Early life
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.[2] 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. During the time he was banned from Pakistani airwaves he completed a Master's Degree in Strategic Studies from Tufts University. He currently lives in Pakistan, with his daughters Merriem and Faiza.
Career
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.[3] 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, Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed, 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.[citation needed] GEO TV.
In January 2007, Shahid Masood joined a well known tv channel Geo TV,[4] 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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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.[5]
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).[5] 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]
Shahid Nama
Masood returned to television on 18 July 2011, by starting a new show, Shahid Nama, on Express News.[1] His program is broadcast from Monday to Thursday at 10 pm Pakistani Local Time. The last episode for this program was broadcast on 28 April 2012 after which Masood left Express News.
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.[3] 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.[3]
0 Comments