Yesterday, we posted an opinion piece about a student at Aga Khan who has allegedly been filming female students in the bathroom. We were asked to take it down. But as you can probably tell by the title of this article, we haven’t. And while we have had many people get in touch with us personally, there is a reason why he have stuck to our stance. This is why we are not taking the article down:
At Propergaanda, we strive to produce news stories that tell the realities of our society, however uncomfortable it may be. We have done countless stories on corporates, celebrities, politicians and social issues, all in the spirit of finding out the truth of the matter. Sometimes we come across pieces like this that are polarizing; that may divide our own fan base too. But if we shy away from publishing polarizing articles, what is the point of us being in this industry?
As a news and media company, our duty is to examine the topics that may not be the easiest to digest. As a company that works online, we have the onus to cover stories the mainstream may not. In this case, the story came our way in the form of an opinion piece, but we stand by our anonymous source and the decision to publish this article. A few people have called us unethical for publishing this piece. However, we have confirmation that a disciplinary committee has been formed to investigate the matter. We need to be more tolerant towards other peoples opinions and sentiments Our society loves to believe that the media is inherently bad and that it is doing a disservice to many. But our job is only to report the stories that already exist. We encourage people to share their opinions with us, so we can present as diverse a narrative as possible. You many not agree with the opinions expressed by the author, but that doesn’t lessen their right to share them in the first place. Furthermore, the names of the people involved in the incident have been changed until the verdict of the disciplinary hearing is finalised
Before publishing this article, our correspondent contacted Aga Khan University for a comment. They denied having any knowledge of such a case and said they couldn’t help us. However, after publishing the article, Aga Khan University responded with a comment publicly, “We are concerned about this situation and are investigating the matter under AKU’s published polices.”
It is our duty to cover the news. We have the right and prerogative to cover what is happening on our campuses; just like we do on other public forums. In the same way the Meesha Shafi-Ali Zafar came under much scrutiny not only on social media, but mainstream media as well, the incident at Aga Khan should also be reported on as it falls in the public domain.
While we understand that all of you may not agree with our stance, we have promised to report on issues that are hushed down and swept under the rug. We write your stories, but we don’t get to choice what your stories are.