KARACHI: In less than a week after The New York Times broke a story against the parent company of a media conglomerate, veteran journalists like Kamran Khan and Azhar Abbas called it a day at the Axact’s Bol media network on Saturday.

Mr Khan was the president and editor-in-chief of the Bol media group while Mr Abbas was the president and chief executive officer of Bol News.

Mr Khan was the first among a long list of senior journalists and anchors who ‘dissociated’ themselves from the television network in the backdrop of the serious allegations in the Times story against Axact of selling fake degrees.

All those who resigned on Saturday chose social media to convey their decision.

Reports of impending resignations of Mr Khan and others had been circulating since 3pm as he tweeted that he and many “respected senior journalists associated with Bol” were reviewing the situation and would take a decision soon.

And about five hours after his first tweet, the veteran investigative journalist announced on Twitter that he had decided to leave Bol. “Charges against Axact far from proven in court but my conscience not letting me continue. I’ve decided to disassociate from Bol immediately,” he tweeted.

Mr Abbas’s tweet came shortly afterwards. He also announced his decision on Twitter: “I have resigned from BOL after speaking to my editors and staff. I did put together a great team of journalists. Wish them best.”

Till late in the night, senior journalists Iftikhar Ahmed and Nusrat Javed, anchors Asma Shirazi and Wajahat S. Khan officially announced quitting Bol News.

Mr Javed tweeted: “Although I strongly feel that my colleagues in media rushed to pass final judgement regarding our relations with Bol. Yet I am quitting.”

The news of Mr Khan’s ‘dissociation’ was carried by almost every news channel as ‘breaking news’, while his tweet was re-tweeted more than 1,400 times, making him — Kamran Khan — second most popular twitter trend in Pakistan.

On May 19, both Mr Khan and Mr Abbas tweeted that they created Bol to uphold the truth and not to cover or twist the truth as they are not in the business of cover-ups regardless of personal cost or consequences.

While the fate of hundreds of journalists and media workers is hanging in the balance, at least one journalist working for Bol made it clear on Saturday that he would not leave the organisation. “I cannot leave my 2200 colleagues to prove myself a hero,” according to a tweet of journalist Mushtaq Minhas.

In a front-page story published on May 18, The New York Times had accused Axact of selling fake diplomas and degrees online through “hundreds of fictitious schools” across the globe and went on to allege that the company offered “everything from high school diplomas for about $350, to doctoral degrees for $4,000 and above”.

The Federal Investigation Agency, acting on the orders of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, launched a probe into the affairs of Axact, raided its offices in different cities and seized record, computers and other data.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2015

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