Shahid Masood

Personal life and education

In a 2004 interview to Arab News, Khan said that his father was a civil engineer in Saudi Arabia who worked there for 15 years while, his mother is a teacher. He added that he is married and has two daughters. According to him, he spent his childhood in Taif and Riyadh. For seven years, he went to the Pakistan International School in Riyadh. Two of his younger brothers were born in Saudi Arabia so the country is close to him.

Khan received a fellowship of Royal College of Surgeons of England. He is a medical doctor by profession. Khan did his major in International Relations and Defence Studies from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Career

Khan became affiliated with the media in 2001. Khan initially served as the senior Executive Director of ARY Digital Network, where he served as the chief of ARY One World (now known as ARY News), and hosted the show Views on News.

In 2005, Khan received a scholarship with CNN. He also carried out coverage of the three wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon. In 2007, Khan joined Geo TV as its Group Executive Director where he hosted the TV show Meray Mutabaq.

In June 2008, Khan was appointed as the Chairman of Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) with the additional charge of Managing Director at PTV on a two-year contract. However, in November 2008 he resigned from his position as chairman and managing director of PTV. Following the resignation, he was appointed as special assistant to the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousaf Raza Gillani with the status of a minister.

According to Daily Times, Khan was asked to resign from PTV by the then President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari. According to Dawn, this came following mounting tensions between Khan and the then Minister of Information Sherry Rehman when the former refused to take back deputy managing director PTV Shahid Nadeem and cancelled his reinstatement orders. Khan also suspended PTV director administration and personnel, and issued him a show-cause notice for complying with the prime minister's orders and allowing Nadeem to rejoin the organization as deputy MD. Ministry of Information was also dissatisfied by the audit of PTV under Khan's chairmanship and his decision to increase salaries of PTV staff at the time of a financial crunch. Khan was reportedly drawing a monthly salary of ₨ 850,000 and was appointed without a consultation with Minister of Information. Khan was supposed to pay six months salary to PTV in case of resigning as per contract terms, which however was waived by the then prime minister.

In 2014, he joined News One and started a show Live with Dr. Shahid Masood, as a guest journalist. The show then shifted to ARY News in February 2016, and then on Bol News from late 2016 till February 2017. The show then re-shifted to News One on 14 February 2017.

Khan also had presented religious documentary End of Time in 2004 from ARY One Wolrld, with sub-name called as The Hidden Truth. He then refreshed and represented them as The Lost Chapters from News One in 2015, Final Call from ARY News in 2016 and The Moment from News One in 2017.

Controversies

In 2010, Express Tribune reported that a Karachi resident filed a petition against Khan and asked the court to take action against Khan for encouraging cultural hatred through his TV show.

In 2013, Dawn reported that an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan ordered Khan to telecast an apology for telecasting derogatory remarks on the judiciary after which Khan submitted written apologies before the court.

In March 2016, Finance Minister of Pakistan Ishaq Dar sent a legal notice to Khan for allegedly leveling baseless allegations in his TV programme and demanded that Masood offer an apology and pay ₨ 1 billion compensation. In August 2016, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) imposed a 45-day ban on Khan's show airing on the ARY News after Masood alleged in a programme that the chief justice of Sindh High Court took a bribe and later did not fulfil his promises. He was also banned from participating in any other TV show during this 45-day period.

In January 2017, Ishaq Dar again sent a legal notice to Bol News, demanding an apology for false and defamatory statements, aired in Khan's show on 24 January. On 13 February, PEMRA decided to ban his show for 30 days, and ₨ 1 million fine was charged on the channel for making baseless allegations against the Pakistan Army and the federal ministers for finance and defence.