Imran Khan - The Revolutionist: 06/07/12

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Pen - they say, is the most powerful weapon. It has the power to express feelings, thoughts, ideas as well as the power to shape opinions and perceptions. The latter part is when it can actually be used to exploit, and like weapons, becomes counterproductive, if an individual has ill intentions. It has become quite apparent that several journalists have their own "hidden" agenda in what they write and they need to be held accountable. The onus lies on those giving them platform and space to express.

Who will do Journalists' Accountability?

One such case was the infamous Shamsul Anwar fraud. On January 10th The News published a story by Shakeel Anjum (http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=86770&Cat=6) of an ill-fated man whose family became targets of terrorists. And of course Imran Khan, our favorite bashing person, was shown to be a lesser man than Chaudhry Nisar when it came to his son's treatment for Cancer. But something strange happened, a story that was probably supposed to slip through the cracks, got youngsters attention. The social media got activated and started to collect donations to help this poor man's plight. And then the most heart breaking news broke - the story turned out to be a fraud and youngsters trust shattered. But amazingly there was no remorse or rebuttal from either The News (of not validating the story) or action against the journalist. He still writes for The News.

Analysing a Journalist's inclination - Umar Cheema(The News)

This brings me to the actual reason for this blog - another The News journalist - Umar Cheema. I am not going to dwell into a particular story and start writing against it. And one news is not enough to show some ones agenda. It is a series of stories trying to create a perception. They say if a lie is told over and over again - it eventually becomes a "truth".

"the most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly and with unflagging attention. It must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over"

This is why it is important to review series of stories by Umar Cheema Here is a list of all articles written by him (http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintWriterName.aspx?URL=Umar+Cheema). My analysis is based on his articles after October 30th, since the political landscape of Pakistan changed significantly.

Bulk of Umar Cheema's stories are on Government's misgovernance and struggle against state institutions, the establishments "evil" designs for missing people or Osama Bin Laden's hideout and few articles on Pakistani Journalists and Supreme Court challenges.

But when it comes to PTI and PML-N there is a serious shift in Umar Cheema's projection.

Umar Cheema (The News) and PTI

Since October 30th Umar Cheema has written 9 articles against PTI. One spectacular piece(http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-84579-Results-of-youth-survey-motivated-Imran) where Umar Cheema gets a peek into Imran Khans mind and his motivation of attracting youth - although since 1994 Imran Khan has belief in youth changing the fate of Pakistan and in fact 2007 Punjab University incident he went first to the youth to mobilise them for judiciary independence, and Umar Cheema says that it was 2009 survey that motivated him. Read the article and make your opinion.

What is even more sinister is that how Umar Cheema, even unrelated articles, tries to drag Imran Khan or PTI. For instance - take the example of mispronouncing Turkish Prime Minis Erdogan's name (http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-109739-Mispronounced-but-still-loved). Although he bulks everyone in - but Imran Khan, his favorite, is the only one who gets mentioned.

Similarly, when talking about Dynasty politics(
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-12968-Political-parties-being-run-as-family-limited-companies ) while for PPP and PML-N only top leadership is highlighted (Zardari and Sharifs), PTI gets the special privilege of going down to second and third in the hierarchy because Umar Cheema doesn't have anything concrete. And interestingly even misquoting that Imran Khans sister has role in PTI as well.

Here are the other 9 stories by Umar Cheema trying to create a negative sentiment towards PTI.
1. http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-82447-Imrans-new-media-czar-was-his-strongest-critic
2. http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-83171-Watching-the-PTI-newcomers-from-the-sidelines
3. http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-11231-NAB-tainted-ex-IG-slips-into-Imrans-PTI
4. http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-84393-PTI-embraces-another-relic-of-the-past
5. http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-84579-Results-of-youth-survey-motivated-Imran
6. http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-6-88500-Attempt-to-whitewash-PTI-newcomers-fails
7. http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-110545-Why-Jemima-Khan-entered-into-a-benami-transaction-with-Imran
8. http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-6-110715-Why-Jemima-Khan-did-a-benami-transaction-with-Imran
9. http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-112376-PTI-changes-constitution-to-open-gates--for-those-accused-of-corruption

Umar Cheema (The News) and PML-N

But here is the interesting aspect. Although it seems Umar Cheema has only negative bone in body for political players - be it PTI, Government or Military - but for PML-N he seems to have a different opinion and projects them in a different light. From singing songs of Punjab CM(http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-107632-Shahbaz-pays-for-all-his-visits-from-his-pocket), to trying to twist the Mehran Gate in favour of PML-N (where PPP tried to topple PML-N Government)
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-13046-Another-Mehrangate-in-Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

Even calamities like Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Umar Cheema ignored the plight of the patients, Punjab Drug regulation and labs condition and Chief Minister having Health Minister portfolio along with several others, and instead the only news he could muster was about two honest brothers linked to the Punjab Government.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-90569-Drug-crisis-pitches-two-honest-brothers-against-each-other
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-6-90724-Drug-crisis-pitches-2-honest

The only story that he writes projecting PML-N slightly negative and after initial mention quickly shift the blame to the Government and then eventually takes it to the rest of the world, totally forgetting he started with PML-N.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-95387-PML-N-only-paying-lip-service-to-check-agencies

The Bottom Line vs. The Balancing Act

One has to realise before believing a news communicated by a Media Group. The fact is Media Groups are businesses, and for them the bottom line - profits matter. And if they come through back door channels, they will count them in. Some might call it lobbying other funding or sponsoring. But it is our responsibility to filter news and connect the dots. Only then we would be able to avoid manipulation of our mind.

What the media groups dont understand is how social media is the balancing act.

Next stop - Tariq Butt of The News!

PS: My comments on the News comes from the fact that it is the daily newspaper subscribed at my home.

Google deploying planes over cities for 3D maps

Luc Vincent, Google Engineering Director, demonstrates how Google captures images in hard to reach places with Street View Trekker at the Google offices in San Francisco, California, June 6, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS

SAN FRANCISCO: Google Inc is deploying a fleet of small, camera-equipped airplanes above several cities, the Internet search company’s latest step in its ambitious and sometimes controversial plan to create a digital map of the world.

Google plans to release the first three-dimensional maps for several cities by the end of the year, the company said at a news conference at its San Francisco offices on Wednesday.

Google declined to name the cities, but it showed a demonstration of a 3D map of San Francisco, in which a user can navigate around an aerial view of the city.

“We’re trying to create the illusion that you’re just flying over the city, almost as if you were in your own personal helicopter,” said Peter Birch, a product manager for Google Earth.

Google’s head of engineering for its maps product, Brian McClendon, said the company was using a fleet of airplanes owned and operated by contractors and flying exclusively for Google.

Asked about potential privacy implications, McClendon said the privacy issues were similar to all aerial imagery and that the type of 45-degree-angle pictures that the planes take have been used for a long time.

Google has used airplanes to collect aerial photos in the past, such as following the 2010 San Bruno, Calif. gas-line explosion, but the latest effort marks the first time the company will deploy the planes in a systemic manner to build a standard feature in one of its products.

By the end of the year, Google said it expects to have 3D map coverage for metropolitan areas with a combined population of 300 million people. The first 3D cityscape will be available within weeks.

Google has for years operated a fleet of camera-equipped cars that crisscross the globe taking panoramic pictures of streets for its popular mapping service. The cars have raised privacy concerns in some countries.

In 2010, Google acknowledged that the so-called Street View cars had been inadvertently collecting emails, passwords and other personal data from people’s home wireless networks. Collecting the WiFi data was unrelated to the Google Maps project, and was done instead so that Google could collect data on WiFi hotspots that can be used to provide separate location-based services.

The forthcoming 3D city maps will be part of the Google Earth software app available for mobile devices such as smartphones based on Google’s Android software and Apple’s iOS software.

The company also announced a version of Google maps for Android smartphones that allows users to access certain maps without an Internet connection.

Shares of Google finished Wednesday’s regular session up 1.8 percent at $580.57.

Google’s announcement comes a week before Apple Inc’s developer conference in San Francisco, as competition between the two tech giants continues to heat up, particularly in the fast-growing mobile market.

Apple is planning to replace Google Maps as the built-in mapping service on its iPhone and iPad later this year with technology that it has created in-house, according to media reports. Apple could show off its new mapping software at next week’s conference.

Google’s McClendon said the company would continue to make Google maps services available as widely as possible, on “all platforms.”

In what appeared to be a veiled jab at Apple, he said the integration with Google’s search engine provides a mapping serving that is far more useful than a product that simply uses a “geocoder” – technology that uses geographic coordinates to create a digital map. Apple began to use its own geocoder technology for the Google-based maps on its smartphones late last year.

Google said on Wednesday that there are currently 1 billion monthly active users of Google maps services and that the Street View cars have driven more than 5 million miles photographing streets all over the world.

Asked if Google had any plans to use unmanned aerial drones to gather photos for its 3D cityscapes, McClendon said it was an interesting question, but noted that drones were still being evaluated by the Federal Aviation Administration.

“That’s a larger can of worms that we’re not going to get into here,” he said.

How To Win The Talent War - Bhittani

I once hired a developer who had more experience in his field than I did in mine. His resume touted roles at companies I one day hope to emulate, and his Rolodex read like a who’s who of tech startups. I was excited by the possibilities of having someone like this on our team, and I anticipated a long and rewarding career for him at our company.

No doubt he was talented--but the sad reality was that he had no genuine interest in building the company I envisioned. He stayed with us less than six months.

When hiring for roles like this at Betterment.com, the investing startup I founded two years ago, I soon learned the formula for a successful startup. It’s simple: create a product that people need, and hire ridiculously talented, highly motivated people to build it.

As I experienced then (and many times over), finding the ridiculously talented, highly motivated people is the more challenging side of this equation.

I don’t want to downplay the need for a great product--but a great product is rarely born on day one. Instead, it takes modifications, iterations, and adjustments based on user feedback. You need smart, thoughtful employees to imagine and implement these changes.

We break the pool of promising candidates into three buckets:

A-Players: These candidates have the unique combination of talent and drive. They are rare gems and we do everything in our power to hire these applicants right away.
Brilliant Misfits: Undoubtedly talented candidates who, much to our disappointment, don’t demonstrate enough drive and passion for our company. While we want to hire these folks to get talent in the door, we know that drive and ambition can’t be taught, and so we must pass on these people.
Future Stars: Driven candidates who don’t have the technical skills or expertise we are looking for. While these candidates can be quick learners, we ultimately have to decide if we can afford the time it will take to teach and onboard them.

For many startups, hiring “A-Players” is the only option. While a Future Star would be a great hire for a later-stage venture, it is likely that the onboarding time would prove detrimental to the accelerated pace at which startups must move.

It will come as no surprise that it’s difficult to find “A-Players”: they are few and far between, and everybody wants them. We’ve been fortunate enough to find and hire a number of highly talented and driven people; here’s our game plan for winning the talent competition:

Be obsessive about networking: By networking, I don’t mean LinkedIn or career fairs. The best candidates are not looking for a job, and are passively considering opportunities at best. You need to go where these candidates are and build relationships with them. That means if you want to hire a developer, you need to attend tech meetups, hack-a-thons, and product launch parties. It means having a lot of conversations, then following up after the event to tell the A-Players about the awesome role you think they’d be a great fit for.
Look for the love: The worst thing a candidate can do is send over a generic cover letter. I’m impressed by people who demonstrate that they’ve taken time to understand our product, and that they’re excited by it. It becomes clear fairly quickly whether he or she understands our mission, values, and message. This is one of the core requirements. Passion is a powerful drive and an important part of what makes an employee truly valuable.
Stay close to home: If you have a consumer-facing product, you may have users who already know, use, or love your product, and would be a great addition to your team. Don’t forget to share jobs with your community of users, and ask them for referrals. Sometimes the best candidates come to you. One of our customers caught our attention when he contacted us with a browser plug-in he'd written to retrieve and process the raw data we use to build our charts. His code published the buy and sell data from his Betterment account right into his personal money management tool. Talk about impressive. We contacted him right away.
Hire Specialists: We focus on hiring employees who are specialists in multiple areas--so that they can transition to different areas if needed. Flexibility is important for a startup, since roughly 65% of startups undergo a significant pivot at some point, according to Union Square Ventures Managing Partner Fred Wilson. Even if the actual go-to-market strategy for the startup doesn’t pivot, it is likely that there will be significant changes to the technology or process as the product evolves.
Pay for talent: If you want to hire “A-Players,” you should expect to pay a bit more. A-Players have likely been recognized for the work they do at their existing companies, and may be making 10-30% more than their peers. Don’t get too caught up in this difference. The delta in pay is incredibly small compared to the delta in value. Steve Jobs described the difference between an average programmer and a great programmer as being at least 25:1. Given these odds, paying 30% more for talent seems like a bargain.
Be Timely: If you find two good candidates, hire them both. Don’t waste time trying to determine which candidate is better than the other. A-Players will likely have many options. Don’t give them time to consider alternatives. Conversely, if you find two average candidates, don’t hire anyone. Move on and keep looking.

Reserve spots on your team for A-Players only, and you’ll be more than halfway to startup success.

Jon Stein is the founder and CEO of Betterment. Passionate about helping people make smart decisions with their money, he founded the online brokerage in 2008. Jon is a graduate of Harvard University and Columbia Business School. His interests lie at the intersection of behavior, psychology, and economics. What excites him most about his work is making everyday activities and products more efficient, accessible, and easy to use. Follow Bettermentand Jon on Twitter.

[Image: FXQuadro/Shutterstock]

After Cabinet Officials, Next on the Docket for Pakistan’s Chief Justice Is His Son

By SALMAN MASOOD

Published: June 6, 2012

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The gleaming, marble Supreme Court building in Pakistan’s capital has been the stage for several high-intensity dramas this year, as senior judges have called politicians, government officials and even military commanders to account. But the proceedings on Wednesday saw the court move in an entirely new direction, when the chief justice summoned his own son to answer corruption allegations.

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Arsalan Iftikhar Chaudhry, the son of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, has suddenly come under the spotlight after rumors surfaced that he had accepted bribes worth $3 million to $4 million from a powerful real estate tycoon with ties to both the president and the military.

The accusations had placed Mr. Chaudhry, a strong-willed judge whose policy of unchecked judicial activism has targeted officials at the highest levels, in a notably awkward spot. But the court then announced Justice Chaudhry would head a three-justice panel investigating his son’s actions, in what critics are calling a clear conflict of interest. Justice Chaudhry insisted that he would uphold the law and punish his son without favor if he found him guilty.

In a country where conspiracy theories seem to gain steam the more baroque they get, the case has riveted and confused much of the public, in part because the proceedings are based on news media speculation rather than any official complaint.

The news media have been abuzz in recent days over accounts accusing a well-connected developer, Malik Riaz Hussain, of paying for Arsalan Chaudhry to take lavish European vacations and go on shopping sprees in order to curry favor with his father.

But it was Mr. Hussain himself who got the recriminations rolling, according to several accounts; days before, he began meeting with senior television journalists, showing them what he called evidence of the vacations, including credit card statements and videos.

It was unclear why would Mr. Hussain, who oversees a business empire, would implicate himself in such payments. Justice Chaudhry’s supporters are portraying the accusations as part of a carefully planned conspiracy designed to undermine his reputation and, more broadly, the independence of the judiciary.

On Wednesday, Arsalan Chaudhry appeared before the court. Upon arriving, he told reporters that Justice Chaudhry had barred him from their house until the case concludes.

Moments later, he stood to deny any wrongdoing. “Baseless,” he said.

Mr. Hussain was absent from the proceedings; his assistant told the visibly unhappy judges that he was undergoing medical treatment in London. “Have you told him about the court orders?” Mr. Chaudhry asked.

“We have not been able to make contact despite repeated efforts,” the assistant replied.

The judges then summoned Mr. Hussain’s son, Ali Ahmad Riaz, the chief executive of the business empire, only to be told that he, too, was abroad.

The court summoned six officials working for Mr. Hussain’s private housing enterprise, Bahria Town, to determine whether they had evidence against Arsalan Chaudhry. Each, in turn, denied any knowledge.

Next up was Hamid Mir, one of the country’s most popular talk show hosts. He told the court that he had met Mr. Hussain, who showed him documents relating to the corruption allegations. “In my view, it was not hard evidence,” Mr. Mir said.

Mr. Mir then insinuated that the powerful army and intelligence services could be manipulating Mr. Hussain in order to get at Justice Chaudhry for his relentless pursuit of cases related to illegal detention and extrajudicial killings by the security forces. “Now you are going in the right track,” Justice Chaudhry said with a faint smile.

The judges adjourned the hearing until Thursday, directing that Mr. Hussain should appear in person.

The case poses another dramatic challenge to Justice Chaudhry, who over the past six months has become embroiled in political and military scandals, one of which resulted in the prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, being convicted of contempt of court. On Monday, Justice Chaudhry took legal action against Interior Minister Rehman Malik that led to his removal from his post because he could not disprove accusations that he held dual Pakistani and British citizenship.

While Mr. Chaudhry has retained much of his popularity with the middle class, his reputation has suffered amid the clashes of recent months, leading to growing accusations of partisanship and arrogance. Now his insistence on bringing proceedings against his son in the absence of established evidence could further hurt his credibility, some analysts said, adding fuel to accusations that he was using the Supreme Court for personal ends.

“The fact is that there is no evidence in the public domain to suggest that Arsalan Chaudhry engaged in any wrongdoing, only unsubstantiated claims by journalists of dubious credibility,” said Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan director of Human Rights Watch.

The way in which Mr. Chaudhry presided over the case raised ethical questions and represented a clear conflict of interest, he said, adding, “It is sadly inevitable that such controversial actions will harm Pakistan’s struggle for the rule of law.”

A version of this article appeared in print on June 7, 2012, on page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: After Cabinet Officials, Next on the Docket for Pakistan’s Chief Justice Is His Son.

Imran Khan - The Revolutionist

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