The Bill O’Reilly/Sean Hannity of Pakistani media: Ahmed Quraishi.
Or perhaps Al Frankin’s ‘lying liars’ label fits him better. Quraishi wrote:
Internationally, just this year there have been four incidents where US journalists were accused of spying:
1. American-Iranian Roxana Saberi was arrested in Tehran in possession of confidential documents that belonged to a national security department in the Iranian government. She was released only when Washington offered diplomatic concessions that were not made public, according to the Iranian media.
2. Two US journalists illegally entered North Korea. Washington called it abduction but media reports proved later that the two crossed the border illegally despite warnings from a South Korean translator.
3. In a case that remains unexplained until now, a US citizen mysteriously swam his way to the house of a US-backed opposition leader in Myanmar, where he remains in detention pending negotiations with Washington.
4. Three American ‘hikers’ entered Iran illegally this year. One of them turned out to be a US journalist who speaks local languages. He said he was on a private hiking trip.
None of the above might be a spy, although the evidence in Ms. Saberi’s case was damning and irrefutable. But it is interesting how frequently US journalists find themselves in situations where they are accused of spying. Exhibit A: four cases in less than a year.
“it is interesting” in this usage resembles the classic Fox News ploy to make baseless, passive indefinite-pronoun-construct accusations against perceived enemies of the conservative line.
And of course there’s the whopping error of fact that the last two examples don’t even involve journalists. And then there is the bigger ethical issue that he’s painting a big target on the backs of foreign journalists with his wild accusations of espionage…
Today a Pakistani media blogger reports that Ahmed Quraishi is listed as a member of the American Association of Political Consultants.
This is obviously something that is very curious because Mr. Quraishi has made a name for himself in the media as a very anti-American commentator both on TV and in the newspapers.
Actually, on his personal website, Mr. Quraishi lists recent articles that he has written and the majority of these articles have some negative comments about the US. This leaves us wondering about the question of who are Mr. Quraishi’s American political clients and what are their interests? Are they paying Mr. Quraishi to say some things about American foreign policy?
A vital part of any honest media is for transparency as to where the journalist is receiving compensation from that could influence their talking points.
Hmmmm. Yes Mr. Quraishi, as you attempt to flog your nation into greater conflict and more overt hostility with the US, let’s see your full portfolio of American clients…
