Pandora Papers Pakistan: Efforts underway to downplay bombshell story before publication

Islamabad: A private TV channel and some social media accounts started defending a powerful personality by sharing details of an offshore company linked to him hours after it was revealed that a major international research on the financial secrets held by high-profile individuals has been completed under the name “Pandora Papers” and is set for release on Sunday.

Some social media users were seen maligning two Pakistani journalists Umar Cheema and Fakhar Durrani from The News International in Pakistan who were part of the investigation team. The News is part of Jang and Geo group which was also part of Panama Papers Investigation that led to Nawaz Sharif’s ouster.

Majority of social media users were clueless as to how ARY TV channel or some individuals were aware of some of the names that might appear in the Pandora Papers.

Fore those unversed, journalistic ethics require a journalist to seek a person’s comments after providing all details of allegations and crimes against them before publishing the story. In the case of Pandora Papers ICJ journalists must have approached the people whose names were to appear in the research papers and it is highly likely that the people and the TV channels who have started discussing the content of the papers might have been informed by the people approached by the journalists who were part of the investigation.