Nasim Zehra’s resignation, a proper class act
Related posts: LUBP archive on Nasim Zehra
Context
June 14, 2012: The upheaval at Dunya TV continued Thursday as Nasim Zehra, the channel’s Director Current Affairs resigned over a leaked video of behind the scene conversations of a special program aired Wednesday. The program Dunya Special featured an interview with property tycoon Malik Riaz and was co-hosted by Mubashar Lucqman and Meher Bukhari.Once the video of those conversations went up, first on YouTube and then on other social media, the management quickly sacked Lucqman. The news of Zehra’s resignation, who hosted the program Policy Matters, then filtered in later in the evening. An insider said she quit because of the video which had dealt a terrible blow to the channel.
Appreciations
I congratulate Nasim Zehra
Naseem Zehra Decision to resign, if true, will prove a revolutionary step for accountability of electronic Media, corrupt Owners as well as corrupt Anchors. Pakistan Media will come out clean from this phase like Judiciary after the Long March. I congratulate Naseem Zehra.
Syed Adil Gilani (Transparency International Pakistan)
(Who is Adil Gilani? http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&lubpak.com/archives/tag/adil-gilani)
Applause on Twitter
beena sarwar @beenasarwar
With @NasimZehra’s resignation, DunyaTV has lost the most credible voice they had.Maham Ali @Mahamali05
Nasim Zehra quits over leaked video: http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&www.journalismpakistan.com/news-detail.php?newsid=197 Duniya TV has lost a credible journalistbeena sarwar @beenasarwar
Chaos at DunyaTV as @NasimZehra resigns? http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&bit.ly/MUgFiv MeherBokhari asked to leave; 19 journos list ‘fake’ #dunyagatev @AliAbbasTajFarheen Rizvi @FarriRizvi
@beenasarwar dont worry after few days people wont C Duniya channel on air but @NasimZehra will b on some good channel coz f her credibilityMosharraf Zaidi @mosharrafzaidi
the extraordinary @NasimZehra – a proper class act #FFejaz haider @ejazhaider
@NasimZehra has resigned/know as i do her, she wud’ve. downside is that with her gone we r left with more charlatans in a medium gone badbeena sarwar @beenasarwar
Agree. RT @Tariq_Bashir: @beenasarwar And @NasimZehra was perhaps the only credible and balanced voice at Dunya TV too!Marvi Sirmed @marvisirmed
Yes! RT @mosharrafzaidi: the extraordinary @NasimZehra – a proper class act #FFBabar Sattar @Babar_Sattar
RT @omar_quraishi Hats off to Nasim Zehra. The lady with integrity resigned from the post of Director Current Affairs Dunya TVTahir Imran Mian @TahirImran
Very dignified action by @NasimZehra on resigning & it is a great loss for Pakistani media & but at the same time a right & just step.Omar Waraich @OmarWaraich
All of @dunyanetwork’s original anchors have now left: @nasimzehra @najamsethi @javeednusrat @mushtaqminhas @MoeedPirzada @asma_chaudhryFarrukh Khan Pitafi @FarrukhKPitafi
@inBreak @mughalbha an excellent example is @NasimZehra who took moral stand on the issue. Did u salute her? I do.Sadia Agha PTI @sadiaagha
Hats off to Nasim Zehra. The lady with integrity resigned from the post of Director Current Affairs Dunya TVsalman ahmad @sufisal
Kudos to @NasimZehra for showing the true integrity of a journalist & removing herself from the bandar tamasha of 3 idiots.Ali Dayan Hasan @AliDayan
. @cpyala But a broader question: If everyone of any quality (such as Nasim Zehra) cedes TV space, does that not leave field open to scum!Huma Yusuf @humayusuf
Kudos to @nasimzehra for leaving #Dunya. Some face-saving required for industry at largeMohsin Hijazee @MohsinHijazee
Resignation of Nasim Zehra has been much appreciated on social media. Tweet about her got 50+ RTs since then.sherryrehman @sherryrehman
@NasimZehra u should continue doing ur programs and hold the moral centre in those if u can. All sane voices shouldn’t be snuffed out.Ammar Yasir [RONIN] @ammaryasir
Indeed >> RT @mosharrafzaidi the extraordinary @NasimZehra – a proper class act #FF
Critical comments:
Nasim Zehra, former leader of Imran Khan’s PTI, current member of Beena Sarwar’s Citizens for Democracy (an urban pseduo-liberal project to bash democratic government for the ills created by Pakistan army and proxies), a current affiliate of the ISI-sponsored think tank Jinnah Institute, has resigned from the post of Director Current Affairs of Dunya TV in the aftermath of the fiasco of leaked video containing planted interview of Malik Riaz with Mubashir Lucman and Meher Bukhari.
Nasim Zehra was Dunya TV’s Director Current Affairs when Meher Bokhari (who was fired from Samaa TV due to her role in enabling PPP governor Salmaan Taseer’s murder) was hired by Dunyaa TV. If she was a person of principle, she would have resigned at that point to protest the hiring of Meher Bokhari. But she did not utter a single word against Meher’s hiring nor against Dunya TV owners. Instead her guns remained directed against Zardari and the PPP, that how PPP and Zarari had allegedly left Taseer alone thus enabling his murder.
At Dunya TV, she used to host a programme “Policy Matters” comprising the same 80-20 formula (used by Najam Sethi, Mosharraf Zaidi etc) to malign the civilian government by mixing 20% lies in 80% objective analysis.
She tendered her resignation after the leaked video brought to public view what exactly was taking place at Dunya TV right under her nose.
As suggested on Twitter, it seems that self acclaimed proponents of free media exposed in the Bahria Gate list of Malik Riaz’s beneficiaries (right from Najam Sethi to Mubashir Lucman and from Hamid Mir to Meher Bokhari) desperately needed face saving, that’s why Nasim Zehra is being manufactured and imposed as a hero.
Clearly, either Nasim has been fired by Dunya TV owners or hers is a populist move in the aftermath of the Leaked Video fiasco. A forced termination or disgraceful resignation must not be presented as a principled stance
Those appreciating and applauding Naseem Zehra for resigning should explain why didn’t she resign when Mehr Bukhari joined Dunya TV. At that point in time, she was busy along with Beena Sarwar and Sherry Rehman in a vicious and misleading email campaign against PPP leaders on their lack of response on Salmaan Taseer’s killing (remember the PPP left Taseer alone campaign?).
If it’s a principled stance to resign on a leak video, didn’t Nasim Zehra know its a routine affair in #TV channels to plant questions and massage political interviews?
Had Nasim Zehra a conscience, she would have protested against the hiring of Meher Bokhari, the person who enabled Taseer’s murder. Fake heroes, fake promoters! Pakistan’s media and social media is full of intellectually or/and morally compromised.
That the Jinnah Institute (or Sherry Rheman Lobby) is currently manufacturing a fake hero in Nasim Zehar is, per se, a class act. It show a tribal mindset at play in which pseduo-liberal urban elite columnists are promoting each other despite being badly exposed in the recent Media Gate.
Amazingly those who had no problems with Nasim’s silence when Meher joined Dunya TV are now commending her on her disgraceful resignation.
Other reactions on Twitter
Nasim Zehra, who even knows what’s happening in Pentagon, didn’t know what was happening in Dunya until cameras caught Mehr Bukhari. Amazing! Adil Gilani of ISI-sponsored Transparency International appreciates ISI-friendly journo Nasim Zehra. Wah bhai Wah. #FakeHero #FakePromoters. LOL at some folks on Twitter who are promoting Nasim Zehra as a principled journalist. They themselves are “as principled”. Extraordinary @ mosharrafzaidi is praising extraordinary @ NasimZehra – Now this is a proper class act. #FakeHeroes #SherryRehmanLobby. Make a list of those promoting NasimZehra as their hero. Most of them are usual suspects. #FF Sherry Rehman Lobby: Najam Sethi, Raza Rumi, Ejaz Haider, Mosharraf Zaidi, Hamid Mir, Nasim Zehra, Marvi Sirmed, Beena Sarwar etc
NasimZehra writes: “Had there been an independent electronic media in October 1999 there would have been no coup.” How conveniently she censored the fact that many journalists including herself were the first one’s to accept and endorse General Musharraf’s military coup in 1999 against a democratically elected government of Nawaz Sharif.
http://criticalppp.com/archives/69608
Excellent blog post. LUBP reassures me that not all is lost in Pakistan’s social or mainstream media.
Keep up your good work
Here is another exemplar of the hypocrisy of the Pakistan’s so called progressive, civil society. These days, Fake Civil Society’s favourite cheerleader for the repeal of the infamous blasphemy laws, Nasim Zehra, Director of Dunya News. Incidently, this channel is the same one that hired the infamous Meher Bukhari (after she “left” Samaa) whose incitement against the late Governor Taseer on her show is a shocking example of how the Pakistani media provides space to Islamofascism. Many segments from our fake civil society also agree that Meher’s show had a significant role in inciting violent sentiment against Salman Taseer’s that lead to his assassination. Nasim Zehra should first oppose the employees and subordinates spreading hatred from her studio before pretending to fix the PPP. Did she have the integrity to castigate Mushtaq Minhas after this interview when he was still with Dunya!
As part of a troika (Teen Jeem) of establishment, journalists that included Mushahid Hussain and Shireen Mazari, Nasim Zehra was at her smug best in being a partisan supporter of the “Lawyer’s” movement. Both she and Shireen Mazari are some of the many who pretend to be neutral in the media but are fervent supporters of Imran Khan’s Tehrik Insaaf Party. After Taseer’s murder, Nasim Zehra has re-branded herself as a “liberal” and is now using a civil society platform to forward the PTI agenda by maligning the PPP.
http://criticalppp.com/archives/41901
Marvi Sirmed @marvisirmed
Yes! RT @mosharrafzaidi: the extraordinary @NasimZehra – a proper class act #FF
Begani Shadi, Abdulla Deewana
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7-oFsnGWAE
Extraordinary @ mosharrafzaidi is praising extraordinary @ NasimZehra, Extraordinary Marvi Sirmed (10 lac rupees fame) is RTing it. All of the Jinnah Institute is promoting Nasim – Now this is a proper class act.
Viva La Marx
On behalf of
https://www.facebook.com/groups/jaagpakistanijaag/
I congratulate Nasim Zehra for showing spine.
As Director News, it was Nasim Zehra who was resonsible AND cupable for the unethical practises going on at Dunya News. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened at that channel under her stewardship. I remember an year or two ago the Asian Human Rights Commission catalogued a sexual harrassment case of a female correspondent who was working for Dunya at the time. Apparently, Yousuf Beg Mirza (the current PTV MD), had been calling that correspondent up and made some innappropriate comments about how she should appear on TV. Nasim Zehra was reported to have tried to hush up and stifle the matter instead of resolve it.
@Ali Taj
If whistle-blower hadn’t released leaked video on youtube do you think Nasim Zehra would’ve resigned from Dunya News ? No one needed a leaked video to figure out that show was planted show .
Has she had any decency she would’ve resigned at Dunya News reporting after unfortunate event in which girls of Mian Amir College were killed in a concert .
there is countless example of yellow journalism and instigating murder during her stint as Director Current Affair , Dunya News .
Why didn’t Nasim Zehra resigned when one of his subordinate mushtaq minhas who was then working at dunya news played a critical part in instigating Shahbaz Bhatti murder on his show Dunya Meray Aagay – 22 November 2010 .
Dunya News is better off without her. A desperate attempt to corner any media channel that has not declared unconditonal support for the deep state is underway. so it was good that she was thrown out before anyfurther damage.
Nasim Zehra @NasimZehra
@Babar_Sattar @muneebfaruq Peoples’ view of judiciary’s populist/somewhat partisan ways is blurred bcos of an extreme governance crisis
beena sarwar @beenasarwar
Glad @NasimZehra is going to work with DunyaTV to develop SOP and code of conduct. All TV stations should do that. And agree on basics.
Laibaah1
Fake liberals another fake hero Nasim Zehra withdraws her resignation from Dynay TV. Short-lived drama, short-lived heroes.
True to her urban pseudo-liberal roots, Nasim Zehra is blaming PPP’s legal strategy for PM’s disqualification. #BlameTheVictim
Omar Waraich @OmarWaraich
Dunya has asked @NasimZehra to make and implement a code of conduct for current affairs programmes and its anchors.
25m Omar Waraich @OmarWaraich
Dunya TV has declined to accept @NasimZehra’s resignation
Nasim Zehra @NasimZehra
I resigned bcos I felt we had disappointed the viewers. Dunya now agrees 2 implement a code that helps us to fulfill viewers’ expectation.
1h Nasim Zehra @NasimZehra
After thinking over it & realizing it provides me an oportunity to adress an issue we r all concerned about I have taken back my resignation
1h Nasim Zehra @NasimZehra
DunyaNews has asked me 2 stay on help set up a Code of Conduct for Anchors.A general consensus after interview/video saga was Code is a Must
Attiya @attiyanoon
@NasimZehra clearly at present, dunya is a channel for the highest bidder.
1h Nasim Zehra @NasimZehra
@attiyanoon No actually not! I have not sought financial gains in resigning or going back.I thought this true very carefully,and decided.
Afzal Abbasi @abbasi_afzal
@NasimZehra seems like dunya tv can only survive by the funding of Riaz bahria.this channel has no more credibility.better 4 u to move frwd
47m Nasim Zehra @NasimZehra
@abbasi_afzal All Pk channels go for all advertisements. For example Dunya is one of MANY channels that run Baharia ads.