Biased By Design

Pakistan has been in the grip of a political turmoil during the past one month and the foreign media outlets are keeping a close eye on the country’s rapidly changing political situation. However, by and large the media coverage smacks of bias and its partisan approach has left a lot to be desired.

Hindustan Times, one of India’s leading newspapers, seems happy with the probable ouster of Imran Khan. The newspaper wrote in favour of the possible toppling of the government in Pakistan and the change in the premiership. In fact, the newspaper referred to the whole letter-gate issue as a conspiracy and blames Khan for these crises.  Some of the headlines include ‘Pak SC deals a blow to Imran Khan Niazi’s conspiracy theory’, ‘Endgame for Imran Khan?’, ‘Supreme Court orders no-trust vote on Saturday’ etc.

Most of the Indian media outlets blame Imran Khan’s deteriorating ties with the establishment for his government’s toppling. Such conspiracy theories from Indian news outlet are being churned out for decades now. They somehow manage to drag the military into all civilian issues in Pakistan. This time, too, it was no different even though the establishment of Pakistan has clarified their neutral stance on the ongoing political crisis. For example, The Indian Express’s explanation of the issue was ‘Out of favor with Army and allies, why Imran Khan’s future as PM looks uncertain’. They went a step further in another story by stating that ‘Army got Imran Khan PM’s job, why it’s now tugging at the rug under his feet.’ The ANI news stated that ‘Imran Khan antagonises Pak army, faces ouster’.

The Times of India was no different and mentioned that ‘Imran Khan vs Pakistan Army Chief over US ties, Ukraine conflict.’

The US-based media outlets also seemed much convinced with the ouster of Imran Khan from office with their headlines screaming to the effect. But while their headlines keep projecting the failure of Imran Khan’s government for the ongoing crisis, they did not mention the letter-gate at all except for quoting the US government’s stance on the issue. Imran Khan has been portrayed as someone playing with fire to save the premiership, much like the former US President Donald Trump.

According to the CNN headlines, ‘Pakistan’s Imran Khan is fighting to hold on to power.’ It went a step ahead and called PM’s decision for early elections a dramatic move. According to CNN, ‘Khan had called the election in a dramatic attempt to cling to power.’

Another major Western news outlet, the New York Times, seemed to be really obsessed with Imran Khan’s ouster. They seemed to be presenting Imran Khan’s statement on the situation in a biased manner. Some of their headlines include ’Pakistan’s Cricket-Star-Turned-Prime Minister Fights for Survival’, ‘Imran Khan Defiantly Refuses to Resign as Pakistan’s Leader ’, ‘Pakistan’s Prime Minister Dissolves Parliament’, ‘Blocking an Effort to Remove Him’, ‘Claiming No-Confidence Vote Is Compromised’, ‘Imran Khan Says He Won’t Accept Result’, ‘Defection of Key Ally Gives Opposition the Votes to Oust Imran Khan’ etc.

Even BBC did not stress on the letter-gate issue and their tone was no different to other Western media outlets.

On the other hand, the Chinese news outlets showed the true spirit of journalism and remained impartial while reporting the political crisis in Pakistan. In fact, Global Times wrote a splendid piece highlighting Washington’s intention of exploiting the political turmoil in Pakistan. The headline of the article was ‘Pakistan possibly a new victim of US political meddling’. Russian news outlets were no different as well, their tone was also neutral about the ongoing situation in Pakistan.

The Western media news outlets once again did not miss a single chance to mislead the world about Pakistan, as has been a case with them for decades on end. If this does not expose the Western hypocrisy, nothing does.