TikTok challenges
IN the few months of this year, the popular social media app TikTok posted an in-app purchase revenue that was “$205 million more than Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter combined”,…
Perils of punditry
IF the government decides to call for elections just a few days shy of the current parliament’s term-end, the caretaker administration will have 90 days in which to complete the…
Strange objects in the sky
IT all began with the Chinese spy balloon. After allowing it to fly for several days over US territory, the American military finally shot down over the country’s territorial waters…
The issue that matters
IS the Pakistani public obsessed with politics? Or is it the media which is fuelling the impression that this is what the nation wants and, therefore, every day reams of…
Crisis of mainstream media
SOMEONE who entered the world of print and bore witness to the era of the electronic medium in Pakistan is a strange creature. Few of the ‘printies’ adapt easily to…
Pressing on
DON’T you get tired writing about the same thing, asked my friend ST, after she read through several of my old columns — her idea, not mine; we were reconnecting…
The narrow path
SOVEREIGN defaults bring about a lot of misery in their wake from long lines for medicines and infant formula to social unrest and political violence. Surprisingly, defaults are very common…
Stagnation of political sphere
A FEW weeks ago, my father, who often catches up on news programmes he has missed via YouTube, began to watch one such show. Almost 15 minutes into the programme…
South Asia media landscape
The storm in India over a carefully researched and crafted BBC documentary had barely begun to die down when the international broadcaster’s offices in Delhi and Mumbai were raided by ‘tax authorities’.…
The Younger Games
WHAT do Madonna and Iffat Omar have in common, other than the obvious gender? They were both victims of one of the last taboos that rears its ugly head every…
