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1/n *long theead* Modern day Journalism in Pakistan was essentially split into two camps one was the liberal left which had the Bhutto family as its guiding beacon and the other camp was the right wing journalists shilling for Zia and his mullah cohorts.
So journalism in Pakistan was always agenda driven in the sense that it was competing for space to push group narratives. Till 1988 the Zia camp reigned supreme and the left liberal news journalists had to be relegated to the fringes in many ways. 2/n
The election of BB brought the PPP cadre roaring back and publications sympathetic to the new govt led by a woman were back in business. 3/n
The Zia camp naturally found a worthy heir in Nawaz Sharif and they rivalry to set the news narrative began in earnest with both camps now having a relatively equal standing to shape public opinion. 4/n
These Journalists in either camp have never really been independent in the essence of the word, they have always maintained loyalties at their best and downright allegiance at their worst. 5/n
The nineties was a seesaw period were favourite journalists were rewarded with plots ( housing schemes) with positions as advisors ( Sherry Rehman probably a pioneer in that regard). 6/n
Those that didn’t have journalists to further their narrative chose muscle eg MQM in Karachi who continuously threatened &carried out acts of violence against media &journalists who criticised them. Mind you criticism was always based on who MQM was allied with at that time. 7/n
There description went back and forth from being a militant organisation to Pakistan’s only mainstream secular political party. 8/n
The musharraf era and the consequent advent of electronic media, rise of household incomes and penetration of TV elevated the positions of these two main camps, now you didn’t have to be literate to receive propaganda you could watch it on TV and go one way or the other. 9/n
The right wing journalists/ some in the liberal camps also aligned with Musharraf in the early days because of “ enlightened moderation” and there was really no serious journalistic opposition to the govt at that time. 10/n
The lawyers movement/ terrorism became the catalyst for cornering musharraf and the two camps of Nawaz and BB went back to their default positions to attack Musharraf obviously using the tried and tested democracy narrative. 11/n
By 2008 and post BBs assassination the Liberal set was left a bit leaderless but the quickly threw in their lot with Zardari and the right wingers had their messiah Nawaz Sharif back ruling in Punjab. These years also saw the rise of private businessmen 12/n
understand the power of narrative building through electronic media and started building up their own channels which were in many ways the tools for getting govt patronage in their core businesses. 13/n
Post 2010 and the explosion of social media brought in an outsider to Pakistan political establishment and the two party system was under real threat. The journalists in both established camps were united in their criticism of Imran Khan and PTI, 14/n
the more surprising element of their criticism was a very vocal and organised attack on the PTIs supporter base. The PTI supporters were called Burgers ( thanks to Zohair toru) FB party, cultists, IK fanboys & fan girls. PTI public rally’s which after a long time saw men, 15/n
women, children participate were called mujras by established opinion writers and comments. Finally the crowd favourite youthia a combination of youth and Chutiya was the slur of choice for all opposing journalists. 16/n
Established journalists and commentators used these derogatory terms interchangeably all throughout the lead up to 2013 & 18 elections. The PTI social media presence was more than other parties but it was disjointed and directionless in many ways. 17/n
Supporters would try their best to engage journalists but would end up getting ridiculed or blocked in many cases. Post 2013 the social media presence started getting better both in terms of content and in terms of supporters coming together to further their narrative. 18/n
Passionate citizens and like minded voters in 2014 became the benchmark for engaging PTI detractors through fact based rebuttals. With the proliferation of smart phones & SM presence of young citizens each engagement started resonating with PTI and undecided voters. 19/n
Articles of journalists were responded to with logic & these interactions started bothering journalists who weren’t used to being challenged. TV anchors @ talk show hosts became popular & they believed themselves to be king makers & for PTI to win elections 20/n
convince ppl to vote required countering journos. The unthinkable happened for these partisan journos in 2018, despite all analysis of PTI losing, PTI got to form the govt. The current dislike for PTI and it’s supporters by journalists stems from events of the past 2 yrs. 21/n
The old guard is divided between PPP & PMLN, the new lot many of whom have trained under partisan journalists of yesteryear carry on in the same vein. Many have personally interacted with these journos in pvt capacity and their utter contempt for PTI and IK is well known. 22/n
So for them to act as impartial and complain about harassment is just another tactic to tarnish PTI and it’s support base. PTI supporters have been accused of being ISI funded prior to the elections and now funded by the Digital Media Wing set up by the GOP. 23/n
All of these are unsubstantiated allegations which these so called journalists feel no qualms in throwing about. But when responded to in the same coin, they release joint statements and use Nazi mouthpieces in Indian media to attack The GOP and the citizens of Pakistan. 24/n
Lastly, PTI Supporters condemn threats of violence and abuse directed at women, they have shown that unlike other parties and their supporters have no history of violent conduct against journalists or providing benefits to select journalists and media houses. 25/25
