Dawn Editorials 28th September 2025

Truth or noise?

ON Sept 28, citizens and journalists across the globe mark World News Day, an occasion to remind ourselves why reliable journalism matters.

In a world awash with propaganda, distortion, and algorithm-driven distraction, this year’s theme — ‘Choose Truth. Choose Facts. Choose Journalism’ — is both urgent and universal, resonating across societies facing polarisation and rising distrust.

Journalism is as essential to society as electricity or clean water. Without it, civic debate shrinks, corruption festers, and democracies lose their footing. Across the world, the signs of decline are plain. Reporters are being silenced, attacked, and even killed in record numbers. In some conflict zones they are no longer collateral casualties but deliberate targets.

Governments increasingly muzzle the press or impose internet shutdowns during crises, depriving citizens of their right to know. Economic pressures have hollowed out many newsrooms, while AI systems recycle original reporting without credit or compensation, often spitting out half-truths and fabricated quotes. Studies show that AI-generated news responses are often riddled with errors, creating confusion and mistrust. Left unchecked, these trends threaten to replace truth with noise and accountability with impunity.

And yet, there are reasons not to despair. In parts of the world, trust in news has held steady or even risen, defying the narrative of universal decline. Surveys in Europe, Africa and Asia show that where journalism remains visible, local and accountable, audiences respond. Newsrooms experimenting with hyperlocal coverage, deeper community engagement and data-driven storytelling demonstrate that serious reporting still commands attention.

The future will not be decided by technology alone but by whether societies are willing to support the journalism that holds power to account.

Pakistan too could rediscover this value. But here, the habits of serious reading have withered, with younger generations relying on fragmented online feeds. That narrowing of civic literacy carries obvious risks for democracy.

To push back, the All Pakistan Newspapers Society mounted its annual National Newspaper Readership Day campaign. Slogans such as ‘Read today, lead tomorrow’ and ‘Influencers don’t make history. Truth builds nations’ seek to remind families that newspapers are not relics but vital repositories of record and context.

The campaign is right to stress that informed citizens cannot be built on shallow trends or algorithmic distraction. But messages alone will not suffice. Pakistan’s media must commit to credibility and diversity, while schools and universities should integrate serious reading into civic education. Above all, the state must stop treating independent journalism as a nuisance and recognise it as a safeguard of democracy.

World News Day is more than a commemoration. It is a reminder that while journalism is imperfect, it remains irreplaceable. Societies that choose journalism choose democracy. Those that do not, risk being governed not by facts, but by noise.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2025

PM at UNGA

FOR the most part, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hit all the right notes when he addressed the UN General Assembly on Friday. The PM mentioned many of the key external and internal issues of relevance to this country at the august multilateral forum. These included the situation in South Asia, the Middle East quagmire, climate change, terrorism, as well as Islamophobia. Mr Sharif recalled the brief hostilities with India earlier this year and reiterated the need for dialogue in South Asia, saying that instead of “provocative” leadership, the region needed “proactive” leadership. While detailing Pakistan’s response to Indian aggression, the PM held out an olive branch to New Delhi, saying that Pakistan was ready for a “composite, comprehensive and result-oriented dialogue” with India. It remains to be seen whether New Delhi is willing to shed its rigidity, dispel the war clouds, and sit down with Pakistan to talk peace. He further touched on Afghanistan, mentioning that Pakistan was facing “externally sponsored terrorism” from outfits based in the neighbouring country. The PM also stressed that Pakistan wanted Afghanistan to develop, and that Kabul needed to act against militants.

Importantly, Mr Sharif highlighted how Pakistan was battling the effects of climate change, a subject US President Donald Trump considers an elaborate ‘con job’ — but whose effects have, incidentally, cost Pakistan dearly, killing thousands, displacing millions and drowning homes and livelihoods. As for the Middle East, Mr Sharif put up a passionate defence of Palestine, rightly describing Israeli atrocities as a “stain on the global conscience”, while terming the Gaza genocide as amongst the “darkest chapters” in human history. Yet despite stating these inconvenient truths, it is incomprehensible why, at the UN, Mr Sharif again termed Mr Trump a “man of peace” worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. Whatever role the American leader may have played in stopping hostilities between Pakistan and India this year, his record on Palestine — like most of his predecessors’ — is abominable. Arguably, with one stroke of the pen Mr Trump can halt American arms and funds to Israel, which the Zionist regime needs to sustain its genocidal campaign. But he refuses to do so, instead floating fanciful ideas such as the ‘Gaza Riviera’ scheme, which is shorthand for ethnic cleansing. These actions alone prove that Mr Trump is unworthy of the Nobel.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2025

Tax U-turn

THE government’s decision to scrap the column requiring tax filers to disclose the estimated fair market value of their assets in their returns, is yet another reminder of the fragility of policy continuity in Pakistan. The withdrawal of the requirement — prompted by pushback from various stakeholders — less than a day after the FBR strongly defended it — raises questions about the credibility of the government’s commitment to document the economy. The provision did not invite a new tax burden. Or so argued the FBR, stating that disclosure would not trigger additional liabilities, nor invite notices. The aim was to build a more accurate database of wealth and assets to strengthen policymaking and bring economic transparency. Yet the measure was strongly resisted, reflecting a reluctance to share financial information in a system dominated by cash and informality.

The episode reinforces a culture of non-disclosure, where any effort at financial transparency is resisted in the name of ‘simplicity’ and ‘feasibility’. Nearly 2.7m taxpayers had already filed returns under the old arrangement, some even entering ‘zero’ against asset values. The FBR’s modest technical fix to close this loophole proved too much for a system used to opacity. From a taxpayer’s perspective, the concerns were not entirely misplaced. Distrust of the tax machinery is widespread, and assurances of non-punitive use of data are not easily believed. Still, the capitulation reveals a deeper tension. On one hand, the government is under pressure to expand the tax net, reduce informality and boost revenue mobilisation. On the other, efforts to do so are diluted or abandoned when resisted by vested interests and taxpayers wary of scrutiny. Each reversal risks weakening the credibility of reforms and perpetuating the very culture of non-disclosure the system seeks to overcome. That said, reforms need to be built on stronger trust and better communication to bring stakeholders on board without backtracking at every pushback.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2025