End of a glorious journey.

Byline: Zahid Hussain

YET another trailblazer of independent journalism in Pakistan has closed down. There was a feeling of inevitability about the news of Newsline stopping its publication after the closure of Herald a few months ago - a sign of the times and the fast-changing media scene in the country. It is the end of a remarkable 30-year journey of objective and professional journalism, a fast-vanishing commodity now.

It was in 1989 when a group of young dedicated journalists, all of them women except for me a token male, under the leadership of the indomitable Razia Bhatti set about taking out the country's first publication run by a journalists' cooperative. The team did not have any financial resources, but the determination was there. Putting together personal savings, they began work from a small hotel room with chairs, desks and even teacups from home.

Armed with little other than human resources and enormous goodwill, the first issue of Newsline appeared in July 1989. With a cooperative ownership it had complete editorial freedom not enjoyed by any other Pakistani publication. The launching of Newsline itself was an act of defiance against status quo.

In her first editorial Razia wrote: 'Newsline is the venture of a team of working journalists who want to serve this nation in the way they know best: to seek the truth, to spotlight injustice and to fight for redress. We hope not only to appeal to the reason but also to touch the heart.'

With a cooperative ownership, 'Newsline' had complete editorial freedom not enjoyed by other publications.

The magazine kept the pledge throughout its publication, making it a powerful voice of resistance and hope. Over the years, the Newsline published trailblazing stories including exposes on corruption at the highest political level, plunder of the country's financial institutions, the role of intelligence agencies, the drug mafia, state and street terrorism, and extrajudicial killings carried by the security forces.

Newsline ventured to tackle the subjects which powerful media houses would not dare to touch. There were no sacred cows. While exposing the bungling and misuse of political power under various civilian governments, it also raised a voice against the usurpation of power by the generals.

Newsline's outspoken and fiercely independent policies became the writing on the wall for all governments. The scathing editorials in the magazine did not spare those who were guilty of misusing...

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