The Decline of Media in Pakistan

It all started during the Musharraf regime. PTV had remained the primary electronic media source to the people of Pakistan for over 40 years, when a military dictator decided to set the boogeyman free. Unfortunately for him, the boogeyman ate him up without any signs of a burp whatsoever.

The media started on a high, no doubt, as it was efficient and hardworking and showed it in its approach. From entertainment to infotainment and from political to social, religious, cultural and economic programs, every thing that came from media had some thing to offer and one could have easily ignored some short comings it had. The media was to see a new high as it played a pivotal role in the movement for restoration of Judiciary. In short, the news media of Pakistan made sure that the final nail in the coffin of its creator was put, firmly.

Since then, the media is in a nose dive as it has time and again ignored the importance of professional integrity and moral values and thus have taken a 180 shift in its course of action, so much so , that it has reduced itself to the belief that “sensation sells”.

Post 2008, we live in the age of a revenged democracy and a unbridled media. Every three or four months a new issues creeps up on the T.V screens and the media diverts all its attention to it, as if that’s the only problem left with the country where only 16% youth are educated in true sense of the word. By doing so, it has made the people immune to hearing about high level corruption and wrong doings by the politicians as no evidentiary results are there for the people to see. There is just one breaking news after the other.

Post 2008, the media has seen new lows. From cheesy crimes shows to breaking news tickers (which really isn’t all that breaking most of the times), from showing gruesome pictures after a bomb blasts, to asking questions like, “How do you feel?” from families of the one’s target killed in Karachi. Of course they feel awful! What answer do you expect? But there is a bunch that trumps all this, talk show hosts!

They come in a variety; from the screaming ones (Jasmine Manzoor Alert!) to the Phadda lovers (Hamid Mir Alert!)  then you have the often-not-prepared-for-a-programme (Kashif Abbasi and Aamir Sohail’s episode), but the one who really takes the cake is Kamran Shahid who have done it all for ratings(Watch frontline with Kamran Shahid for a month, you’ll know what I am talking about).The guests are equally horrifying, from the glass throwing ones (that is an epic video btw) to the ones who just love to use the BEEP words (Mushahid Ullah Alert!). There is also a new breed of PTI workers and members who talk everything but sense on these shows. Having said that, these are exceptions, of anchors and politicians who keep their dignity and decorum intact while interacting on national television. E.g seldom will you see fights happening and nonsense spoken on programmes hosted by a Talat Hussain or a Moeed Pirzada.

More over the hype that media gives to these non issues is nauseatingly disgusting, Time and again media has done this. It happened when Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik decided to tie the knot and hundreds of hours of air time was wasted on them. And recently in the case of Veena Malik, has anyone ever stopped to think who really created Veena Malik? With all the publicity and the hype given to her nude photo shoot (sorry, semi nude photo shoot) and her escapades with Ashmit Patel, repeatedly shown on television news channels deeming her besharam and behaya. Would it not have been better that the Pakistani media highlighted the fact that Pakistan is the leading viewer of porn sites in the world. The answer is NO. They would not do that because it takes dedication and hard work to find out the facts and have a healthy debate on such a topic. Showing Veena Malik nude pictures (sorry again!!) and playing background scores with it is a much eye catching prospect for the media.

The media has drawn itself in to the quagmire of ratings (which is also a flawed system) and is slipping in it day by day. There are some suggestions/guidelines though that the media should follow in order to restore its fast losing credibility.

First and foremost is the formation of an organization of all the news channels to agree upon a decision to make editorial boards for all the shows hosted by anchors in order to tone down the role of a news anchor i-e to make the editorial board stronger than the anchor, so that he can be an extension of the editorial board and not have the power to say whatever so he wishes.

Secondly, there should be a clear cut demarcation between a political talk show host and an entertainment program anchor. The latter does his program for entertainment where as the former should base his program on pure journalistic lines. This can only be done if the first suggestion is worked upon.

Thirdly, the anchors themselves have to realize that with great power comes great responsibility. They are the lucky ones who can raise any issue of this nation in heaps of misery. The plastic bag is killing the environment, the population of Pakistan is going to be the biggest problem in the next ten years, yet if they choose to look the other way towards repeatedly focusing their energies on a letter not written to the Swiss authorities then that would be an injustice to the nation in general and their profession in particular.

Lastly the government needs to breathe new air in to PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) to propose laws in collaboration with the media channels and then regulate it strictly because so far it has proven to be a toothless agency having no control over the ratings hungry media as in the case of Maya Khan. Where in some other country a person’s career would have been over, here, she was given a new morning show on a private channel.

All these suggestions are not new but have been over looked time and again. The result is the latest media gate scandal where two anchors are seen playing a fixed match with Malik Riaz. Mark my words; this is just the beginning, because if the media continues on this rate, more scandals are in store.

The rat race of ratings and the virtual absence of any editorial boards is alarmingly dangerous and potentially killing for media as the quality of programs and credibility of the media dies down every day. Here is some food for thought for all media anchors and media persons. A decade back a military dictator set the media free. Unfortunately it is striving ever so hard for another military dictator (which I hope never comes) to curb that freedom and liberty. But this time he won’t just curb it, he would throw it some where in deepest annals of the Indus.

Muhammad Saeed Khalil

Department of Political Science, University of Peshawar