Bilal Abbas Khan is a phenomenal actor and his body of work speaks for his craft. While fans wait to interact with the star and request publications for his interviews, he usually maintains a distance. In an interview with Something Haute, he had shared that he finds social media very stressful. Now, in a recent tweet, the Dunk actor shared that he is also against media outlets sensationalizing news following some irresponsible reporting.
An old interview of him resurfaced on social media recently in which he was asked to name a female actor he found hot. He had responded that Hania Aamir is “cute” to this rapid-fire question.
After thinking a little, he said “if I have to mention one, I’d say Hania [Aamir] is cute”. However, some Instagram pages and news outlets picked the news and began sharing it with rather dramatic headlines such as ‘Bilal Abbas Khan thinks Hania Aamir is the hottest actress in Pakistan’.
Upset with the irresponsible choice of words and reckless reporting. Bilal requested ‘media outlets’ to keep him out of their headlines for traffic.
Taking to Twitter, he wrote: “I have generally ignored the media, but I think it’s high time that few platforms that call themselves ‘media’ need to understand that they have a certain responsibility of being credible towards the people they are writing about & the ‘news’ they publish for likes and traffic.”
Without naming and shaming, he requested publications to exercise their power with responsibility. “I have never wanted any masala news for myself toh mjhe toh dhoor he rakhein [so keep me far away],” he concluded.
You know who you are … and I request you to please stop ✋🏽
I have never wanted any masala news for myself toh mjhe toh dhoor he rakhein . .. meherbani 🙏
— Bilal Abbas Khan (@bilalabbas_khan) June 30, 2021
Headline writing is a skill but, in the digital age, a new word has become synonymous with online journalism – clickbait. Media outlets should follow ethics; it is one thing to make a headline in order to catch the readers’ attention, and it is another to report false news. Misleading headlines can do more damage than good (like make you lose your credibility).
