PTI, NYT and the Massive Media Fail
Let's get one thing straight here. I'm not upset at Pankaj Mishra for doing his job.
After reading the feature in the New York Times about Imran Khan, entitled "Imran Khan Must Be Doing Something Right", I was in shock for several minutes. And then when I was able to close my mouth, I immediately opened it in order to let out several whoops of disbelief. For here was a piece in arguably the world's most important newspaper that made IK look like Bozo the Clown.
Okay, perhaps I'm being too harsh. Sugandha Gupta, a resident of LA with whom I connected recently on Twitter, says that she thought it was an accurate portrayal of "the delicate balance of South Asian politics". And of someone who seems "conflicted", to put it mildly.
Here we have a writer who is allowed hours and hours of special alone time with Imran Khan - in his bedroom, amongst other venues - while the would-be leader of Pakistan spills his heart out on various subjects. He rants about "Westoxified Pakistanis" (according to Omar Waraich, "Westoxified" was a term used in a 2001 essay by Salman Rushdie about how progressive thinkers are lambasted in the Muslim world; IK's hatred of Salman Rushdie is well known and he should stop using this term immediately) and makes fun of Bilawal Bhutto for not speaking Urdu without batting an eyelash at the fact that his own two sons are being brought up in London and only visit Pakistan on school holidays. Pankaj Mishra accompanies him on a road trip to a convention in a rural town in Punjab, where IK promises to rid the nation of corruption but doesn't pay the road toll. The "media coordinator" tells Mishra about how hard it is for her to do her job in the face of male opposition in the party.
Here's another gem from the article:
“Morons!” he exclaimed. “First you have to guarantee basic social and economic rights before you get to gender rights! What is the point of these NGO workers showing up in conservative tribal areas wearing bluejeans?!”
So, it appears that IK has just reduced the fight for gender equality - which is a part and parcel of social rights - to frivolous women wanting to wear tight clothing. (Probably IK is unaware of the death of Farida Afridi, cofounder of women's NGO SAWERA, who was not wearing blue jeans when she was shot in the head by unknown assailants in Peshawar last month after receiving death threats for her work in the tribal areas making women aware of their "basic social and economic rights".)
All of this ends up on the pages of the New York Times and beamed around the world.
I mean, what the hell?
Are Imran Khan's handlers completely insane? How on earth did the PTI "media coordination department" overlook vetting Mishra? It's a fact of modern journalism that every journalist has an angle, either of his or her own construction or dictated suggested by his or her editor. An angle, or a slant. The job of the media coordinator or publicist of any celebrity, politician, or other public figure is to vet that journalist and find out that angle. Accompany the journalist everywhere and steer him or her away from awkward lines of questioning, complete blunders, and divisions within the party.
Journalists will ferret these things out from anybody who hasn't had extensive experience and training in how to handle the media - another area in which the PTI "media coordinators" seem to have dropped the ball. Why hasn't IK been briefed on each journalist and told what to say and what to stay away from? Perhaps they use the excuse that IK is his own man and won't be told what to say or not to say in interviews. But this is completely naive and foolish. These are not sycophantic Pakistani talk shows anymore This is the big league. This is where the Big Boys come out to play.
This is not cricket.
I get a lot of flak for criticizing Imran Khan and the PTI, and I'm definitely no fangirl of his contradictory stance on many issues. My own political stance is non-existant; I'm not in favor of any party or politician currently working in Pakistan today. But I am a writer, and as a writer, I can safely say I don't feel this was a hatchet job on IK in the least. I think this was a case of a renowned writer sitting back, letting IK talk, and letting the story write itself. The PTI "media coordination team" is simply too Mickey Mouse to handle anything other than the most basic level of "media coordination"; Imran Khan should hire a professional publicist, stat. Otherwise his political campaign will be DOA before the elections even arrive, if this is the level of professionalism with which his party handles his affairs.
Bina Shah at 10:36 AM
Bina Shah: PTI, NYT and the Massive Media Fail
Let's get one thing straight here. I'm not upset at Pankaj Mishra for doing his job.
After reading the feature in the New York Times about Imran Khan, entitled "Imran Khan Must Be Doing Something Right", I was in shock for several minutes. And then when I was able to close my mouth, I immediately opened it in order to let out several whoops of disbelief. For here was a piece in arguably the world's most important newspaper that made IK look like Bozo the Clown.
Okay, perhaps I'm being too harsh. Sugandha Gupta, a resident of LA with whom I connected recently on Twitter, says that she thought it was an accurate portrayal of "the delicate balance of South Asian politics". And of someone who seems "conflicted", to put it mildly.
Here we have a writer who is allowed hours and hours of special alone time with Imran Khan - in his bedroom, amongst other venues - while the would-be leader of Pakistan spills his heart out on various subjects. He rants about "Westoxified Pakistanis" (according to Omar Waraich, "Westoxified" was a term used in a 2001 essay by Salman Rushdie about how progressive thinkers are lambasted in the Muslim world; IK's hatred of Salman Rushdie is well known and he should stop using this term immediately) and makes fun of Bilawal Bhutto for not speaking Urdu without batting an eyelash at the fact that his own two sons are being brought up in London and only visit Pakistan on school holidays. Pankaj Mishra accompanies him on a road trip to a convention in a rural town in Punjab, where IK promises to rid the nation of corruption but doesn't pay the road toll. The "media coordinator" tells Mishra about how hard it is for her to do her job in the face of male opposition in the party.
Here's another gem from the article:
“Morons!” he exclaimed. “First you have to guarantee basic social and economic rights before you get to gender rights! What is the point of these NGO workers showing up in conservative tribal areas wearing bluejeans?!”
So, it appears that IK has just reduced the fight for gender equality - which is a part and parcel of social rights - to frivolous women wanting to wear tight clothing. (Probably IK is unaware of the death of Farida Afridi, cofounder of women's NGO SAWERA, who was not wearing blue jeans when she was shot in the head by unknown assailants in Peshawar last month after receiving death threats for her work in the tribal areas making women aware of their "basic social and economic rights".)
All of this ends up on the pages of the New York Times and beamed around the world.
I mean, what the hell?
Are Imran Khan's handlers completely insane? How on earth did the PTI "media coordination department" overlook vetting Mishra? It's a fact of modern journalism that every journalist has an angle, either of his or her own construction or dictated suggested by his or her editor. An angle, or a slant. The job of the media coordinator or publicist of any celebrity, politician, or other public figure is to vet that journalist and find out that angle. Accompany the journalist everywhere and steer him or her away from awkward lines of questioning, complete blunders, and divisions within the party.
Journalists will ferret these things out from anybody who hasn't had extensive experience and training in how to handle the media - another area in which the PTI "media coordinators" seem to have dropped the ball. Why hasn't IK been briefed on each journalist and told what to say and what to stay away from? Perhaps they use the excuse that IK is his own man and won't be told what to say or not to say in interviews. But this is completely naive and foolish. These are not sycophantic Pakistani talk shows anymore This is the big league. This is where the Big Boys come out to play.
This is not cricket.
I get a lot of flak for criticizing Imran Khan and the PTI, and I'm definitely no fangirl of his contradictory stance on many issues. My own political stance is non-existant; I'm not in favor of any party or politician currently working in Pakistan today. But I am a writer, and as a writer, I can safely say I don't feel this was a hatchet job on IK in the least. I think this was a case of a renowned writer sitting back, letting IK talk, and letting the story write itself. The PTI "media coordination team" is simply too Mickey Mouse to handle anything other than the most basic level of "media coordination"; Imran Khan should hire a professional publicist, stat. Otherwise his political campaign will be DOA before the elections even arrive, if this is the level of professionalism with which his party handles his affairs.
Bina Shah at 10:36 AM
Bina Shah: PTI, NYT and the Massive Media Fail
