Capital Talk 20th August 2008

Hamid Mir with latest episode of capital talk.
Guests:
Ch. Nisar Ali Khan, Syed Mushahid Hussain & Athar MinaAllah

[shasnahn]

Hamid Mir and Jang group are lifafa journalists. They suffered financial losses when Musharraf banned them for a few months, and then were given lots of cash by Nawaz Sharif, resulting in their hatred of Musharraf and worship of Nawaz after Feb 18.

He also has one thing in common with Pakistani urdu pundits: they are sympathetic to terrorists and have no clue about international affairs.

[saname769]

a lot of hot discussion here mates. Hamid mir is not the best anchor or journalist around. He has done a lot but I have a feeling as if he is a sort of ghunda journalist, trying to twist and mould the things. He thinks he is the one who can blackmail the politician and he is always right. The fact of the matter is that he is not always right. He should learn something from Talat who is more analytical and deeper in probing, yet not insultive to the politicians. What I do not like in Hamid mir is his superficiality in discussing very important issues. One more drawback is that he repeats the words said by a politician in the show, and sometimes asks them to repeat what they have said. Its a political talk show, not a court of law. I think many of my friends here may agree that there are guests who are rather impressed, rather depressed by Hamid mir in the show. Some of them are too respectful towards him. Why should it be like that? Its a free world. Just find a program where the guest talks something which does not go well with Himd's point of view and then see his facial expressions and sometime a lot of ghussa on his face. Similarly Mushtaq minhas behaves as if he is the most poius man in journalism. Nusrat Javed is so clever, yet a very intelligent guy. He is analytical and goes deeper. Many times HM in capital talk and MM in bolta pakistan say what we all want to say but sometimes he irritates. We need people like Talat who are educating us rather than bringing a kushti of words on talk shows.
Just an example to illustrate why Hamid mir and MM are not always right is their stand on the election and judiciary issue. They were against elections earlier (remember capital talk on the footpath). Then they started supporting elections. Then after the elections I heard hamid mir condemning JI and PTI flags in front of CJ house to celebrate his release after PM's speech. Why should he condemn it? Are they not pakistanis.
What I am trying to say is that its the leaders who take decisions not the journalists. If BB and NS went for elections, it was their own decision. Journalists should analyse and criticise, yet not behave like angels of the society.
Believe me I cant ignore the struggle which all these journalists have done all the years. We as a nation owe a lot to Haimd Mir, Talat Hussain, Mushtaq Minhas, Kashif Abbasi, Kamran Khan, Nusrat Javed and Dr Shahid masood as well. What is needed is to keep an eye on these guys as well. Obviously they should not be above everyone.
I heard NJ in bolta pakistan saying that they had decided not to criticise any journalist in their program, why? Actually I wrote an e mail to bolta pakistan about yellow journalism in pakistan in which I had mentioned a few of those practicing it. I have a feeling that all the politicians, army generals and beaurocrats get criticised and humiliated at one time or the other by the journalists and even the common people. Is there a system to hold the journalists accountable also. We need to check them also.
I have been liking hamid mir, still i dont dislike him, but i wish he improves his program, makes it more analytical. The quality of his show depends upon the kind of guests he has. On the other hand Talat will make his show worth watching even with very medioce guests just on his own. He will put tough and analytical questions. In order to answer his question, even the guest has to be educated enough to understand the question before answering.
If I have Live with talat, Bolta Pakistan, Capital talk and Off the record on friendskorner, I watch Live with talat first and may even leave all the rest.