Topics the newspaper covers include politics, international affairs, economics, investment, sports, and culture.

It runs a glossy called Express Tribune Magazine on Sunday, which includes social commentary, interviews, and a four-page supplement with recipes, reviews, travel advice, blogs, and technology news.

[3] The paper's stated mission is "to defend the liberal values and egalitarian traditions we believe in, and which deserve to be upheld in writing that is both informative and insightful".

Prominent columnists for The Express Tribune include investigative reporter Naveed Ahmad, former caretaker finance minister Shahid Javed Burki, The Express Tribune Publisher M. Bilal Lakhani, retired ambassador and former Interior secretary Rustam Shah Mohmand, retired lieutenant general and former federal secretary Talat Masood, Former General Manager of Gulf News Anwer Mooraj, Urdu scholar and University of Chicago Professor C. M. Naim, Amnesty International (India) Executive Director Aakar Patel, American journalist and academic Faisal Kutty, Retired Brigadier Shaukat Qadir, former Executive Editor of The Express Tribune M. Ziauddin, and Foreign Editor Robin Fernandez.

The Express Tribune is a supporter of The Citizens Foundation (TCF), a local not-for-profit organisation providing education to children in need.

On 2 December 2013, Express Media Group's offices were targeted in a terrorist attack in which three staff workers were killed.

However, in the Pakistani version (The Express Tribune) of the International New York Times, the picture accompanying this news story was censored and a blank space was left on the front page of the newspaper.