Even as the military was busy trying to tear down the institutions and most recognisable faces of the Pakistani media, it began experimenting with building up its own one. Around the time that Hamid Mir came under fire, a brash new television station announced itself on Pakistan’s crowded electronic-media landscape. The station, Bol (Urdu for ‘speak’), was fronted by a showy Karachi businessman with military ties named Shoaib Shaikh, who tried to lure the top staff at the main networks, including Hamid Mir, with promises of
