South
Asia Tribune Completes 100 Issues, Changes Format
A
New Milestone, A New Challenge
By
Shaheen Sehbai, Editor
WASHINGTON:
It is an occasion to celebrate. This
is the 100th issue of the South Asia Tribune. Our journey
in these two short years has been remarkable, full of excitement,
challenges and successes, coupled with a continuous test of nerves,
hardship and pain.
SAT emerged on the scene in July 2002 as a breath of
fresh air and got into the serious business of breaking news through
aggressive investigative journalism. It soon grabbed the vacant
space of an alternate forum in the midst of a Pakistani media
trying to find a balance between imposed restrictions and self-censorship.
All
those journalists and writers who got frustrated while testing
the limits of Press freedom in Pakistan turned instantly to SAT.
We were soon recognized by the civil
society in Pakistan and the international world of media watchers
as a forceful voice for freedom, democracy, rule of law and accountability,
of the all-powerful and the mighty. In simple words we were seen
as presenting the truth, as it was, bitter at times, unbearable
for some, shocking for the rest of us.
We
have a long list of our ‘success’ stories, the important
news that we broke on the national and even international media
scene. For our scoops we got due credit by the Pakistani, regional
and the international media. In Pakistan the reactions and retributions
unleashed by the military government told us we were doing something
right. Internationally we were quoted repeatedly. In one case,
the all powerful US military’s Central Command (Centcom)
had to pull out data off its web site within hours after SAT broke the story of its bombing sorties from Pakistani
soil. The episode certified our effectiveness.
But
the readers and the SAT visitors are the best
judge of our performance. We have been watching the numbers of
these visitors and ‘hits’ multiply beyond our wildest
estimates. From a few thousand hits a month we touched a high
of 3.7 million hits in February, 2004. So far we have totaled
almost 44 million hits by over 2 million unique visitors. Our
Discussion Forums have recorded over 21,000 messages.
On
the occasion of completing two years and 100 issues, we are announcing
some major structural changes in the SAT format. From
a weekly edition, SAT is now turning into a web site
which will be updated on a daily basis, with news and articles
updated as soon as they are available. No time will be wasted
in bringing the latest news and analysis to our readers, in a
more interactive format. Our focus will, however, remain on exclusive
investigative stories.
The
new SAT format will have the latest stories at the top
of our Front Page followed by the previous stories. Whenever we
post a new story, our Email Alert System will inform our registered
readers and visitors instantly. The Discussion Forums will stay
vibrant and our archives will continue to display all the items
we have covered in these 100 issues.
On
this occasion we thank all those friends, colleagues and well
wishers who have kept SAT alive and kicking. The
collective effort has demonstrated that if there is commitment,
dedication and determination, even with limited human and financial
resources, a lot can be achieved against the forces of status
quo, authoritarianism and corruption.
South
Asia Tribune has been a trail blazer and has set an example
which many others could, and should, follow.
