麻豆社

Journalist Naziha Syed Ali has made a career out of investigating sometimes scandalous abuses of power in her native Pakistan. Publishing in the country鈥檚 main English-language daily newspaper, 鈥淒awn鈥�, she has reported 鈥� often undercover 鈥� on land confiscation, illegal organ harvesting and sectarian violence. Her work has prompted significant action against wrongdoers, most notably when she exposed malpractice in a major Karachi property development, resulting in a Supreme Court case and payments worth billions of dollars. Being female, she says, can help - if only because Pakistan鈥檚 patriarchal society is so sceptical about women鈥檚 ability to make an impact, which can lull male subjects into a false sense of security. Nevertheless, her job is arduous and frequently dangerous. In this interview for Assignment with Owen Bennett-Jones, she explains what drives her to work in one of the world鈥檚 toughest journalistic beats.

Producer: Michael Gallagher
Editor: Bridget Harney

(Image: Naziha Syed Ali gives an interview at a journalism conference in 2017. Credit: Glenn Chong)