Mehdi Hasan (Pakistani journalist)


Mehdi Hasan is a Pakistani left-wing journalist, media historian, and professor of Journalism and Mass communication at the Beaconhouse National University.

Social activist

He is the current chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and the Dean of School of Media and Communication at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore. He is one of Pakistan's more prominent communication experts, with a specialization in political analysis.
One of the few media historians of Pakistan, Mehdi Hasan is a regular commentator and panellist for TV news channels and radio stations where he brings his academic research into social context.
His book The Political History of Pakistan is a widely used source of reference by journalists and producers. His long-held personal view is that distortion of facts by news media is distorting our history.
A long-time human rights activist and member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan's Governing Council, Dr. Mehdi Hasan has written many papers, and participated in multiple seminars. In 2015, addressing a public event at University of Gujrat, Pakistan, Dr Mehdi Hasan emphasized the urgent need to promote honest and impartial reporting and said that bad journalism is distorting the history of Pakistan. He added that all citizens of Pakistan have equal rights under the law regardless of their religions.

Education

He holds a Ph.D. degree in mass communication, from the Punjab University, "Role of Press in Formation in Public Opinion 1857-1947", an M.A. degree in journalism, Punjab University, and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he conducted research on "Coverage of Third World Countries in the American Mass Media". He has published research papers in the United States and Pakistan.

Journalist and news media personality

As a journalist, his activities include: