Cablegate: Media Request: Interview with Flotus For

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SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/PPD, S/SRAP, R, AND FPC WASHINGTON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPAO AF PK
SUBJECT: MEDIA REQUEST: INTERVIEW WITH FLOTUS FOR
RESPECTED PAKISTANI JOURNALIST JUGNU MOHSIN

1. (U) Post would like to support a request by noted
Pakistani journalist Jugnu Mohsin for an interview with First
Lady Michelle Obama. Ms. Mohsin is one of the leading
liberal secular journalists in Pakistan. She is the Managing
Editor and Publisher of The Friday Times and a television
presenter on Dunya television, one of the most widely watched
Urdu language television channels in Pakistan. Ms Mohsin and
her husband Najam Sethi, also a well known journalist in
Pakistan, were recipients of the 1999 Committee to Protect
Journalists' International Press Freedom Award. Together
they are two of the most prominent voices calling for
religious moderation and constructive engagement with the
United States.

2. (U) Post believes that an interview with First Lady
Michelle Obama on a major Urdu language channel shortly
before POTUS co-hosts the Friends of Democratic Pakistan
meeting with Prime Minister Brown and President Zardari on
September 24th would be an excellent way to highlight the
USG's commitment to Pakistan to an often skeptical Pakistani
public. The interview would also serve to humanize and
soften the image of the United States in a country where
public opinion is often anti-American. Pakistan is critical
to USG foreign policy interests and post believes that an
interview with First Lady Micelle Obama, who is popular in
Pakistan, could aid in improving our image in this vital
country. Ms. Mohsin told us that the interview would largely
focus on women's issues, the role of the First Lady,
perceptions of the U.S in Pakistan, and perceptions of
Pakistan in the U.S. POC at post is A/PAO Richard Snelsire
PATTERSON

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