Hamid Mir is an asshole

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Hamid Mir is an asshole. There, I said it.

As a rule, I don’t read Jang, but someone living in Lahore pointed out a piece written by the jackass asking me if what he said has some merit in it or not. These days, Hamid Mir is playing an embedded journalist in Khadim-e-Ala Punjab’s caravan that is touring flood affected areas (Yes, touring is the most apt word for that activity). While he was traveling with Chotay Mian sahib in the vicinity of Isa Khel, he got a text message that an MQM MPA was killed and instead of reporting about the events in Isa Khel, he decided to devote his column to two things; violence in Karachi and Shahbaz Shareef.

First, he goes how Zardari, Ishratul Ibad and Asfandyar Wali should pick 5 badmash type people from their respective parties and kick them out to show people in Karachi that they mean business. Yeah right, the people who have lost lives, livelihoods and homes would be pleased with that.  Secondly, Asfandyar Wali and Zardari may be able to kick people out from their parties, but not Ishratul Ibad. For starters, he is the representative of the federation in the province and is the governor. Secondly, no one other than Altaf Hussain enjoys this kind of influence in MQM. In any case, it was stupid suggestion to begin with and anyone who has attended the course Politics 101 would know that real politics do not work this way. Then he decided to tell his readers how the violence in Karachi is the result of nefarious aims of one PPP which is trying to create rift between MQM and ANP, he then goes on to say that basically both ANP and PPP hate MQM and they want MQM to leave the coalition, but MQM would rather be kicked out of the coalition than leave it which is contradictory to the first statement. Great journalism, isn’t it? 

He then goes onto sing praises of Mian Shahbaz Shareef saying that he is such a problem for his security staff because he does not travel according to travel routes planned. He just loves his people so much that he goes from West to East meeting all the people as if they are his own relatives. He then told us about the hardship Mian Biradaraan regularly take to reach their people from Mianwali to Kot Addu to Sargodha while Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani just indulges in Ariel viewing of the area. Good job Mir sahib. 

In the end, he tried to link the two by saying that the day Farooq Sattar and Babar Ghouri will visit the flood affected areas of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwah with ANP minister, peace will prevail in Karachi. If peace in Karachi can be restored by a simple visit, a certified broke person like me would personally like to raise funds for this trip. 

It was always Amir Liaquat Hussain who wrote disjointed crap and tried to pass it off as op-ed in Jang. Now that he has left the building, Hamid Mir has taken over his throne.

PS: I want to point out that Hamid Mir is one of the highest paid – if not the highest paid – journalist in Pakistan. We sure do reward incompetence.

Is journalism a blood sport?

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Today, I have learned something that I knew all along but never wanted to admit – that we as a nation are a bunch of opportunists.

I just spoke with a friend who works for a TV news channel who sounded extremely dejected. When I asked him, he said that he is sick with the way things are prioritized. Apparently, the murder of Raza Haider is the top news at his channel and the floods story that affected a good 3 million people is a distant second lead. Most of the flood stories were dropped because the bulletin was crowded with Raza Haider story. When I asked him why is that he said that the channel heads are more concerned with increasing the viewership in Karachi and that would be attained with focus on Karachi. Viewership in Karachi matters most because it is home to the biggest middle-class population. More eyeballs in Karachi means greater advertisement revenue.

I just wonder why these people try to take moral high ground and talk about upholding the high standards of journalism when all they are concerned about is ratings and greater advertisement revenue.


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