Why Pakistani Newspapers Are More Enjoyable Than The New York Times

The News is a leading Pakistani daily, in English, and today it had a scoop—an exclusive interview with President General (that’s his title) Pervez Musharraf. The story, under a headline that stretched across seven columns, included the following passage: “In a 90-minute wide-ranging talk in which he received volley of tough questions on all ticklish issues with a smiling face, the president said if the forces opposing him start ‘get him’ activities in the parliament that would be ‘most unfortunate’ but if they strengthen reforms and restructuring and turning around the economy he would provide strength to them. Looking ahead a prosperous, viable, dynamic, politically and democratically stable Pakistan, he brushed aside the notion that Pakistan was a lost nation. ‘We are not at all a lost nation.'”

Author: Peter Maass

I was born and raised in Los Angeles. In 1983, after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, I went to Brussels as a copy editor for The Wall Street Journal/Europe. I left the Journal in 1985 to write for The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune, covering NATO and the European Union. In 1987 I moved to Seoul, South Korea, where I wrote primarily for The Washington Post. After three years in Asia I moved to Budapest to cover Eastern Europe and the Balkans. I spent most of 1992 and 1993 covering the war in Bosnia for the Post.