TV: The big picture

Zaid Hamid, 8216;security consultant and strategic defence analyst8217;, is a fixture on this channel...

News 1:

Zaid Hamid, 8216;security consultant and strategic defence analyst8217;, is a fixture on this channel: whether it8217;s on Mujhe Ikhhtilaf Hai with Qudsia Qadir or on Siyasat Aur Pakistan with Faisal Rahman. On Mujhe Ikhhtilaf Hai I differ, Hamid made incendiary comments on how the Mumbai blasts are the handiwork of 8220;Western and Hindu Zionists8221;. 8220;The Indians wanted to orchestrate 9/11 and recreate the drama of that but failed miserably,8221; he says. He continued: 8220;Inki shaklein Hinduonwali hain, jis zabaan mein guftagoo kar rahein hain, woh zabaan koi Pakistani istemaal nahin karta hai8221;. The terrorists looked like Hindus and their dialect was not what any Pakistani would speak

Aaj TV:

On the programme Live with Talat, Talat Hussain wondered if India and its media are jumping the gun by 8220;instinctively pointing fingers at Pakistan8221;. A clipping of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh8217;s address to the nation, promising to 8220;strongly take up with Pakistan8230;that the use of their territory for launching an attack on India will not be tolerated8221;, is followed by Hussain citing the Samjhauta blasts of February 2007. Then, too, India and its media8212;newspapers and TV channels8212;blamed Pakistan-based groups. It now turns out, Talat said, that 8220;right-wing Hindu groups8221; and a serving Lt Col, Prasad Purohit, were behind the blasts. Aaj TV8217;s news programme, Prime TV, quoted Major Gen Athar Abbas, a senior Army officer, as saying that there are no terror camps on Pakistan8217;s eastern border.

Geo TV

On November 28, viewers heard something that took many by surprise: commandos seen sliding down a rope from a helicopter onto the Nariman House rooftop, were described as 8220;Israelis8217;8217;. Geo TV said there were reports that the men in black were not Indian NSG commandos but Israeli ones.

Just like Indian channels put together clips from 8220;fringe Pakistani channels8221; to show how the Pakistani media was taking sides, a report on Geo TV pieced together a TV clip from Indian channels which, they said, had eagerly jumped to the conclusion that Pakistan was behind the attack and were pushing the Government to go to war with Pakistan. The report showed Indian reporters claiming that the Pak Navy was behind the attack, without attributing it to anyone. Another said rather provocatively, 8220;Das atankwaadi, das ke das Pakistani.8221; The report also shows clips of TV advocating attack on terror camps in Pakistan. But the report also says that there have been some voices of restraint. It took Kabir Bedi8217;s quote on Times Now: 8220;Let8217;s make a distinction between the government of Pakistan and the people of Pakistan, let8217;s also make a distinction between this government of Pakistan and previous governments of Pakistan8221;.

On his programme Meray Mutabik, former PTV chief Dr Shahid Masood described the history and size of the Indian media, praised its role in breaking stories and its anti-establishment line. Masood wondered if India8217;s investigative journalists would get to 8220;the truth of the Mumbai blasts instead of blaming Pakistan8221;.

A panel discussion, Capital Talk, took a more strident stand. It began with a 8220;report8221; on the 8220;atrocities India commits in the name of secularism8212;attacks on Christians, people gone missing in Kashmir, atrocities on Dalits8221;. The show advised India to act against the likes of Pravin Togadia and Lt.Col Purohit, instead of carrying out a propaganda against Pakistan.

Dawn News

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Another panel discussion; this time with the three top guns of Pakistani media8212;anchors Hamid Mir, Talat Hussain and Nasim Zehra. In an hour-long programme aired last Saturday and Sunday, they took turns to say that the Indian media was 8220;too nationalistic8221;, 8220;told lies8221; and seemed to have made a habit of pointing fingers at Pakistan.

From the Middle East:

Al Jazeera, Qatar, Doha

Al Jazeera English tries to maintain a balance. It said that so far, there is 8220;zero proof that Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda are in any way involved in the Mumbai attack8221; but added that the way Westerns were targeted makes the attacks a 8220;trademark of the Al Qaeda8221;. It ended by saying: 8220;Seems that like-minded groups are emerging in spite of the US8217;s so-called global war on terror8221;. On the channel8217;s Riz Khan Show, former CNN anchor, Riz Khan, in Mumbai 8220;to study the success of Bollywood and explore social issues8221;, found himself assessing the attack: wasn8217;t this Mumbai8217;s 9/11? And how on earth did the attackers sneak in?

IBA News, Jerusalem

As expected the focus was on Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife killed in the Nariman House attack. One clip that makes it toYoutube is a report on the prayer meeting held in honour of the Rabbi and his family. It dwells on Baby Moshe still clutching his ball and still crying uncontrollably for his 8220;Emma mother8221;.