LAHORE: Legendary journalist and human rights activist Mr Husain Naqi is worried about the future of journalism in Pakistan as it is lacking in its basic ingredient – news.

“It is hard even to find 20 news items in any of the major newspapers now-a-days. Our newspapers have plenty of press releases and statements but few news,” said Mr Naqi at a programme ‘Meri Baitain, Meri Yadain,’ arranged by the Lahore Press Club on Saturday.

He said none of the more than 60 regular columns in the major newspapers contained any information that could educate the readers. The freedom granted by Gen Musharraf to the media was, in fact, beginning of the decline of journalism, said Mr Naqi.

He regretted that the electronic media was ahead of the print in manipulating facts and earning a bad name for journalism as a whole. “Anchor persons of half of the 70 to 80 news channels are at liberty to malign politicians and level allegations against them in particular as I had predicted when licences for the launch of news channels were granted in bulk by Gen Musharraf. This ‘freedom’ may prove fatal…,” he said.

A journalist should keep his or her readers abreast of all the happenings while maintaining objectivity and with the aim to educate readers, he said. “The late Nisar Osmani used to say that a journalist should be a ‘generalist,’ having knowledge of every discipline of life,” said Mr Naqi while advising the journalists that they should develop habit of reading books in general and on history and geography in particular.

The veteran journalist said he had been doing his bit to find a solution to problems the people of Balochistan had been facing since his university days.

“I was the president of students’ union at the Karachi University when three students from Balochistan had some issue with their hostel mates. The vice-chancellor wanted to rusticate them for three years. To me, it was a harsh step which could end their academic careers and affect their future. I pleaded their case with the VC who refused to budge. However, the VC was kind enough to rusticate me for three years instead of them,” he recalled.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2016