If you happened to stumble across Twitter today, you may have noticed the name, ‘Hameed Haroon’ trending.

Like so:

And if you didn’t know what that name meant, well, here we go.

Hameed Haroon, the CEO of Dawn Media Group, is being ridiculed on social media for his interview with Stephen Sackur on BBC HARDtalk.

Haroon, went on air with Sackur to discuss the media in Pakistan, particularly his own company, and its role in the upcoming general elections.

Unfortunately, the interview turned sour when Hameed was unable to accurately answer a question in reference to Dawn’s alleged support and sympathy for the newly proclaimed ‘criminals,’ Nawaz and Maryam Sharif.

The interview was intense and Sackur put out some hard hitting questions at the media tycoon

Hameed and the credibility of the paper came under question, as the general public came to the consensus that the interview had turned into an ‘expose,’ showing Hameed and his Media group for all that they allegedly were.

Many were calling the interview an embarrassment, as Hameed seemed quite unprepared with his answers to Sackur’s questions regarding his company’s alleged partiality toward PML N and Nawaz Sharif

And duh, we had some trolls, doing what they do best

Some people actually thought the interview went perfectly well given the alleged censorship and media’s inability to speak up clearly, in Pakistan. They felt that the CEO is being dragged in the dirt for no reason

At one point during the interview, Hameed had also alluded to certain ‘second tier politicians,'(the interviewer concluded it to be Imran Khan), rising up with the military, insinuating that Imran has been working with the military to which of course, Mr. Khan took notice.

Imran Khan totally ripped apart Dawn for allegedly being biased against his party

Of which Mr.Sackur, also took notice.

Suffice to say, the interview was not the best way to shed light on the progress and political stability of our country, especially while going into our general elections.

In fact, if we can learn anything from this interview, it is the power of the media not only in our country but its role in our democracy. We are the technological generation. Most of our kids are born with an iPad in their hands, not a book. And no matter how unfortunate we may think it is, it is the reality that the media’s influence is prevalent everywhere. So of course, the media’s role in our lives is under strict scrutiny.

When it comes to these general elections, the media is playing a bigger role in our democratic process, more than ever. Instead of sitting around and pitting ourselves against each other, we should be working together in spreading awareness and knowledge around the things that really matter this election season.

Even though everything Hameed alluded to may be coming from some sort of factual information, the fact that we are sitting around stitching conspiracy theories together THIS close to election day is absolutely baffling and unacceptable. The focus needs to be on change, progress, and unity. Being in the position that we are now, the only way to look is ahead, not back.

What did you think of the interview? Listen to the full thing here, and let us know what you think in the comments below.

Cover photo source: BBC World Service