take effect) had taken me, consumed me, and let me out on the streets like an angry, orphaned, urchin, toughening me up every time with a deep, hateful skepticism of the “private/electronic media” regime.
Sometimes, I got fired. Other times, I left on principle or got recruited by a bigger gun. But every time, there was a toxic cocktail of the same-old-same-old – office politics, curbed editorial freedom, delayed pay-cheques, pandering to sponsors, corporate, political and security bosses who made their presence felt but weren’t technically in control, not enough re-investment in our internal systems and structures to sustain the counter-culture and public service ethos of what journalism must strive to become instead of the ratings-driven, family-owned, suits-and-boots dominated chop shop, a mogul-military mouthpiece, that it is in most newsrooms today around the country.
But like an abused, dependent spouse, I kept coming back to my tormentor. I was in denial. Sometimes, I led myself into believing I didn’t have a choice, and carried on. Other times, I tried to break loose with a fellowship, or a foreign gig, or print work, but those got old, fast. With all due self-respect, as the “revolving door” of the media industry is a scary machine, you learnt to take on the world, except your own, because of that dependency. It was like a good, consistent drug deal: There was nowhere else to go, and I was hooked on the product. We all work like that. We all do.
Personally, where else would I go? Print? Been there, done that, and still do. It’s static, if not deteriorating. Regional? International? Done those, too. They are limiting: CNN and NBC are relevant, but not locally inspiring. Twitter? A blog. No way.
This is Pakistan, said the ego to the id. This is TV Land. And in TV Land we live, but by a simple rule: The story – except your own – must get out, at whatever cost. That was the oath impinged on our psyches. It was the modern Pakistani broadcaster’s dilemma: Do Tell Upon Others, Do Not Tell Upon Yourself.
Thus, the “this is my job, this is my industry, this is what we do” instinct ruled, though only on the surface. So I learnt the hard way – and never shared openly, till today, though it’s no secret – that in Pakistan, you take the media’s fallibilities like a family disease: as a given, with resignation, never personally, rather only as destiny, but also never to be shared with outsiders.
After all, we’re a family: a spiteful one with a fondness for fratricide, but we are one. Tell On Us And Be Banished, said the other rule. And so the backroom chatter remained in the backroom, even as we changed bosses and companies and editors round about the ever revolving door. From a boss who makes toothpastes and records sex-tapes on yachts, to a boss too closely tied to the judiciary, to a boss who cleaned the books for Arab sheikhs, to a boss who let editorial be underwritten by USAID and DFID programming, we tolerated – no embraced – that crucial, critical breach: the death of the Church Versus State / Management Versus Editorial divide.
And then came Bol, red and white and glossy and gold. Even in its virtual reality, which we purchased almost like a fake degree because we were – are – so desperate, we saw a chance.
Here was an opportunity that was presented by the best and brightest in the industry: Men I’ve known for over a decade, men I’ve wanted to emulate, mimic, sound like; my self-inflicted role models, gods of the newsroom, leaders of the field my generation has followed blindly into emergencies and clampdowns and gag orders and tear gassing and PEMRA wars and taken late night calls from GHQ and the PM Secretariat for. Men who inspire such confidence that when you’re “called” into Aabpara, you arrive, and not just show up, because you believe. Men who teach you, and remind the country through you, that truth prevails, and that it’s still worth something in Pakistan.
Yet, these men let themselves down. They let me down. They let 2000 of my colleagues down. And they let down the country, too. Very honestly, I may have possibly helped them, and not only because I had my blinders on.
There was ambition, too. The case being presented was as powerful as its famous presenters, the pioneers of Pakistani broadcast: That we will break the machine. That we will never take directives or late night calls from the overbearing father-and-son combines, from the vested patrons and the imperious security regime, but from our own kind: editors and reporters, producers and camera persons, leaders and best.
There was promise, of course. That we will be paid on time, for a change. That we will go public, and have joint-ownership, and life insurance, and medical coverage, and a rainy-day fund, and a coffee machine that worked. That we won’t have to beg our flagrant and private jetting seths for a cheque that was due three months ago, because we are the bosses, now. We are the possessors, the creators, the true masters of an industry that runs on our risk, yet never rewards us.
It was a big idea. Of course it was good to believe that Bol’s would be the generation that was going to conduct that modern, necessary triage upon that hemorrhaging, convulsing, cannibalistic Pakistani media. But our self-righteous ambition, our greater goal, made us self-destructive. We tried to conduct surgery on our self to cut away the unwanted bit. But we were one. And we remain one, faults and all.
Yet we thought we were different. We were told we are different, by snake-oil salesmen we desperately tried to ape in their quick success, because we were determined, and hungry, and yes, inspired by the most righteous of our very own kind.
It was a compelling sell, made by the time-tested warriors of the spoken and written word that I, for one, had sworn to believe in (and no, I’m not implying the military here, though I was never overtly encouraged or discouraged, by any martial quarters, who I tend to report on, in this regard). I was sold the mission by men who the industry, nay, the country was sold on for decades. And yes, the money wasn’t bad, either, though for the record, Bol was/is deeply, maybe even ineptly, top heavy. My books speaks for themselves.
Thus, my follies: My due diligence was overshadowed by the bright promises made by my leaders, the best in the business, who were, perhaps, blinded by their own ambition as well as their well-intentioned drive to change the great game. And although my loyalty wasn’t worth my network’s master’s retirement plans or their armoured vehicles, my fellow Bol colleagues and I willfully carried on, through the taunts of even family and friends – that we were alleged “fronts”, or “projects”, or a “scheme” of underworld bosses, of military spooks, of property tycoons – because we wanted to believe that success, slick and polished and well heeled and hip, is possible, even for journalists.
Soldiers tell me that being shot is a strange feeling. Even in a firefight, when you’re expecting it, there is a sting, then a burn, then a weakness, then a slowing down of speech and senses, then a general disillusionment, and then darkness. That’s about what’s happened since I read Walsh’s piece one week ago.
As I read it again and again over the week, for its solid craft and its savage logic, along with the bevy of filth cum lucidity that it birthed on social and national media, I found the hyper-organized Axact and then the Bol configurations disintegrate. I sensed hesitation in the tones of my gods; I sensed their self-assuredness wilt away as their stubbles grew, heard their perfect oratory devolve into delusional harangues. I sensed my once-aggressive reporters break eye contact, their backs hunched. I felt the five-star cafeteria food taste bland, and saw my fuel card stop working. Even the janitors seemed to go missing. As the structure crumbled and the conversations got more cynical, I sensed the machine – which was going to break all machines – breakdown itself. Communication, consolidation, camaraderie – buzzwords that were our core considerations– morphed into an each-man-for-himself scrimmage. I honestly can’t believe it, but resigning on Twitter, probably not technically legal, became a necessity, as our basic function – being public servants – was suspended by our disbelief in ourselves, even each other.
In the end, our detractors were not our real or imagined partners or benefactors, nor frivolous colleagues or jealous critics, but our own bosses and creators and, yes, undoubtedly, even ourselves. We were naive, of course, but also motivated and thick-skinned, engaged in a tight, eyeless defensive crouch in fear of the all-consuming, thankless revolving door that is Pakistani broadcast media.
And so, battle-hardened hacks but still pawns, self-declared false prophets of all that is wrong and unjust in this wasted land, we are on the street again. Yet, we will walk back through that door, as we still believe. But this time, it’s not our silence, but our embarrassment, that will lead us back in.
Wajahat S. Khan is a former Executive Vice President for Bol TV who resigned his position on principle last weekend. He continues as the Pakistan Correspondent for NBC News.
http://pakteahouse.net/2015/05/26/the-article-nobody-will-publish-by-wajahat-s-khan/
Raza Habib Raja, FCS, says:
RHR United StatesGoogle ChromeWindows says:
May 27, 2015 at 7:40 pm
It is easy to criticize and mock Wajahat but frankly if the criteria is working for some shady media house is questionable then frankly in Pakistan many major media houses are questionable with respect to unethical reporting, tax evasion,whipping up hatred against minorities and yes, also presenting narrative sponsored by various political parties as well as establishment.
All this criticism on his so called hypocrisy on this very thread and elsewhere is conveniently ignoring that all of us are Pakistanis and we we live in a country which is frankly riddled with shady practices and many of us in our personal lives may have indulged in something questionable.
If working for shady business is your main criteria for “expressing disappointment” in Wajahat then we should be expressing disappointment in virtually every profession!
Anyways, Wajahat at least has opened his heart out and even admitted that he was blinded.
Regards
RHR
http://pakteahouse.net/2015/05/26/the-article-nobody-will-publish-by-wajahat-s-khan/comment-page-3/#comment-3350
Comments on Wajahat’s article published on Raza Rumi’s Pak Tea House blog.
Sabih Z PakistanGoogle ChromeWindows says:
May 27, 2015 at 10:36 pm
“I should have known, when I was offered a salary three times my actual worth…”
Curious George PakistanMozilla FirefoxMac OS says:
June 3, 2015 at 12:39 am
Basically he was like a prostitute and got his price. Now that his cash cow has kicked the bucket, he’s jumping ship. What a farce…
Ali Khan SingaporeChrome for iOSiPad says:
June 3, 2015 at 9:57 am
We have all seen lots of self serving rubbish over time. But this is a classic. It is truly one for the ages and should be made required reading for anyone wanting to master the dark art of producing self seeking … rubbish.
JR United StatesGoogle ChromeWindows says:
June 4, 2015 at 6:01 am
What a scam artist you are. The only way you aren’t a scam artist is if you’re truly a pathetic journalist who could not investigate Bol before accepting the high paying job. The way the great majority of “middle income” Pakistanis coming from “broken homes” (do you hear the violins playing, Wajahat?) see it as you’re either a scam artist or a horrible journalist whose career should have ended a long time ago – not last week. Just admit that you made a poor decision and joined a corrupt organization for the wrong reasons. If you want to start over and really believe you can positively influence the media industry, go out on your own — blog, tweet, whatever — and build up your credibility again. It will take a while but can be done. Not sure you have the stomach/commitment for it.
Urooj PakistanGoogle ChromeWindows says:
May 27, 2015 at 1:02 am
Oh please… give me a break! The same “journalists” who go around harassing people and reporting on them and showing them the proverbial mirror whenever they mess up, are now bawling about how they had no idea about what was going down because…. what? They didn’t want to? Yeah, why not come out with it and say it “I was greedy, that’s how I screwed up.” Instead of telling us about your “broken home” and then talking about the dirty/filthy habits/sexual deviances of the media moguls, and then modifying your entry into Bol with a “because everyone famous and cool was doing it naaaaaa”, and finally only admitting to a “I may have let” people down… you MAY have? While the other people actually DID?
Yeah, this REEKS of hypocrisy and does NOT look like the result of a “soul searching” that your friends here are desperately trying to pretend it is. You went there because they paid you more, you couldn’t give a rat’s proverbial behind about how they were making the money, too bad NYTimes did a piece on it and it all came out, you would’ve still been working for them had that not occurred, and unashamedly so. So please, spare us the fake contrition which is nothing more than a ploy to get back on to the horse and look for “greener pastures” wherever they may be, so that you can tell us again from your moral high horse about what abject sinners we all are, while you and your ilk are the paragons of virtue and all things pure and holy.
Sheraz OmanMozilla FirefoxWindows says:
May 27, 2015 at 2:40 am
Power full words… an excellent piece…feigning remorse and regret…but the million dollar Qs is {in fact the 20billion $ Qs … …sorry cud’nt suppress the pun..;)…]is that had NYT / Declan Walsh not broken the story …what wud have happened??? YOU and ur IDOLS, ur MENTORS, the holier than thou demi gods of our infotainment industry …(sorry i cant categorize them as news channels)would have been enjoying their hefty salaries, the chauffeurs , the waiters, the gym and the pool and the 5 star meals, in a few months or so BOL would have been launched with gr8 pomp and show HERALDING a NEW ERA in country’s media land scape ….
Axact would still have been selling fake degree and no one whose CONSCIENCE have all of a sudden woken up on Twitter would have bothered about the funding source of BOL ..just like they never bothered about it when they joiend BOL or when they en-cashed their TIMELY & HEFTY paychecks….when they were cruising in chauffer driven cars and enjoying 5 star meals ….
so spare us the BS …. Ppl have short memories … they will start buying the same ld chooran in a new packing when all kamran khans, asma shirazis, iftikhar ahmads and wajahat khans would again be ANCHORS on one channel or another
Arshad United StatesGoogle ChromeWindows says:
May 27, 2015 at 5:17 am
However remorseful and genuine he is showing now, him being so called investigative\embedded journalist and known Khaki/Aabpara boy he should have known better. Any fool with half IQ after listening to the sleazy Shoaib sheikh for more than 30 minutes should have figured it out who is coming out more sleazier than the best snakeoil salesman and who uses Patriotism as a prostitute, someone one said “Patriotism is the last bastion of the scoundrel”. There are standards and there are journalism standards, morality and ethics comes by heart and not by remorse or guilt. In truth he can never be journalist any longer but Analyst who masquerades as journalist.
The headline says it best. Why would anyone publish such tripe? He starts off being sorry for his naivete, but then ropes in senior media personalities for being his role models and proceeds to critique the state of the news/media industry, because print and blogs aren’t lucrative enough. Pakistanis watch their news channels with a grain of salt. We automatically filter the content to account for each channel’s biases which are crude and obvious. Someone with so many years in the media industry couldn’t smell the dead fish? Go shoot some more ISPR projects and stop insulting our intelligence, Mr. Senior Defence Analyst.