[Reader-list] India's columnists envy their Pakistani counterparts!

[Shivam Vij]

It would be so much fun if the government of India were to do
something like this. And going by India's point-by-point replication
of Pakistan's blogspot-blocking controversy, it would indeed be in the
order of things. India has so many columnists, and so many of them are
so dull, drab, predictable. Imagine boosting the egos of 33
columnists! This is even better than censorship. In censorship you end
up making martyrs out of fools, in pro-government PR you give fools a
power kick. But why columnists? I would imagine news editors would be
more important people.

Let's try this: which columnists do you think would be the first to
get love letters from the Soochna Mantralaya? Depends on the
government of the day, of course. So in the present circumstances it
would be something like Tavleen Singh, Chandan Mitra, Swapan
Dasgupta...! And Arjun Singh would want Pratap Bhanu Mehta!

Regardless of whether their is a left government in power or a right
one, most columnists trying to be 'original' about India's Kashmir
policy would be in for trouble, sorry, PR.

If any Soochna Mantralaya babus are reading this (no, really - some
bloggers have been getting page hits from sarakari IP addresses!),
please note that the leaking of such intentions is the worst PR, and
this too should be replicated from Islamabad.

Enjoy,
Shivam



Govt seeks to 'soften up' top columnists, reporters

>From our correspondent
27 July 2006
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=&section=subcontinent&xfile=data/subcontinent/2006/July/subcontinent_July995.xml


ISLAMABAD — In a major PR exercise, the government of Shaukat Aziz has
prepared a list of 33 columnists, writers and reporters in the English
and Urdu print media of Pakistan and assigned its top 'spin doctors'
to neutralise the 'negativism' of these writers by making them 'soft
and friendly'.

Understandably, no editor or owner-editor has been so targeted,
suggesting that the government thinks it best to directly deal with
the troublemaker writers than indirectly through their prickly bosses.

The glib new information minister, Mohammad Ali Durrani, will lead his
team of spin doctors along with the affable Information Secretary
Shahid Rafi, to work on the targeted columnists and reporters and
'soften' them up so that their criticism of the Aziz government's
policies and decisions is muted.

The top Urdu columnist, Irshad Haqqani of Jang, is to be 'softened' up
by two top government stalwarts — Information Minister Durrani and the
Principal Information Officer (PIO) of the federal government, Ashfaq
Gondal.

Rafi is also tasked with buttering up Khalid Hasan, the
Washington-based correspondent of Daily Times and The Friday Times.

The others from Daily Times on the government's 'soft' hit list are
Kamran Shafi (columnist) and Irfan Ghauri (reporter). Khaled Ahmad,
the contributing editor of TFT, figures prominently in the line-up.

The military's chief media manager, Major General Shaukat Sultan, has
been asked to chasten Kamla Hyat, a human rights activist and
columnist of The News.

The 'secret' list also mentions Rauf Klasra and Ansar Abbasi of The
News and Mehtab Haider of The Nation, but doesn't say who will
'handle' them.

Strangely enough, the names of Sherry Rehman and Farhatullah Babar of
the PPP also figure on the list of negative columnists. Who will pick
up the phone in Islamabad and brave the wrath of these stalwarts is
not clear.

Naturally, too, the names of Karachi's most intransigent columnist,
the veteran Ardeshir Cowasjee, and his associate Amina Jilani, are
highlighted. Sources wondered who would have the guts to try and
silence them, which is why no particular handler has been assigned to
them.

Roedad Khan, a former senior civil servant and presidential adviser,
is also named for his unrelenting hostility to the Musharraf regime.
Apparently, the government is again at a loss to know how to deal with
him.

Durrani has also taken upon his robust shoulders the task of handling
a number of senior Urdu columnists: Hasan Nisar, Abbas Athar (both
from Daily Express), Attaur Rehman, Irfan Siddiqui and Haroon Rashid
(all from Nawa-i-Waqt).

Senator Tariq Azeem, the PML-Q's media manager, has been entrusted the
job of buttering up Attaul Haq Qasmi (Jang) and Abdul Qadir Hassan
(Daily Express). Shahid Rafi will apply his charm on Dr Ajmal Niazi.

The PM's Press Secretary, Javed Akhtar, has also been roped in to
'coordinate' with Hamid Mir (Geo TV), Farrukh Saleem (The News/TFT),
Shafqat Mahmood (The News) and Khaled Ahmed. He claims to know these
gentlemen well.

Respectable Karachi journalists shouldn't be alarmed. They haven't
been left out of the loop. The former journalist turned PM adviser on
media affairs, Jaffar Bilgrami, should be soon getting in touch with
old hands like M.B. Naqvi and Ghazi Salahuddin of The News. The PIO,
Ashfaq Gondal, will have his hands full dealing with Ayaz Amir of Dawn
and Farooq Qaiser and Raja Anwar of Khabrain.