By: Aimen Anjum

Responsible Journalism
In this era of fake journalism, some sources of news prove to be or come under the category of
“responsible journalism”. The two most renowned newspaper agencies, Jang and Dawn
Newspaper are rightly considered to be authentic and trustworthy newspapers by the masses.
Dawn is the largest and oldest English-language newspaper in Pakistan and the country's
newspaper of record. Dawn is the flagship publication of the Dawn Group of Newspapers. Dawn
was founded by Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Delhi, India, on 26 October 1941, as a
mouthpiece for the Muslim League. It was the first-ever newspaper in Pakistan and has been
serving people ever since which could be a reason why people trust the agency so much. Since
Dawn has been a source of information for Pakistanis for decades, this can be a reason why
they have always published the truth and never misguided their readers to pay homage to the
great leader and founder of the newspaper, Mr. Mohmmad Ali Jinnah. While on the other
hand, if Dawn was the first-ever and reliable source of English readership, Jang became the
center of trust for Urdu readership. It is the oldest newspaper of Pakistan in continuous
publication since its foundation in 1939, first published during World War II, hence the name
(Jang) translating to "war" in Urdu. Both newspapers have been the shoulder of Pakistan since
independence in terms of Media which is why they have been considered to be responsible and
reliable sources of news ever since.
A few years ago, some social media site posted a screenshot of a fake news story to look like an
article from Dawn Newspaper to mislead the public by implying that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf
(PTI) leader Faisal Vawda had withdrawn a petition against the alleged corruption of Karachi
mayor Wasim Akhtar. On August 21st, 2018, the Dawn newspaper itself
published an article addressing fake news. The article, mentions all the
proof and arguments as to how that screenshot is fake. It says that even
though the creators were able to fake mimic the font of Dawn, but were
unable to compose a proper sentence following Dawn’s style guide and
standards. They talk about hoe usual abbreviations, grammar, and
formation of the headline, all rules have been violated making it easy to
distinguish between the real and fake. Dawn not only addressed the fake
rumors and disproved the fake news but also later in the article mentions
and informs the reader about the true information regarding the petition
signed by Faisal Vawda. Hence it is safe to say that Dawn Newspaper is
surely an example of Responsible Journalism that does the job of
informing the masses rightfully.
Geo News
Geo News is a Pakistani pay television news channel
owned by the Jang Media Group. Geo has always been
under the spotlight of controversies against spreading and
reporting fake news. On 7 June 2014, Geo News was
banned by Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority
(PEMRA), a government media watchdog agency, for 15
days along with a fine of PKR 10 million. The government
of Pakistan accused the channel of defaming and
maligning some people in Pakistan. Not only that but
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra)
issued a show-cause notice to Geo News for airing
unverified news regarding Pakistan's ambassador to the
United States, Jalil Abbas Jilani (via Tribune). Geo had
reported that the White House had censured Jilani for
tweeting pictures with the first lady, Michelle Obama,
without official consent. According to the report, this was
communicated to Pakistan’s embassy in Washington and
Foreign Office in Islamabad through a letter. Pakistan's
embassy in Washington promptly tweeted its displeasure, The notice issued by PEMRA
disputing the facts of the report. Pemra took action against Geo News following Ambassador
Jilani's complaint. The ambassador said Geo had tainted his name and misled the people of
Pakistan. "It allowed international media to defame our country," he added. After the news was
aired, Jalil Abbas Jilani wrote a letter to the PEMRA chairman, stating that the irresponsibility
shown by Geo News provided India with an opportunity to start propaganda against Pakistan.

It has also been observed that Geo News always sides with Pakistan Muslim League Noon, PML-
N in all political issues and always has been providing one biased side of the story favoring the
party which can also tell us how Geo news misleads the information. In another instance of
spreading fake news, Geo News painted a wrong interpretation of a UK court’s decision
regarding the Sharif family. (via news 360). Geo News reported a fake story that PML-N
President Shehbaz Sharif and his son Suleman Sharif have been acquitted by a UK court after no
evidence of money laundering, fraud, and criminal conduct was found against them. However,
when the court order was obtained, there was no mention of acquittal and the National Crime
Agency (NCA) of the UK only looked into unsure transactions. The media persons, who also
happen to be lawyers, were also surprised how a court order was interpreted in the favor of the
Sharif family and the media outlet ran it as a breaking story. Later Geo news was asked by the
authorities to take down the story immediately.
Haqeeqat TV
Haqeeqat TV is news reporting YouTube Channel in Pakistan. It’s a well-known fact how
information on social media is mostly faked just to get millions of views by getting the
audience's attention. Similarly, Haqeeaqt Tv is under the spotlight for spreading fake news on
its YouTube channel. Reddit which is an American social news aggregation, web content rating,
and discussion website posted a scandal related to Haqeeqat TV. A blog under the name “News
and Politics of Pakistan” posted a question What do you think of Haqeeqat TV to get the views
of the people. The majority commented the same thing about how they fake their news and all
they do is spread conspiracy theories without providing any source. The thumbnails are in Urdu
and titles are in English (which are carefully planned to fool the algorithm). Another said that
the content creator of the channel actually makes a profit out of it by creating videos on fake
news by adding spices. On April 5th, 2022, The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting blocked
twenty-two YouTube news channels including eighteen Indian and four Pakistan based for
spreading fake news, and coordinating disinformation over social media on subjects sensitive
from the perspective of national security, India’s foreign relations, and public order, .
DuniyaMeryAagy, Ghulam NabiMadni, HAQEEQAT TV, and HAQEEQAT TV 2.0 are the four Pakistan-
based YouTube news channels that have been blocked. Another scandal was posted on Reddit where
Haqeeqat Tv spread fake news against the government.

Screenshot of the fake news against the

Government
Fake news story published by Geo
news