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{{Use Pakistani English|date=September 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{short description|Pakistani English-language independent newsweekly}}
{{Infobox magazine
| title = The Friday Times
| logo = The Friday Times Logo.png
| logo_size = 200px
| image_file =
| image_size = 
| image_alt =
| image_caption =
| editor = [[Najam Sethi]] (1989– )
| editor_title =
| previous_editor =
| staff_writer =
| photographer =
| category =
| frequency =
| circulation =
| publisher =
| founder = [[Jugnu Mohsin]] <br/> [[Najam Sethi]]
| founded = 1987
| firstdate = {{Start date and age|1989|May}}
| company =
| country = [[Pakistan]]
| based = [[Lahore]]
| language = English
| website = {{URL|thefridaytimes.com}}
| issn =
| oclc =
|format= Print as well as online
|}}
'''''The Friday Times''''' (TFT) is a Pakistani [[English-language]] independent newsweekly, based in [[Lahore]], [[Pakistan]].<ref>[http://www.apns.com.pk/member_publication/index.php The Friday Times (weekly newspaper) listed as Member Publication on All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) website] Retrieved 28 September 2020</ref><ref name=CPJ/>

==History and profile==
''The Friday Times'' was first published in May 1989.<ref name=TFT>{{cite web|url=http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta3/tft/aboutus.php|title=The good ol' bad days |author=Najam Sethi|work=The Friday Times|url-status=live|archivedate=22 September 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120922042421/http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta3/tft/aboutus.php|accessdate=30 September 2020}}</ref> TFT's founder-editor [[Najam Sethi]] and publisher [[Jugnu Mohsin]], a husband-and-wife team, are recipients of international awards conferred by [[Amnesty International]] and the [[Committee to Protect Journalists]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cpj.org/1999/06/cpj-disturbed-by-the-persecution-of-najam-sethi-in.php |title=CPJ Disturbed by the Persecution of Najam Sethi in Pakistan|date=23 June 1999|publisher=The Committee to Protect Journalists|url-status=live|archivedate=4 September 2012|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904044739/http://cpj.org/1999/06/cpj-disturbed-by-the-persecution-of-najam-sethi-in.php|accessdate=30 September 2020}}</ref><ref name=CPJ>{{cite web|url=http://cpj.org/awards/1999/awards.php|title=1999 Awards – Announcement|year=1999 |publisher=The Committee to Protect Journalists|archivedate=3 September 2012|url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120903172547/http://www.cpj.org/awards/1999/awards.php|accessdate=30 September 2020}}</ref> In 2009, Sethi also won the [[World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award|Golden Pen of Freedom]], the annual press freedom prize of the [[World Association of Newspapers]].<ref name=WAN>{{cite web|url=http://www.wan-press.org/article17978.html|title=Pakistani Editor Awarded 2009 Golden Pen of Freedom|publisher=World Association of Newspapers website|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513055613/http://www.wan-press.org/article17978.html |archive-date=13 May 2013|accessdate=30 September 2020}}</ref>

According to Sethi, he first conceived of the idea for an independent Pakistani newspaper out of frustration: while briefly imprisoned in 1984 on trumped-up copyright charges, no newspapers had protested his arrest. The following year, he and Mohsin applied for a publishing license under Mohsin's name, since Sethi was "too notorious an offender" to be approved. Called into [[Nawaz Sharif]]'s office to discuss the application, Mohsin told him that she intended to publish "a social chit chat thing, you know, with lots of pictures of parties and weddings". It was finally approved in 1987, but Mohsin requested a one-year delay to avoid the first issue coming out during the dictatorship of General [[Zia ul Haq]]. The paper's first issue appeared in May 1989.<ref name=TFT/>

During the rule of President [[Pervez Musharraf]], Mohsin wrote a monthly humor column titled "Mush and Bush" featuring fictional conversations between the president and US President [[George W. Bush]]. She had previously targeted Prime Minister Sharif with a column for his "dim and authoritarian personality, his intolerance of dissent".<ref name=WP>{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-11344641.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611052911/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-11344641.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 June 2014|title=How Pakistan's Satirists Poke Fun, Politically|author=Emily Wax|date=28 November 2007|newspaper=The Washington Post |publisher={{Subscription required|via=[[HighBeam Research]]}}|accessdate=28 September 2020}}</ref> Her sister, [[Moni Mohsin]], satirizes the country's social elites with another column for the paper, "Diary of a Social Butterfly".<ref name=WP />

Mohsin advocates a [[liberalism|liberal]] Pakistan and opposes [[religious fundamentalism]]. In January 2006, she argued for the right of women to participate in a [[marathon]] wearing shorts instead the [[salwar kameez]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-982300041.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611052916/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-982300041.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 June 2014|title=Pak women run to shake off their country's Taliban past|date=30 January 2006|work=Hindustan Times|publisher={{Subscription required|via=[[HighBeam Research]]}}|accessdate=30 September 2020}}</ref> She later became a major critic of the former cricketer [[Imran Khan]]'s entry into politics, stating that he "doesn't really have a firm grip on history, or politics, or economy ... He would be very easily led and misled."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-285874086|title=King Khan|author=Mike Giglio|date=18 April 2012|work=[[Newsweek]]|publisher=|via=|url-access=|accessdate=}}{{dl|date=July 2021}}</ref>

== See also ==
* ''[[Daily Times (Pakistan)|Daily Times]]''
* [[List of newspapers in Pakistan]]

==References==
{{Reflist|33em}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|http://www.thefridaytimes.com}}

{{Portal|Pakistan|Journalism}}
{{Pakistan-newspaper-stub}}
{{Newspapers in Pakistan}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Friday Times, The}}
[[Category:1989 establishments in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Newspapers established in 1989]]
[[Category:English-language newspapers published in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Weekly newspapers published in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Mass media in Lahore]]

The Friday Times - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article