Pakistan

adnanadilzaidi@gmail.com

Project Goal: At a historic moment for the country, Pakistan’s many speakers of Urdu and other major local languages will now gain access through independent television to in-depth coverage of newly elected lawmakers and other government officials.

Partner Organization: ARY One World. The Dubai-based, Pakistani news channel launched in 2004. It broadcasts in English and Urdu and is a subsidiary of the ARY Digital Network.

Biography: Adnan Adil Zaidi started his career in 1990 with the prestigious Pakistani national news weekly Viewpoint. Currently a senior correspondent for Geo Television Network in Karachi, Zaidi has extensive experience as a news reporter and political analyst. For five years until 2007, he was a correspondent for BBC World Service online and radio. Before that, he worked for The News, a daily, and for news magazines including Independent, The Friday Times and Newsline. While in the United States on an Alfred Friendly Fellowship in 1998, Zaidi covered Minnesota’s gubernatorial elections for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Since 1990, he has reported on and analyzed general elections and three local elections in Pakistan. He also covered the Indian general elections in 2004 for BBC World Urdu-language Service. Zaidi helped develop the election website of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (www.hrcpelectoralwatch.org). He is a graduate of Punjab University, where he studied political science, English and sociology.