Top 10 Pakistani Newspapers
Pakistan is home to a multitude of national, provincial, and regional dailies. These are available in various languages and at varying price points. Some of them have been circulating for over four decades, while quite a few have emerged within the last 20 years. We shall now look at (in no particular order) the top 10 Pakistani newspapers circulated in Pakistan.
Pakistan Today is an English language daily newspaper based out of
Lahore. It was founded in 2010 and is owned by Nawa Media Corporation. It is
published in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad and is the first Pakistani
newspaper to be published in the Berliner format.
Dawn is Pakistan’s oldest English language newspaper and is
headquartered in Karachi. It was founded by Muhammad Ali Jinnah in 1941 and is
owned by the Dawn Media Group. It is published by Pakistan Herald Publications
and has offices in Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad.
The News International is an English language daily based out of
Karachi. It was founded in 1991 and is owned and published by the Jang Group of
Newspapers from their offices in Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi.
Daily Jang is an Urdu language newspaper based in Karachi. It is the
oldest newspaper in the country and was founded in 1939; it is owned and
published by the Jang Group of Newspapers from Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi,
Quetta, Multan, Sheikhupura, Bahawalpur, Gujrat, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Sargodha,
Sukkur, Faisalabad, and Dera Ghazi Khan.
Daily Express is the Urdu language daily headquartered in Karachi. It
was founded in 1998 and is owned by the Lakson Group. It is published in a
Broadsheet format from Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan,
Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Rawalpindi, Rahim Yar Khan, and Sukkur.
The Nation is the English language daily based out of Lahore. It was
founded in 1986 and is published by the Nawa-i-Waqt Group from Lahore,
Islamabad, Multan, and Karachi.
The Express Tribune is an English language newspaper headquartered in
Karachi. It was founded in 2010 and is owned by the Lakson Group. It publishes
from its offices in Lahore, Karachi, and Peshawar.
Nawa-i-Waqt is the Urdu language daily based out of Lahore. It was
founded in 1940 and is owned by the Nawa-i-Waqt Group of Publications. It publishes
in various cities including Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad and Multan.
Daily Times is an English language newspaper based out of Lahore. It was
launched in 2002 and was owned by the former Governor of Punjab Salman Taseer;
it is now owned and published by his son Shahryar Taseer in Lahore, Karachi,
and Islamabad.
Business Recorder is an English language financial daily headquartered in Karachi. It was launched in 1965 by veteran journalist M.A. Zuberi and is owned by the Business Recorder Group. It is the pioneering newspaper of financial journalism in the country.
Top 10 Pakistani News Channels
Pakistan has a vast diversity of news channels, most of whom operate 24 hours a day. These include older news stations that have been operational since the founding of the Nation and newer ones that have cropped up within the last decade. There are also news channels that are exclusively in the English language and those that are solely in the Urdu language, while most channels use a mixture of the two (to appeal to a broader audience). Let us now look at (in no particular order) the top 10 news channels within Pakistan.
Express News is an Urdu language news channel based out of Karachi. It
launched on January 1st, 2008, and is owned and operated by the Lakson Group,
who also owns the newspaper’ Daily Express’. On February 5th, 2009, the owners
also launched “Express 24/7,” which is a 24-hour English news
channel.
ARY News is a
bilingual news channel headquartered in Karachi. It launched on September 26th,
2004, and is owned by the ARY Group as part of the ARY Digital Network.
Dunya News is an
Urdu language channel based in Lahore. It began operations on December 1st,
2008, and is owned by National Communication Service (SMC) Pvt. Limited and is
a part of the larger group of educational institutions and organizations known
as ‘Punjab Group of Colleges’.
Dawn News is an Urdu
language news channel based out of Karachi. It began live transmission on July
23rd, 2007, and is a subsidiary of Pakistan Herald Publications Limited, which
is the country’s largest English language media group. Initially broadcasted in
English, in 2010, is converted into an Urdu news channel due to financial
reasons.
PTV News is a
multilingual news channel headquartered in Islamabad. It is a state-owned news
channel as part of the Pakistan Television Corporation and delivers news in
most local, regional languages as well as in Arabic and Kashmiri. Although it
has been around since the inception of the Nation, in its current format, it
has been active since 2007.
G News Network is a bilingual
news and current affairs channel based in Lahore. It was relaunched in its
current format on August 14th, 2018, and is owned and operated by Gourmet
Foods.
Samaa TV is
primarily an Urdu language news and entertainment channel based out of Karachi.
It began broadcasting on December 8th, 2007, and is owned by Jaag Broadcasting
Systems (Pvt.) Limited.
News One is an Urdu
language channel based in Karachi. It launched its broadcast on November 27th,
2007, and is owned by Airwaves Media (Pvt.) Limited. Airwaves Media itself is a
subsidiary of the Interflow Group, the largest advertising group in the Nation.
Geo News is an Urdu
language pay television channel situated in Karachi. It began broadcasting in
2005 and is owned by Independent Media Corporation as part of its ‘Jang Group
of Newspapers’.
92 News is an HD Urdu language channel based out of Lahore. It began broadcasting on February 6th, 2015, and is owned and operated by Galaxy Broadcasting Network (Pvt.) Limited. It is Pakistan’s first HD television news channel.
