Daily Times

A journalist is supposed to ask questions. Always. Because answers to those questions tend to raise ten more, one should keep asking them until they get to the finish. Therefore, there wasn’t anything fundamentally wrong with senior journalist Matiullah Jan’s decision to grill PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari over likely collusion with the establishment outside the Supreme Court. However, since he had dared to put a mainstream leader on the spot in front of a dozen flashing cameras and reporters from all around the world, he should have been just as prepared to submit his rationale or some loosely constructed evidence when asked to substantiate his allegations.

Accusing the representative of a party that has established a riveting narrative around the supremacy of civilian structures of undermining the sanctity of democracy is no small deal. This reawakening of Hearst-inspired yellow journalism that feeds off misleading questions and puts the onus of investigation on the interviewee seems to have done wonders for vloggers or social media journalists. The angrier the confrontation with any public figure, the larger the views and the bigger the paycheck.

Daring to be the devil’s advocate, this publication stands by its support of Mr Bhutto Zardari and others like him who choose to call out those who peddle baseless accusations. It is high time these big names snap out of vigilante journalism and try putting out facts as they are. The tangled web of Pakistani politics, especially in the wake of one of the most controversial elections in its history, does not leave even a sliver of breathing space for any more drama.

There’s a lot that needs to be resolved nearly three weeks after the country went to polls. Now is probably not the time to fish for piercing headlines and make others do our work for us. All compelling investigative stories need to be compiled, analysed, checked and given one last scrutinising glance in the old-fashioned reporting. *