The seventeen-storey building’s 11th floor is on fire, and the building is fully gutted. The massive blaze is raging and reaching other floors. Eyes burning with smoke, ears with heat, the girl is atop a snorkel with a mike in hand, reporting the event. Somewhere else on the ground, the boy is standing knee-deep in water with a mike in hand. Shera Bibi is telling him her ordeal after the flood swept her hut.

Television journalism has a new face, which is out there on the spot reporting, minute by minute, keeping the viewers up-to-date with all the latest happenings. Of course one should not forget the new generation of journalists who are brave and raring to go. With an influx of many news channels, everyone is striving to be the best. Among this array of channels comes Dawn News, Pakistan’s first 24-hour English news channel.

The premises of Dawn News is like any other industrial plot in the area but once inside the building, one can feel the buzzing energy that a news channel radiates. Comprising mostly of young people, the cameramen, reporters, producers — practically every member of the team — is busy brainstorming, writing or doing their assigned tasks. However, the energy and the buzz overflows once you enter the news-room. As a matter of fact one can call it chaotic. Since it is a new channel, the obvious teething problems were witnessed. With only a few seconds to go live, the producer is frantic since the footage related to the news item is taking time to be placed at the right spot.

The Dawn News logo says, ‘Understanding the Difference,’ hence the channel is chic, stylish, slick, to the point, rooted to our culture, promoting heritage and definitely different. Besides transmitting news on the hour, every hour, the channel boasts of a variety of programmes from talk shows, debates, features, news and analysis to short documentaries. All the programmes at Dawn News are either issue based, promoting the culture, reviving the heritage, discussing pertinent issues or ills of society, sports or touching upon lighter sides of life.

And what is different about the channel? For one, it has made history by being the first English-language channel in the country. And with the live coverage of news, the anchorperson is not merely a show-piece but seen in action on the spot, having the charged protesters banging their heads against the camera while he/she is reporting. Then come the interesting names of the programmes, for example, Center Point, First Blast, The Big Digit, Equinox, Newseye, 30/30, Memories of Beauty, The Late Swing, Heritage of Pakistan and many others. Last but not the least, the channel has been given an international look and though novice, one can say that Dawn News stands among the BBCs and CNNs of the world.

NEWS ANCHORS – A NEW BREED
Nadia Zafar
A Karachiite to the core, she studied at St. Joseph’s for her O levels and went to Grammar School for her A levels. Later she went to Massachusetts, USA for her Bachelors degree in International Relations and Film Productions. She was always interested in public speaking and other extracurricular activities. She joined Dawn News at the time of its inception as an associate producer with the additional responsibility of anchoring.
Saima Mohsin
Educated in broadcast journalism, she worked in the UK. A South London girl, Saima has worked for ITN UK and Watch Dog—UK’s most watched consumer show. She has travelled extensively because of the nature of her work. She landed in Dawn News a few months ago as a senior anchor, conducting the show Newseye, aired Monday to Friday.
Naveen Naqvi
A well-known name in the entertainment industry, a former model, she is one the most recognized faces on the channel. She has worked for NBC America, where she represented the channel in New York as well as in Islamabad as a reporter along with handling the production side. She joined Dawn in the initial days, as an anchor, which she says, is a completely new domain for her. Multi-talented with a finished manuscript written by her, a fiction novel, she hopes to be a published writer in the future
A MAN'S POINT OF VIEW
Addiel Sabir
Born, bred, educated and having worked in England as a journalist, he stumbled into the media by default though he was studying to be a lawyer. Coaxed by friends that he had a good voice for radio broadcasting, he was asked to audition. His first job was as an English newscaster at PTV World where he worked for one and a half year. Later he was roped in by Dawn News as a reporter. He is not only behind the scenes but is seen as a news anchor on screen. Considered to be one of the best in the lot, Addiel is grateful to his mentor Shaista Zaid, with whom he worked at PTV.