Why I don't read the 'Express Tribune' anymore?

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For those who are familiar with this newspaper, it doesn't come to much of a surprise that the editorial board of the Express Tribune has very strong biases that influence not only its opinion pieces, but also its allegedly "neutral" news department. This is self-evident when it comes to almost anything they cover on Pakistan, whether it be political, economic or social. More noticeable is the bias of the Express Tribune on foreign policy coverage, which seems to be influenced by ignoramuses in Washington, whose interaction with the world is limited by language, culture, experience and basic intellect.

Don't you find it comical how the Express Tribune fights for "freedom of speech" yet moderates its own comments section? Now to be fair, every newspaper has a moderator to deny comments which are vile and abusive. But this is clearly not the case at the Express Tribune. Over a span of a year, I've noticed (like many others) that the moderators will only approve comments which they agree with or fit the narrative of the column/article in question. On many occasions I've attempted to voice my opinion on certain controversial subject matters on the Express Tribune, but to my surprise my comments were almost never posted. NO, I did not use profanity or insulting language. The only crime I did was I did not agree with them. But what's interesting is not who they restrict from posting, but who they allow to post so freely. Indians (who commonly disguise themselves as Muslim Indians or Pakistanis) have a free hand to abuse, ridicule and insult Pakistan and Pakistanis left, right and center on almost all Express Tribune articles. It should beg the question, what in the world is the Express Tribune?

Now before I go on any further, I'd like to point out a few things. NO, I'm not an extremist. NO, I am not a blind nationalist. And NO I'm certainly not against freedom of speech, but what I am against is unethical journalism practices, which are ever so evident in the Pakistani media spectrum. The Express Tribune and Jang (including the notorious Geo TV) are at the forefront of unethical journalistic practices and the spreading of misinformation into the minds of Pakistanis. So what exactly is the Express Tribune you ask? Well it's a paper which identifies itself with centre-left liberalism (I'll explain later how funny this really is). It's also the first newspaper in Pakistan to forge a partnership with The International Herald Tribune, the global edition of The New York Times (I hope you're slowly starting to realize what I'm trying to get at). 

Let's look at a few examples shall we?

Balochistan - for those of whom come from this province, all I can say is as a Pakistani I am ashamed at how our government has treated you people. It's such a shame that a land full of natural resources is at the bottom of all development indicators in Pakistan. The situation in Balochistan needs serious attention, and I hope with the next government serious action is taken to see that this province gets back on it's feet and joins the rest of Pakistan on the road to prosperity and peace. However, people need to realize something very important. If a group of people are against the government that in no way, shape or form means they want separate from Pakistan. I find it hilarious how so many journalists in the media write and talk about Balochistan without ever stepping foot in the province. These people sit in coffee shops in Karachi with there laptops trying to show off how "cool" they are while they write articles about the sufferings of the Baloch people at the hands of the so-called "evil ISI". I want to ask these people, when was the last time you ever went to Balochistan? When was the last time you talked to a Baloch? I know several Balochs myself, who are extremely against the Pakistan government, but have no desire to leave Pakistan. The Express Tribune (like much of the media) are attempting to portray the happenings of a revolt a la 1971 East Pakistan conveniently overlooking the near complete absence of evidence of this being true. Facebook and Twitter messages from a handful of self-declared, English speaking "Baloch activists" (many of them who don't even know Balochi and sit abroad) became the barometer for the emotions of 7 million Baloch. 

This is a huge misconception that the Baloch are against Pakistan...no they are not. They are amongst the most patriotic people in Pakistan, and just want to be treated like human beings. The majority of the Baloch people are anti-BLA and fighting for is more provincial autonomy, and rightfully so! The Federal government in Islamabad controls the provinces way too much, and it's high time the Feds let go of some powers and give it back to the provinces. If any province has been hurt the most by this, it's been Balochistan who have literally been robbed of all there resources! This is something the Express Tribune never wants to mention. Instead, they go on orgies and rampages about a small group of thugs called the BLA (Balochistan Liberation Army) who have caused mayhem in certain parts of the province with looting, exhortation, kidnapping and murders. This so-called "liberation army" are essentially a small group of thugs and maggots who work for big powerful Sardars, to keep the Baloch people suppressed, controlled and in fear. That's something the Express Tribune never wants to mention and probably never will,  but for your sake you should visit https://www.facebook.com/ExposingBLAterrorism for more information on what's really happening in Balochistan.

Ignoring Waziristan - so I said to myself, if the Express Tribune cares that much about "human rights" why are they almost never talking about Waziristan? Maybe it has something to do with who controls the Express Tribune and what country is conducting the terrorist drone strikes in that region. In the past week, reports have surfaced that American terrorist drone attacks have killed upto 1000 innocent people in South Waziristan, with a quarter of them being children! This is something many readers (myself included) have attempted to highlight at ET, yet to no avail. It wasn't until American activists began ringing the bell that something nasty indeed was occurring in Waziristan, did the Pakistani media accept that innocent people were being killed. Here's an example of the hypocrisy. Here are 2 titles that are commonly found - "DRONE KILLS THREE MILITANTS" and "DRONE KILLS THREE". Notice in the first title they highlight "militants" were killed (in reality these are always suspected militants). Now notice when civilians are killed, they only mention "THREE" and not "THREE PEOPLE" or "THREE CIVILIANS". I'd like to ask the Express Tribune a very simple question. What makes you so sure that militants are in fact being killed? Secondly why do you attempt to hide the fact civillians have been killed by only mentioning the number of dead in your articles? These are small but important questions which should be raised.

And this is just scratching the surface, I could literally write a book on the practices of this newspaper such as the pushing for LGBT rights, ridiculing Pakistan, and how quiet they are about the corruption ring of the Zardari mafia. But I won't do that; I'll let you see it for yourself. 

Conclusion
So after this long rant, you're probably asking, what's the point? The point is, don't trust anything the media says, especially the Pakistani media. To them, they have only 2 obligations.

1. MAKE PROFIT - To earn a profit, people must click onto there website, watch there channels or buy there newspapers and they will do this by capturing your mind in any way possible, no matter how ridiculous or full of crap the story might be. 

2. FOLLOW THE BOSS - In the case of the Express Tribune there bosses sit in Washington and dictate to them which events should be given importance and which should not be - and how they should be presented to the public (case in point Balochistan and Waziristan). 

The media is so full of garbage that it's gone beyond presenting just the news; they MAKE the news nowadays! Don't be dictated too by the news media, set your mind free and use the brain that God has given you. Make your OWN decisions! Make your OWN judgments! Stop allowing scum like Hamid Mir and Najam Sethi to pollute your minds with Pentagon fantasies.

So where should we get our information from you're probably asking? Well, do as we did in the old days. Go and see for yourself. We have become such a lazy race of people that we won't bother even investigating ourself whether or not what the media is telling us is true or not. However, if you can't do that, then it's up to you to have an open mind and not be dictated to by one medium. It's up to you to find out as much as you can about any particular event be it through the newspapers, blogs, Facebook, Wikipedia whatever! You should be well-rounded and take into consideration all sides of the argument before you make a judgment about a particular event.

Stop letting the media fool you and pollute your minds with lies and wake up!

By: Pakistan

Pakistan Cyber Force

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