Dr Shahid Masood

Shahid Masood Khan
Occupation: Broadcast journalist
Author




Shahid Masood Khan (Urdu: شاہد مسعود خان) is a Pakistani doctor and works as journalist, columnist, TV show host and political analyst. He is the former President of ARY TV Network, Group Executive Director of Geo TV network and MD/Chairman of Pakistan Televion Corporation. Currently, he is working as the Consultant at the Express Media Group and also hosts Shahid Nama on Express News.[1] Previously he hosted the shows Views on News on ARY News and Meray Mutabiq on GEO TV.

Shahid Masood spent most of his childhood in Taif and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. His father was a civil engineer, who worked there for 15 years. He attended the Pakistan International School, Riyadh, for seven years. He attended Pakistan international school Riyadh, DJ science college Karachi and Sindh Medical College Karachi.

Views on News - ARY

Shahid Masood came into the spotlight with his program Views On News (launched after 9/11) Asia’s longest-running current affairs TV show. His show carried interviews with prominent people from politics, civil life, literature and culture. Politicians who were interviewed on Views on News included President General Pervez Musharraf, former Pakistani Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, Shaukat Aziz, and Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, MQM leader Altaf Hussain, PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif, former Pakistani general A. A. K. Niazi (of East Pakistan fame), Abdul Rashid Ghazi, former CIA Director James Woolsey, and former ISI chief Hamid Gul. Other people who appeared on the show include Ahmed Faraz, Israr Ahmad, Zakir Naik, Ashfaq Ahmed, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Asif Ali Zardari and Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti along with his most wanted Balouch rebel grandson Bramdagh Bugti. It was Nawab Bugti's last public appearance before he was killed in a military operation by the Pakistan Army.

Meray Mutabiq - GEO TV

The opening screen for Meray Mutabiq.

In January 2007, Shahid Masood joined Geo TV, which is owned by the Jang Group, the largest Urdu media group.
 At GEO, he hosted the show, Meray Mutabiq (According to me). Due to his open criticism of the government and General Musharraf on the show, Masood became a problem for the regime.

In late 2007, GEO Television was banned by General Musharraf after the imposition of emergency rule. Masood returned to the air in the mid-April 2008, and hosted an interview with Asif Zardari. Just in a month he was banned again after interviewing (late) General Jamshed Gulzar Kiani.

Chairman PTV

He later became MD and Chairman of PTV (state run TV) but due to his stance on the audit report he resigned and later was appointed as Advisor to Prime Minister (status of Federal Minister). Soon afterwards he resigned from this post too.

Back to GEO

After quitting his advisory post, Masood returned to GEO and once again started hosting his show, Meray Mutabiq. In late 2009 his show was banned again from Dubai but he continued broadcasting it from various locations. It resulted in attacks on GEO offices in Karachi.[6]

Director ARY

In mid 2010, Masood resumed his program Views on News on ARY News and served as Director of ARY but after few months he was again trapped by the establishment, so when Sadderuddin Hashwani invited him to join the Hashoo Group for the launch of a new TV channel, Shahid left the TV screens.

Shahid Nama

Masood returned to television on 18 July 2011, by starting a new show, Shahid Nama, on Express News.[ His program is broadcast from Monday to Thursday at 11 pm Pakistani Local Time.
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On the War on Terrorism

Ever since 9/11, Masood has been severely critical of the American-led War on Terrorism, although he never supported militancy or extremism. He routinely tends to analyze important issues along controversial lines, such as the Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and the 2006 Lebanon War. He was the only independent Pakistani journalist able to cover three major wars from the combat zones.

Ayesha Bakhsh

Host/Anchor Perosn/Journalist


Profession: Presenter
Affiliation(s): Geo News
Citizenship: Pakistani






Ayesha Bakhsh was born in District Pakpattan,Punjab, Pakistan. She is the daughter of Mian Mohammad Bakhsh and Rubina Bakhsh. She has two brothers Zeeshan Bakhsh who is also a journalist associated with Dawn News, Lahore and Osman Bakhsh and sister Saima Bakhsh. Ayesha’s schooling was at St.Marry Convent School, Sahiwal. She studied at Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi and was granted MSc degree in Communication Sciences.

Personal life

Although, nothing significant is known about her personal life. Her way of Newscasting is immaculate.

Career

March 2007 to Present with GEO T.V. Before presenting on geo news she has also worked as anchor on ary news

Ayesha Bakhsh is a Pakistani News Anchor/journalist. A0yesha joined Geo in January, 2007 and is currently Pakistan's Geo TV's Senior Newscaster. Her first stint on television as an anchor was on Geo’s programme, "Nazim Hazir Ho.". She also hosted “Crisis Cell”, “Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Saath” and "Laakin" in absence of their permanent hosts.

Ayesha Bakhsh is one of the renowned anchors of one of the top-notch and leading private news channel of Pakistan “Geo News” which is watched all the way through the planet by the Urdu speaking and thoughtful group of peoples. Ayesha Bakhsh is acknowledged for the whisper and pleasing conduct in her news reading way and is also exceptionally sensational.

She was also part of the 12-member delegation of journalists from mainstream media in Pakistan which visited Beijing, China on Monday, 4th July, 2011.

"Nazim Hazir Ho" is an effort to re instate the performances by Nazim through out their 4 years tenure. Program invites nazim from across Pakistan. NHH addresses the commitment made by those Nazims in Geo News’s program earlier or in general, in reference to their constituencies and development people. How well they have achieved those targets set by themselves and Government, what are the public opinion about those Nazims. Program also includes reports about the current situation of the city/tehsil, guest nazim belongs to, and discloses basic problems faced by people of his city/tehsil. Nazim defends his tenure. Program focuses on development issues, social issues and devolution of power. The program is designed to create awareness, accountability and also sketch the skills of the elected representatives.

Kashif Abbasi

Tv Anchor/Host
Born: 10 December 1974
Profession: Tv Anchor,Journalist
Affiliation(s): Ary News
Citizenship: Pakistani

Kashif Abbasi is one of the most famous Pakistani political talk show hosts. He has been doing a TV program called "Off the Record" on ARY News. The format of the program is that he invites about 2 to 4 guests (normally 3 guests) in his program and conducts a debate over an issue, usually a political one. One thing that should be appreciated about him is that he always raises crucial and critical issues that needs to be talked about. While other journalists quit talking about important issues he is one of the few who won't stop.

Along with Dr. Shahid Masood, Hamid Mir, Talat Hussain, and Javed Chaudhry, one of the most famous and sought after anchorperson in the Pakistani private media is Kashif Abbassi. A graduate of Barani Institute of Information Technology, UAAR, Rawalpindi, Kashif belongs to a wealthy and strong background, but his fame comes from his intrepid and fearless hosting of his programs.

Najam Sethi

Journalist/Host
Born: 24 May 1948
Profession: Journalist/columnist
Affiliation(s): Geo News
Citizenship: Pakistani










Najam Sethi, an award winning Pakistani journalist and media personality, is the editor-in-chief of The Friday Times, a Lahore-based political weekly. He was previously the editor of Daily Times and Daily Aajkal newspapers. He is currently the Editor in Chief of Geo News where he hosts a popular political program: “aapas ki baat”. He is the only journalist in Asia to receive three international press freedom awards in a decade.

Education
Sethi graduated from Government College, Lahore, Pakistan, in 1967. He was awarded the Presidents Gold Medal topping Punjab University. He took a BA Hons degree in Economics from Cambridge University, UK, in 1970 and was awarded the Davies Prize by Clare College, where he later spent a year as a PhD research fellow.

Personal Life
Sethi was born in May, 1948. He is married to Jugnu Mohsin who is Managing Editor of The Friday Times and Good Times. Their son Ali Sethi is a novelist and daughter Mira Sethi works at the Wall Street Journal in New York.

Politcal Prisoner
Sethi was a political prisoner from 1975-1977 during the regime of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for protesting military action in Balochistan. In 1984, the regime of General Zia ul Haq put him in prison for one month for publishing “From Jinnah To Zia”, a book authored by the former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Mohammad Munir. The book was a sort of mea culpa in which the author had admitted his grave error in legitimizing the first martial law in Pakistan in 1958, thereby paving the way for Gen Zia’s martial law in 1977.

Achievements
In 1999, he was again imprisoned by the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on trumped up charges of treason. The reason was relentless exposure of corruption in the Sharif family by The Friday Times. The Supreme Court of Pakistan later rejected the charges and freed him after one month. While in detention, he was tortured and suffered a heart attack, which necessitated heart surgery in 2000. The Sharif government harassed him later by slapping dozens of income tax cases, accused him of being a “non-Muslim” and tried to deprive him of his voting rights. But all the cases were dismissed by the courts and the his rights were restored by the Chief Election Commissioner.

Vanguard Books
In 1978, he established Vanguard Books, an independent, liberal, publishing house, which has published over 400 titles since then in history, politics and economics.

Friday Times
In 1989, along with his wife, he launched The Friday Times (TFT), an independent national weekly, which espouses secular internationalism, human rights, regional peace and democracy. Newsweek Magazine described him in the 1990s as a “crusading editor” for exposing corruption in government. He has unfailingly written the editorials of the paper every week since 1989.

Daily Times
In 2002, he launched Daily Times. Its editorials constantly argued for peace with India, supported the war against Taliban-Al-Qaeda terror; and opposed religious fundamentalism and extremism.

AajKal
In August 2008, he launched AajKal, a national Urdu daily, published from Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. He resigned from both papers in October 2009 after disagreements with its management over various issues.

Beyond Borders
In 2007, he set up Beyond Borders, a public interest production company for South Asia television channels. The mission statement of this project is to promote South Asian cultures, build confidence and trust; and sustain democracy, civil society and human rights in the region. The company has produced 13 short films on the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 based on the short stories of the grand literary masters of India and Pakistan. It has also produced a 13 part serial titled ROOTS, which is a compilation of interviews of famous Indians and Pakistanis who crossed over to the “other” country at the time of partition and have inspiring stories to tell of the warmth, love, humanity and affection of the “other” community.

Dunya News
Mr. Sethi joined Dunya News in 2009 and hosted his program thrice a week.

Geo/Jang Group
He joined the Geo/Jang Group in Jan 2011 as group adviser political affairs. He would host three weekly shows on Geo TV and write regular news analyses and commentary for Jang Group of Newspapers, including The News.

Death Threats
In 2007-8, he received open death threats from the Taliban-Al Qaeda for supporting the war against terrorism. The Taliban’s mouthpiece in Waziristan did a cover story in which it identified Najam Sethi as an “enemy of Islam”. Radical Islamists demonstrated against his papers in Islamabad and openly called for his elimination.

Awards
He has been awarded the 2009 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of the World Editors Forum/ World Association of Newspapers for courage in upholding secular values, human rights and press freedom. He has also received Courage in Journalism Award 1999 from Amnesty International, Press Freedom Award 1999 from Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) New York, and Hilal i Imtiaz, the highest civil award of the country, from the Government of Pakistan in 2010.

Sana Bucha

Journalist/Anchor Person
Born: N/A
Profession: Journalist
Affiliation(s): Geo News
Citizenship: Pakistani




Sana Bucha is a Pakistani television journalist and anchor who currently works for GEO News. She hosted and served as the executive director for the current affairs show Crisis Cell before switching over to the newly-started program Laikin. Bucha covers topics such as Pakistani politics and foreign relations, South Asia and Middle East affairs and American involvement in the region.


Sana Bucha joined GEO Television Network in 2003. Bucha started off as a production development associate and moved on to becoming producer for the first English Language Bulletin on GEO. Other than producing it, Bucha also hosted the bulletin frequently. After the English bulletin, Bucha hosted and produced the channel’s first ever English show, “News Day.” That in itself became a stepping stone for the network’s first English Language Channel, GEO English. She worked as an executive producer for the channel, hiring, training, designing and managing a young team of enthusiasts who were nothing short of brilliant! The Musharraf government and its obvious bias towards GEO (the bias was mutual!) halted the channel in its tracks a year and a half later and Bucha found herself back to where she started: GEO News, Pakistan’s most trusted news channel. Not to mention the highest rated and the most watched, not only in Pakistan but in the US, UK and the Middle East. Bucha was back on screen as the host of Crisis Cell.

Known for her great inter-personal skills, Bucha is quick to find support amongst people and her show’s ratings were a clear indicator to how popular she is. From risking her life in flood struck areas, where there was no government, no army, no willing helicopters and no roads to the brutal killing of two teenage boys in Sialkot, Bucha has time and again proven herself to be not just a TV face but an ethical journalist.

Bucha is back and now hosts "Lekin," Monday through Wednesday from 7-8 p.m.
PST. Bucha's revolutionary program breaks down and examines stories making the headlines or those that get just the back page but deserve more. What sets Bucha apart from the leading news anchors in Pakistan, is her eye for detail, unbiased approach and impeccable dress sense. Bucha knows how to fight the good fight but will not resort to the typical screaming, yelling female banshees Pakistanis have become used to on their TV screens.

Along with her program, Bucha is dedicated to tackling core issues that plague the country. she is working on different projects that will instil a much needed changed in Pakistan in the years to come.

While at GEO News, Bucha secured many interviews including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Af-Pak envoy, Richard Holbrooke, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the UK, Wajid Shams-ul-Hasan, Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and asylum-seeking, Baloch nationalist, Harbiyar Marri. The issues that interest her most include terrorism, religion, women’s empowerment, the economy, foreign relations and Pakistan’s own checkered dictatorship history. Her independent, center-left views make her an anomaly at GEO News and her program promises to be an original – fearless, impartial and accurate – lekin is the new but at GEO. Bucha has written for various publications including The Wall Street Journal, Newsline and The News. She has produced documentaries in sync with foreign news agencies on domestic violence in Pakistan, the blasphemy law in Pakistan and most recently, the after effects of the worst floods the nation has ever seen.



Bucha Basics

1. How did you get into the TV/News business?

This is something I have asked myself several times over the last few years. It’s my favourite question on a bad day at GEO. Haven’t figured out the answer but don’t regret it.

2. What are you looking forward to most about working on Lekin?
As a child, I’ve always asked too many questions. Now its time to question the question.

3. Name one thing fans would be surprised to hear about you?
That I used to be 260 pounds. I’m a weight loss success story.

4. What is your most memorable encounter as a TV personality?
When I was covering the IDPs during the Swat operation and most recently the floods, people kept asking me if I was Benazir Bhutto’s daughter. One fan recently asked me if I was Benazir Bhutto herself. He probably doesn’t watch news.

5. What is the best advice you have ever received?
Stay on the path. Don’t deviate.

6. If you could invite any three people (dead or alive) to dinner, who would they be?
Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Osama bin Laden and President Zardari. Jinnah because he hasn’t eaten in a long time, OBL is probably starving and seeing Zardari both will lose their appetite.



Fast Facts

1. Favorite book:
My favorite book is Heartbreaking Work of a Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

2. Ideal way to spend a day off:
Reading

3. Childhood idol:
Pink Panther (because he was so thin), Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela

4. Biggest pet peeve:
Being misunderstood because most people talk and never listen

5. Biggest fear:
Knowing my facts less than my opponent

6. Favorite movie:
The Pianist



One or the Other

1. Cat or Dog
Cat

2. Beach Vacation or Trip to the Mountains
Beach vacation

3. Chips or Cookies
I’m perpetually on a diet and there are no nice diet cookies or chips! Not even Weight Watchers.

4. Newspapers or Magazines —
the Internet?

5. Superman or Spiderman
Spiderman

6. Mac or PC
Mac