This article is part of a series of interviews with people who work in the media to provide the news and views that shape our perceptions of world affairs. Mehr Husain, News Editor at The Friday Times, spoke to UN Today about her life and career in media.
What is your professional background?
My name is Mehr Husain and I have 16 years of diverse experience across various industries including journalism, retail, banking, economic development, gender advocacy, human rights, publishing, and sustainability.
As a journalist I have written on a wide variety of topics including human rights, marginalised communities, politics, culture, history, sustainability, literature, publishing and more. I’ve worked as Features Editor and News Editor at The Friday Times (Pakistan’s first independent English weekly). My work has appeared in national and international publications and been translated into Urdu and Spanish. I have held an international syndicated column called ‘The Lahore Log’ in which I was reporting and commentating on Pakistan. I have also been interviewed and featured in many international publications listed here.
My portfolio of work consists of impactful projects and fostering advancements in multiple sectors – somehow all of it has always been related to the written word. While I am recognised as a journalist, I have a track record in managing editorial teams, developing curricula, and spearheading initiatives aimed at economic and gender equity through media literacy and documentation. My work in publishing and journalism has been recognised internationally by UN Women Asia Pacific (2021) and the International Publishers Association (2023).
In 2020 I wrote the first and only book on Pakistan’s cultural history focusing on the fashion industry and I also set up a publishing platform ZUKA Books advocating for cultural freedom. Prior to this I established a sustainability-focused organisation ZUKA Accessories (2018) that champions artisan recognition in supply chains, female economic empowerment, and raises awareness of indigenous fabric. I co-founded Pakistan’s first podcast on sustainability called ZUKAST. I am also a partner and co-founder of Women In Literature Festival with Sabin Muzaffar focusing on the MENA and South Asia regions.
What’s the best interview you’ve ever done?
I have conducted countless interviews over the years and walked away with each one leaving an impact on my mind, shaping how I see the world cultivating a deeper understanding of human existence. However there is one that repeatedly sticks out in my mind as a woman and that is of Dame Jasvinder Sanghera. Hailing from India, the Sangheras, like many families across the world, moved to the UK in search of a better life in the 1950s.
Migration is not just a human experience but also seen in the animal kingdom. But what makes humans different is how they search for a better lived experience that goes beyond survival yet do borders really guarantee that, especially for females? How can a better life be defined when culture and societal norms transcend borders and continue to define how your lives are lived and continue to influence your life even though your own thought process may have changed? What role do those states that offer a better life play in safeguarding and protecting those (who leave their home to serve in foreign lands)? What does a better life consist of, what is the value of a better life? Is the value measured by upward social mobility? How is education to be defined if it is limited to grades and degrees and yet if life is to be defined by cultural elements, how can both be merged to create a better lived experience?
Dame Jasvinder Sanghera’s story of her sister Robina’s suffering at the hands of her husband and how Robina still upheld family values even as she took her last breath never left me. It never will. It is proof that women suffer at the hands of the patriarchy no matter where they are globally. Violence and human rights abuses are not just limited to one region, culture, state or society. It can happen anywhere anytime. Borders hold no meaning, geography does not matter. Jasvinder’s interview really caused me to view relationships, societal structures, state protection, patterns of migration, systems of economic activities very differently.
What is the interview you’d like to do but haven’t been able to yet?
This is going to sound strange but I would really like to interview my maternal aunt Seemi Syed, who is known for her role as being one of the first female agriculturalists in Punjab and for being the first female to drive a tractor in what is a traditional, patriarchal society. Women in rural areas tend to work in the fields or run homes but don’t have much autonomy or mobility when it comes to ownership of their lands. My aunt was the first female in Punjab to do so. The only reason why I haven’t been able to is there is an over familiarity with her being my aunt and taking time with her for granted. The way she took on a whole patriarchal structure and carved out a name for herself in the wilderness empowering herself as a farmer is remarkable. Today as the world grapples with climate change, her life is an example of how to live and work with nature.
Anatol Lieven wrote in his book ‘Pakistan A Hard Country’ that if anything were to cause destruction to Pakistan, it is Nature. Given all the struggles the country has had to face post Partition and coming into being in 1947, it is not surprising the country has lagged in addressing climate related problems exacerbated by the fact it is paying the price for climate damage caused by developed countries in the Global North.
One of the most beautiful aspects of Pakistan is despite its tensions, intricacies and complexities, the people of Pakistan come together in times of crisis and this is especially evident in times of natural calamities. There is a growing awareness of how climate is affecting livelihoods and lifestyles not just in rural areas but also in urban areas and demands for solutions is increasing.
But the most affected are females who really are at the forefront of it given their role in as labourers in the fields and they continue to be unrecognised for their efforts. I think Pakistan’s progress lies in its emancipation of women, particularly at the rural level and that is where I believe the planet’s strength lies as well. Nature is unforgiving and we need to respect and work with it. My aunt’s life is testament to this and how to create sustainable means of living.
What is your view on the role of media?
I think the media as an industry is one of the most dynamic ones on the planet. Its power, economically, politically and societally, is magnificent and can be harnessed for radical change. The ‘media’ is not just journalism but it extends to other areas – print (newspaper, magazines, books), broadcast (radio, podcasts) and visual (cinema, photography, art). Hence the ability for the media to create connections, transcending all limitations and obstacles, is incredible.
I belong to one of the last lot of print journalists at The Friday Times and while the transition to digital has been a transformative one I still believe in the power of print and think it can never die out. We have seen this in the publishing industry where digital platforms have not been able to eradicate books. There is great power and weight in the written word and we only have to look at research methodologies to see the impact the written word has on today’s living.
Man since the beginning has carved on rock and stone as a means of documenting, telling stories, communicating and we see the same patterns being repeated whether as chalkings on walls made of bricks or on paper made from wood or now on the various digital platforms we have as threads, images, blogs or vlogs. The media has undergone tremendous change over the decades and has faced massive challenges yet I remain hopeful. Today it is no longer a means to information but it is a tool, a means, a process and it is constantly evolving yet the objective to tell the truth has remained the same.
Nuanced analyses, better fact checking, information processing is sharper than even in this AI age and I believe the human element of storytelling and the fight for democracy as well as freedom of expression will be stronger than ever in this digital age as more and more fight systems of suppression and oppression.
Gen Z has truly shown how media can be harnessed to create change from top to bottom and bottom to top. I do see a return of print at some point and this is purely because no matter what, humans retain the need for a physical experience to grow and learn.
What is your vision of media 10 years from now?
Given the rise of AI and how difficult it is becoming to tell the difference, I do see the media becoming more regulated, something which may not sit well with many. In the Global South we have seen marginalised groups create content which has generated debate but also developed deeper understanding of issues that may never have been communicated before. Video has a stronghold at the moment due to social media platforms encouraging more visual content but I do see the rise of audio via podcasts. Zeteo by Mehdi Hasan has already transformed how emails are consumed as they send out a simple audio file which makes consumption easier. I do not see the written word ever losing relevance but I do see how stories are told in literature evolving with graphic novels especially in India and Pakistan on the rise in documenting and communicating.
My vision of the media is one where everyone is on equal standing, especially in the digital realm and more than anything else, progressive thought addressing issues that affect all humanity is at the forefront. Point scoring, disinformation, misinformation and hate speech have brought no change for progress but in fact deepened divisions and created more fear all of which has crippled humanity’s progress. What has been achieved from it? Nothing except systems of oppression have been upheld.
I hope in the next decade or so, empathy is cultivated through the media in all forms – newspaper, radio, podcast, books, music, publishing – and we can fight against elements that seek to silence and destroy. Too much blood has been shed in the name of expression. Time is not on our side and if we are to exist as a species, we will need to work collaboratively which is where the media comes in. It is too important of an industry and working in it is a privilege.
It is our responsibility to ensure the work we do offers not just thought provoking content but enables those who do not have access or are unable to tell their stories are empowered to do so for themselves, by themselves.
Could you share an interesting work-related anecdote?
There are many given my work in the media spans journalism, digital literacy and publishing, but I think one that resonates is about how various elements of media can come together to create cycles of change from the grassroots to a global level. This was during the COVID-19 pandemic, when one day I came across a message in my Facebook inbox. The message itself was Urdu written in Roman English and it was from a craftswoman called Nasim Baji hailing from Hazara, a region in the northeastern part of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province located next to the Indus river. Nasim Baji had been a recipient of the digital literacy trainings I had been part of while working with Kaarvan Crafts Foundation, a UN Women partner organisation and we were working on empowering rural women to utilise social media platforms as micro entrepreneurs.
Nasim Baji asked me if I could help her as she was unable to sell her hand embroidered shawls due to lockdown limiting her access to urban markets. Her speciality was a specific kind of embroidery called Phulkari which consists of geometric patterns made of floss thread and it is done without any additional tools for measurement. The results are stunning with a neatness unmatched by any machine. Consequently, I bought a few and to encourage more sales, I shared her plight and her work as a digital story on Instagram.
Sonya Rehman, an established renown arts and culture journalist reached out asking to interview her to investigate and learn more about this artisan and her specific type of embroidery which is an ancient art form. What resulted was a beautiful profile in Forbes raising awareness about the artisan and her life as she hailed from the marginalised and persecuted Hazara community and a documentation of a specific type of craft. As for Nasim Baji, she was inundated with orders with designers reaching out to commission collections. She later on went onto win an award from the Pakistani government in recognition of her work in Phulkari.
This story is particularly important because as Pakistan faces a myriad of problems related to gender, development and climate so much of heritage including ancient craft in terms of history and technique is at risk of being lost. Nasim Baji has not just been able to run her home, but also educated her children all the while retaining her dignity and never compromising on her values. To utilize her digital literacy skills, to go out on a limb overcoming fear and telling her story herself while maintaining and upholding cultural and societal norms and preserving an ancient art form for a greater good, is no small feat.