Mehdi Hasan was a left-wing journalist, media historian, and academician from Pakistan. He was a widely recognized communication expert in Pakistan, with a specialisation in political analysis.
Early Life and Education
Hasan was born in Panipat, British India, on June 27, 1937. In 1947, his family migrated to Pakistan and resided in Sahiwal. Hasan earned a Master of Journalism and a Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of Punjab, where he researched the role of the press in the formation of public opinion from 1857 to 1947. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Colorado Boulder in 1990, where he studied “Coverage of Third World Countries in the American Mass Media.”
Career
In 1967, Hasan joined the faculty of mass communication at the University of Punjab. After retiring, he became Dean of the School of Media and Communication at Beaconhouse National University.
Hasan was a frequent commentator and panellist on television and radio stations, where he brought his academic research to real-world issues. He published extensively on Pakistani history, journalism, mass communication, and political parties, but his book The Political History of Pakistan is a popular reference for journalists. His long-held personal belief was that the news media’s manipulation of facts was warping our past.
From 1961 to 1967, Hasan’s journalism career at Pakistan Press International (PPI) news agency progressed from sub-editor to reporter to news bureau chief. During this time, he was elected five times as a member of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ). Hasan has also worked as a news commentator and analyst for Pakistani television and Radio Pakistan since 1964, as well as for Voice of America, BBC News, Deutsche Welle, Reuters, and Associated Press, and as a contributor to all major newspapers in Pakistan, as well as a columnist for English daily The News International and Urdu language newspaper Daily Waqt.
Hasan was a long-time member and twice-elected chairperson of Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission. He wrote numerous papers and attended numerous seminars. In 2015, when speaking at a public event at the University of Gujrat in Pakistan, Hasan emphasised the urgent need to foster honest and unbiased reporting, claiming that bad journalism is misrepresenting Pakistan’s history. He stated that all citizens of Pakistan, regardless of faith, have equal rights under the law.
Hobbies
Photography was one of his interests and passions, and he owned 35mm cameras, including a couple of Rolleiflex cameras. Despite the fact that he was not a professional photographer, his enthusiasm for photography led him to the frontlines of the Lahore war zone in 1965.
Death
Hasan died on February 23, 2022, in Lahore, after a long illness. He was survived by his wife, Rakhshanda Hasan, and his two sons.
Awards
In 2012, he received the President of Pakistan’s Sitara-i-Imtiaz Award for his contributions to literature and media.