werticalhorizon posted: " Photo by Wendelin Jacober on Pexels.com Note: The text in this post as well as posts published in the past few days were originally presented on my now-defunct Wordpress.com web log titled drowningthedisgraced (not the blogspot one). The title of the " NTRrelations
Note: The text in this post as well as posts published in the past few days were originally presented on my now-defunct WordPress.com web log titled drowningthedisgraced (not the blogspot one). The title of the following post is an addition.
Human Interest
It is much easier to criticize the newscaster for weeping at the death of the N. Korean leader; not so the human interest salt peppered on news stories, eliminating their objectivity. An Aljazeera correspondent ended his report (2020.04.03) on the[n] current situation due [ ] Covid-19 epidemic with the question, how can (these people) go to home when there is no home. A counter-question is: have they lost their houses because of the epidemic that you are including this in your report. If anything, the epidemic might have forced the hand of even the most heartless bankers, previously contemplating foreclosure of properties for default, to stop the process.
A Dawn, Khi editorial (2020.04.01) after duly commenting on current situation of education here [in Pakistan,] in the wake of the epidemic as well as doling out its long-standing propaganda of the adverse effects of early marriage on the society and economy (the editors must have a valid reason for this, such as some Big Data scientist would have whispered to them that statistically speaking, a child born through C-Section to a 64-year-old woman – who became pregnant through IVF – happens to be healthier than a naturally conceived child born through normal delivery to a 16-year-old woman), it suddenly dawned upon the editors that they have forgotten to add the salt to potpourri. They looked far and wide to find a store selling organic salt, but in vain since under the stricter lockdowns the newspaper champions, all stores were closed. They had to distill salt from Arabian Sea water thus:-
And how many Pakistanis can even afford to make it to higher education in the first place?
While I was wondering that why are we giving more credit to the Sars-CoV-2 than its due. It would appear that Pakistanis were getting great many opportunities to become highly educated in the golden age of when the virus had not yet wrecked havoc, but not anymore. Why are separate issues being confounded; why is the Joker's synthesis in vogue: Covid-19 is bad; government's response is ineffective – let's release prisoners.
In its 2020.04.03 editorial, the same newspaper criticized the [now former] PM's decisions for being neither here nor there. However, the always logically valid and reasonable newspaper is yet to tell its readers how it reconciles its support for releasing, in view of the epidemic, the under-trial prisoners with its support for stricter lockdown measures, when the Sind Police is detaining those who break the lax lockdown policy [then] currently in effect. Are these newly-detained people held in some stone age prison in the hope that since the virus back then had not existed, it won't strike there. Or, in the wise opinion of the newspaper editors, stricter measures automatically deter people from breaking them.
Moreover, while supporting the release of under-trial prisoners, the newspaper is loudly speaking (2020.04.04) against the release of another, who is no longer even under-trial, rather has served his time. Despite the fact that the SHC [Sind High Court] found lack of evidence against the accused, while an independent probe by the Pearl Project ha[d] pointed hand at 9/11 mastermind for the killing of the WSJ reporter (see AFP report "Wrong men convicted of Daniel Pearl murder: probe" via Dawn.com, updated 2011.01.20), the newspaper, it appears, wants to keep the accused forever locked as a goodwill gesture from the government towards the journalists, all the while acknowledging the severe shortcomings of the prosecutors and investigators handling the case. Is this the newspaper's concept of a "landmark conviction…".
On 2020.04.05 Dawn published the report titled "Sugar crisis probe report leaves ruling alliance red-faced", where is stated that "a source told Dawn that the prime minister and members of the inquiry commission had been 'threatened with dire consequences if the reports were made public'."
The next day the newspaper in its editorial politely reminds the PM "…that, by going ahead with this policy of reviving the construction industry on the terms and conditions specified, he runs a real risk of undermining his own standing as a crusader against corruption. He may want to rethink the move before it starts to take a toll on his politics and on the health of Pakistanis at large." Isn't Dawn also threatening the PM?
Zarar Khuhro in his op-ed ([Dawn,] 2020.03.16) praised individuals giving free door-to-door supplies to the elderly in the wake of Covid-19; the former editor of Dawn, Abbas Nasir in his piece, "Humanity in the time of Covid-19" ([Dawn], 2020.03.22) has this half-praise: "Notwithstanding silly, selfish individuals, so many citizens are reaching out to their less fortunate neighbours." But when the PM constitutes the so-called Tiger Force, the morning bell breaks lose. "… Raising a youth volunteer force called the Corona Relief Tigers, a measure formally announced by P[M] on Monday, cannot be described as meeting that criteria [for political reasons]…" reads the Editorial of April the 2nd, accompanied by a barrage of caricatures:-
[Image withheld]
2020.04.03
[Image withheld]
2020.04.05
The second one is far better applicable to newspapers in general, and the daily Dawn in particular, since they think they know far better than the policy-makers. If there ever a Utopia came into existence, the newspaper industry (beside those living on the adrenaline of gamblers) would be the only one to suffer.
Down Syndrome: author's interpretation of the 2nd caricature, above. Original published in Dawn, 2020.04.05.
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