Over the past week, Pakistan’s digital space, and particularly Twitter/X, has been dominated by clips from Sky News featuring interviews with the sons of former prime minister Imran Khan, followed by a separate exchange between the channel’s anchor, Yalda Hakim, and the current government’s spokesperson, Mosharraf Zaidi.
While the initial curiosity centred on what Imran Khan’s sons had to say, that discussion was quickly eclipsed by the more heated and far more polarised reactions to Zaidi’s appearance.
Much of the backlash aimed at the government spokesperson has come from supporters of the PTI and the former prime minister. The criticism has been intensely personal, with Zaidi labelled a collaborator in a system they describe as dominated by the military. Others have shared his past social media posts, contrasting his earlier condemnation of Imran Khan’s arrest with his present defence of the government.
Regardless of one's political stance, several realities are difficult to dispute. We live in an era in which perception often outweighs substance and where controlling the story is almost as important as governing. Once information is treated as a weapon, misinformation and outright falsehoods will inevitably be deployed alongside it.
Returning to the Sky News exchange, reactions to Zaidi’s performance have been predictably split along partisan lines. Supporters of the government see composure and command of facts; critics see evasion and moral compromise. One lawyer associated with the PTI has even publicly suggested compiling the names of those who defended the government spokesperson online -- an unsettling indication of how political disagreement is increasingly sliding into intimidation and surveillance.
Judging any media appearance is, of course, subjective. Yet certain observations stand out. Zaidi repeatedly countered claims of solitary confinement with specific details and communicated fluently in English, a key factor that should not be underestimated when engaging with an international audience. Pakistan has repeatedly seen its case weakened on global platforms, not due to a lack of substance, but because of poor articulation or an inability to respond coherently under sustained questioning.
Comparisons with earlier performances by official representatives on foreign networks are instructive. In some cases, spokespersons have resorted to shouting matches that drowned out their own arguments. In others, limited command of language has blunted whatever point they were attempting to make. In contrast, a calm, fact-based approach -- whether one agrees with the position or not -- tends to carry greater credibility with international audiences.
This brings us to the larger issue: narrative management in an age of relentless misinformation. Social media has transformed perception into a battlefield, and increasingly, states or actors closely aligned with them, are active participants. The spread of falsehoods is often deliberate and timed for maximum political or ideological impact.
The aftermath of the Bondi Beach shootings in Sydney is a case in point. Even as the incident was still unfolding, speculation and fabricated claims flooded social media, driven largely by fragmented video clips shared in real time. Before authorities could establish even basic facts, let alone identities, certain narratives had already begun to take shape and solidify.
Indian social media accounts, amplified by sections of the country’s mainstream media, quickly asserted that the attackers had links to Pakistan. As has become customary, no credible evidence was offered. Instead, flimsy assumptions were dressed up as logic: the attackers’ names supposedly sounded ‘Pakistani’, and Pakistan is reflexively associated with extremism.
This framing aligns neatly with the broader narrative championed by the BJP government under Narendra Modi and one that India’s mainstream media has not merely accepted but enthusiastically helped propagate. The same lens is routinely applied to India’s Muslim population, reinforcing dangerous generalisations.
In the Bondi Beach case, these claims persisted until Australian authorities clarified that the individuals involved had Indian links, including recent travel on an Indian passport. Even then, the correction came slowly. A prominent Australian channel interviewed an acquaintance of one of the suspects, who clearly identified him as Indian with an Italian mother. Pakistan had no connection whatsoever.
Despite this, a leading Indian newspaper continued to push the Pakistan angle, only deleting its claim after sustained public criticism. And once official confirmation made denial impossible, the same voices abruptly shifted their position, insisting that the attackers’ origins were irrelevant.
By that stage, however, the damage was already done. In the economy of misinformation, first impressions matter far more than later corrections, and that appears to be precisely the objective. False narratives need not be permanent; they need only persist long enough to shape public perception.
The Sky News episode offers a broader lesson for governments: narrative engagement is best handled by professionals who understand both journalism and facts, rather than by politicians or career bureaucrats. Journalists are better equipped to navigate aggressive interviews without losing coherence or credibility.
At the same time, Pakistan must also reckon with its own internal media culture. Sensationalism, selective outrage and the rush to declare winners and losers in every televised exchange only deepen polarisation. When audiences reward outrage over accuracy, they become unwitting participants in the misinformation cycle.
Meanwhile, the Bondi Beach coverage shows a troubling reality: social media platforms remain largely incapable of containing false narratives as they emerge in real time. Fact-checking mechanisms are slow, enforcement is inconsistent and misleading content often remains visible long after it has been debunked.
For now, the only meaningful counter lies with vigilant journalists and informed observers who can interrogate claims, verify footage and warn their audiences. Even that, however, is an imperfect solution. Falsehoods travel faster than corrections and emotional narratives consistently outperform factual ones in the attention economy.
In today’s media ecosystem, perception often becomes power. Those who understand this shape realities faster than facts can catch up. Those who ignore it do so at their own peril.
The writer is a journalist based in Karachi. He tweets/posts @omar_quraishi and can be reached at: [email protected]
