Walter Rodgers- who?
I have heard about free and fair dialogue. I was just never a part of it. Perhaps because I’m a Pakistani. Maybe the global media is infested with biases. Or just because it did not exist. For me atleast.
This perception has changed. I had the oppurtunity to hear Mr Walter Rodgers talk . He has worked for CNN and ABC news, and is fierecley defensive about America.
He covered stories ranging from “the deaths of former Soviet presidents, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chemenko, the Cheronobyl disaster, downing of Korean Airlines flight KAL 007, assasination of Martin Luther King Junior,, Iranian hostage, and Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.”
Rodgers has worked in Kabul, Islamabad, Amman, Ankara and he thinks he knows what Muslim countries are about. He thinks Palestinian women are the smartest and would hire one to work for him, on any given day. At the moment he is helping Dawn group of newspapers to establish their own news channel.
Walter Rodgers, is a prolific journalist and likes Pakistani people. Yet he has issues with Waziristan for he thinks Osama bin Laden might be hiding up there. He blatantly states that no city in Pakistan has potable drinking water and God forbid if the current government changes Pakistan might fall into disarray.
Baluchistan can establish an independant state. Sindh can merge with Indian Rajhastan. Punjab will be aided by Indian Punjab and N.W.F.P. will have an autonomous say. He also stated that in Pakistan you can not talk about a) Baluchistan b)government c)religion.
He is a famous journalist. He may be all that great with rationalising information and crediting media. But how can he know or talk about our country in a single, sweeping statement. For him America is almost god-like. Do we feel as strongly for Pakistan, if we had a chance would not we all be hopping on a plane and flying off to achieve the American dream? Is he wrong?
Though it was a pleasure to hear him speak, for very people few have what it takes to handle criticism. Even though truth seems like manifestation it still does exist.
nice!
i hope some of that rubs off on the dawn channel :p maybe then we might actually believe what the news tells us
he was embedded with american marines when US occupied Iraq… and what ever he says its his perspective.. i.e. American perspective.. thats how his government thinks .. Americans just want the whole world to see things the way they like to see it..
what he said abt PAkistan’s future is a borrowed prediction by an American think tank,they published, a map two years ago, mentioning the possible future disintegration of Pakistan.
And I dont know why we give too much importance to some so called high profile journalist for e.g,
you wrote that,
…he has issues with Waziristan for he thinks Osama bin Laden might be hiding up there.
So who cares if he has issues, and claiming that Usama is hiding somewhere near pakistani border with out having any evidence or clue is nothing but a HACKNEYED SPECULATION.
I think I could sound like a top journalist as well, so following is my statement;)
I HAVE ISSUES WITH AMERICAN POLICIES AND I THINK USAMA IS ON HOLIDAYS IN USA, STAYING IN A LUXURAY CELLAR BENEATH THE WHITE HOUSE.
@nocturnal you should be hired by Geo News as high profile journalist for its english news segment “News Day” … :P
seems like “News Day” is Jang’s answer to “Dawn News” channel coz only english language segment that they were doing before that was “follow up with Fahd” hosted by Fahd Hussein.. which came to an end once he left Geo …
whats the status of “Dawn News” btw when will it be on air? and any chance that a similar 24 hour english language channel might be in offing from Geo?
Dawn’s starting up the Herald Broadcasting Corporation (HBC) and Geo’s starting up Geo English. They’re hiring people abhi, training them and all. The channels will be on air in a month or so, I think.
actually dawn has had problems with pemra on this — have actually taken the matter to court — it was in dawn the other day
Found the blog post about Walter Rogers (or as we at DAWN NEWS affectionately call him: Walt) peculiar.
Not sure what your criticism of him is. Almost everything you relate him saying is agreed upon by most independent think tanks, analysts and even large swathes of your own government.
From my interaction and time spent with Walter, I’ve discovered him to have an intense dislike of the Bush Administration, and indeed, of US Foreign Policy in general. He also has a deep abiding respect for the MIddle East and South Asia and a keen understanding of the people. Especially when you consider he has spent more time in places like Baghdad, Afghanistan, Ramallah, Syria etc, than most of us ever will.
It’s easy to dismiss someone critical of us off hand using “he’s American” or “he’s a foreigner” without actually listening to what he has to say. Most such dismissals smack of the same kind of racism we accuse other of, and the narrow minded approach to criticisms tends to leave us with no dissenting voices when an outside perspective can really help us out.
You may not like what he had to say, but it’s stupid to label him irrelevant because you don’t agree with him. Credibility can come from unexpected places.
NOS! He gora saahib umbreekans! He no-rights! So he wrongs!
Really Hena “Walter Rodgers who??????”
I don’t find any connection of your post with Karachi. Just you talked to him and he is helping Dawn group for their channel,it doesn’t mean he should be in the post of KMB..
Every body has different point of views.So he has little different views but why people are critisizing and deffending Walter Rodgers again Hena “who”?????
he was embedded with american marines when US occupied Iraq… and what ever he says its his perspective.. i.e. American perspective.. thats how his government thinks .. Americans just want the whole world to see things the way they like to see it..
That’s exactly my point. Thankyou doctor sahab.
He is critical of the Bush administration but is that enough, I’m not trying to achieve some utopian dream but did they really get nuclear weapons when they invaded Iraq? So why kill? I’m sure you people know more than I do? I’m asking all these questions because I want answers myself.
Why is it relevant to Karachi because I thought this kind of interaction didn’t happen here, in this city but it does and it did.
Why is the American word mostly the final?
What the %^&* we are talking here……… loser post.. Where is Karachi?
WOW … i cant believe such a hoo haa about a western journalist who actually thinks east has a potential … Ive been working with the fella and let me tell you one thing … he is one gora you wouldnt wanna take lightly ..
yes how is this relevant to karachi?
Well, Rogers was talking IN Karachi, wasn’t he? :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P
That map was put together by Ralph Peters I think. The West generally thinks Pakistan is only held together by the army and if Musharraf goes, we’ll turn into Afghanistan.
And exactly which American perspective are we talking about? The neocon, American Enterprise one? The paleocon, American Spectator one? The left-wing Daily Kos one? The moderate Democrat Washington Post one? There’s a multitude of different views in America.
They all tend to have a somewhat puffed-up view of their country but it is mostly justified, especially when Americans see what happens in countries like Pakistan.