Fizza Jamal

Education

Fizza Jamal completed her matriculation with the Federal Board and her FSc with the Lahore Board. She did her FSc at Kinnaird College, where she lived in a hostel. [1]

Jamal says she scored excellent marks in her Federal Board matriculation exams. She also says the Federal Board does not rely on rote learning. [1]

Jamal applied only to NUST and knew she would study mass communication. She says she was not admitted to NUST through the army quota. She studied at NUST and received a NUST achiever award. [1]

She puts her CGPA at about 3.3 to 3.4. After her bachelors she went directly into a masters degree. She received a full scholarship to pursue the masters in Beijing, and the degree was in journalism and communication. She also moved to Shanghai to learn Mandarin. [1]

A documentary that Jamal worked on won an award at a film festival. She says she loves China. [1]

Early career

Jamal has described a dream of building a production house with China. She has also said that she wanted to make dark material. She started applying for jobs anywhere and everywhere. [1]

She had never imagined working on screen. She was asked to report on gatherings at the diplomatic enclave and did not find the work interesting. She has also been an assistant researcher in a team. [1]

Indus News

Jamal moved to Lahore to pursue a career as a news anchor on Indus News. She was given a show called Coffee Table on Indus News. [1]

Television shows

Jamal was also given a show on a news channel. She quit a show after four or five episodes. She did not enjoy a show concept in which she appeared beside two older analysts. [1]

She said her role felt like clickbait, meant to keep as many viewers as possible watching. She says she was not allowed to talk about things she wanted to say. She recalls being told that nobody wanted to know what she had to say. [1]

Hum News

Jamal joined Hum News. Two weeks before her wedding, she was on Hum News. [1]

Urdu news anchoring

Jamal switched from English news anchoring to Urdu news anchoring. She says the switch was bigger than she had expected, and she found Urdu news presentation difficult at first. She once read 'Bug Bash' on air instead of 'Big Bash'. She read the newspaper Dawn in English and translated its content into Urdu. [1]

Dunya News

Jamal says she was a news presenter before becoming an anchor at Dunya News. She joined Dunya News after a break from work. [1]

Mistakes and public attention

Jamal accepts that she made mistakes on air. She became an internet meme. A channel fined her 5000, and she received a show-cause notice. Someone made a montage, about an hour and a half long, of her fumbling. [1]

Leaving news media

Jamal decided she could not continue in news media. She says she resigned abruptly and left with 110 percent satisfaction. She felt she had gotten everything she wanted from the industry. [1]

Views

Jamal says a news anchor should be able to speak on their own as well. She says she does not call herself a journalist. She says there is no independence in the content one gets to say. She says she never craved the charm of being on screen. [1]

Jamal said she did not want to give anyone an opportunity to comment on her body, because many people were watching her. She says some older men from her own channel commented that her clothes did not fit properly. [1]

Personal life

Jamal got married during a total lockdown. She says she got married with 14 people present. She said she would not work night shifts because her husband did not like it. [1]

Jamal says she recently had a child. She says she does not want to live in fear. She says she has never received hate. [1]

Appearances

Frequently asked questions

References

1. How women are objectified in Pakistan's media . Thought Behind Things , 2021-05-24.