I am sick of the corny media – the tabloids that sensationalize everything and break the false news every now and then. Okay I admit TMZ was credited for breaking the news of Michael Jackson’s death but this doesn’t mean they’d be right every time. Angelou is alive and well in St. Louis today and heading off to New York City for the next 2-3 weeks. One of the sites update said.

Twitter too plays a role in spreading and popularizing a rumor. I got the news about her there. So twitterverse thought she is no more but that is false.

Maya Angelou is one of my favorite poets and below is one of her poems that I like:

When You Come

When you come to me, unbidden

Beckoning me
To long-ago rooms
Where memories lie

Offering me, as to a child, an attic
Gatherings of days too few
Baubles of stolen kisses
Trinkets of borrowed loves
Trunks of secret words

I CRY

In 90s, when dish antenna could be seen on every other rooftop, we had access to three basic news channels: BBC, CNN and Zee News. While watching these channels I used to think Pakistan should have 2 or 3 private news channels of its own. Then in late 2001 the Pakistani private news channels with (mostly) its base in Dubai started surfacing.

9/11 provided conducive environment for these channels to thrive. I too at that time heavily relied on the alternate (read that Pro-Pakistan – Islam) viewpoint so I took instant liking for these channels. At one time these channels become my favorite so much so that I started watching them more than any other entertainment channel.

Over the years all types of news channels started springing up from everywhere. I believe running a news channel must be a lucrative business. But that race of quantity killed the quality. Remember the alien found in Lahore story that AAJ TV ran.

Besides, the ex-generals, politicians and ministers, blah, blah come on air and make revelations from the past as if they were not the partners in crime back then. Information is good but when a person can’t do anything to correct things even after having knowledge, it only raises the level of frustration.

9/11 brought instability like never before in Pakistan. Bomb blasts became the routine occurrence. I grew fed up of the news media and felt it getting on my nerves. Imagine the 6 news channels simultaneously showing the scattered limbs and blood on the road, demolished buildings, fire and crying people etc.

Having said that, I am not writing off the news media totally because after all we do depend on them for every news and happening but I have gone from small-dose to no-dose. I prefer reading news online with only selected footage (if available for viewing) and I am at peace. Ignorance is bliss some
times!

It was 2002 when I started watching a show called Views on News. It was presented by an unknown person with a gift of gab and in a couple of shows he proved that he was different from the rest. I had never before heard such an in depth analysis and news that others would rarely discuss. His program on ARY One World went off the air many times. Later on he disappeared for a couple of months and then I saw him on Geo. In one of his earlier shows he claimed that he was sacked by ARY. He even claimed to have declined the Pride of Performance award.

The government never appreciated Geo’s support for judges and once again pressurized Dubai authorities to take Geo off the air. They refused to do so but Dr. Shahid’s show went off air again. Then I heard unbelievable news that Dr. Shahid has been appointed PTV’s chairman. My mind is buzzing with questions. Why would anyone who always believed in voicing his opinion would accept such a job where he knows he won’t achieve anything except big bucks.

Why someone who was so critical of the President and all the ministers/politicians by and large would end up working under them in a capacity when his hands and tongue would be tied. Is this a move for survival since he could have been sacked by Geo as well or something else?

Is Dr. Shahid like every other person, we categorize as corrupt and opportunist? Did he think he would take up this job and make a difference something that is impossible under the government’s setup?

I don’t know who’s wrong and who’s right but lately I have been reading some negative stuff about him. And if he come up with his own show again, I think I would never trust his words they way I used to do.