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Pakistani media - an alternative view
Themrise Khan sent me her provocative piece on Pakistani electronic media. It is a contested standpoint and will not be appreciated by all. But it earnestly attempts to revisit the role of media in a dispassionate manner avoiding the cliched media freedom versus censorship debates.
After noting the sea-change in media, Khan writes:
The proliferation of talk shows is wiping out both journalistic credibility and objective realism. The same issue is done to death again and again until it eventually loses all meaning. It begs the question; “is it really a good thing to have a ‘free and open’ media?”
Not if one is subjected to the near torturous drawing room opinions of the jaded and publicity-hungry all day long, on every available channel. A talk-shop, if ever there was one, Pakistan’s satellite airwaves don’t seem to be interested in issues and robust analyses anymore. Instead, we are faced with a haphazard and soulless mix of panelists yelling their way into our homes, egged on by even more “enlightened” moderators (read: talk show hosts).
Commenting on the recent regulatory changes by the government, Khan writes:
In an era where access to information can make or break a state, access to unregulated information can actually do worse. Media in Pakistan is beginning to tread that dangerous path. While one can question whether the government went too far in clamping down on the media with such force, one also needs to question the media itself.
Sensationalism was always the name of the game for the media. But in Pakistan, the media isn’t looking for scoops anymore. They have become the scoop themselves.
Themrise ends with the point that “media freedom is not the only liberty to be challenged by the state in Pakistan” and calls for a self-examination by the media industry itself. She is a little skeptical if any such introspection will take place (given our reticence when it comes to questioning ourselves).
June 19th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
[...] Full entry here >> This entry is filed under Journalism, Globalization, All My Posts, On Pakistan, Guest Writer, media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. 2 Responses to “Pakistani media - an alternative view” 1 Skeptic says: June 17th, 2007 at 7:39 pm In my opinion a free media, an independent judiciary and the rule of law are even more important than democracy at the highest levels. Without a free media and independent judiciary the actions of the government and politicians in general become unaccountable and they lack transparency. Media only shows what people want to see otherwise no one can compel a viewer to watch a talk show. Sensationalism is a problem when media people behave in an irresponsible manner but they can be checked by invoking the defamation laws. I believe that the biggest achievement of Pakistan in the last few years has been this freedom of media and let’s hope it stays this way. 2 Sin says: June 18th, 2007 at 7:24 pm Having spent some years in the “media” as everyone loves to call it, I feel that its roles as an arbiter of truth and revelatory force are highly overstated. Themrise makes a valid point–if I have to watch one more annoying moment of that badly-styled, obnoxious blowhard Lucman (on a show called Lucman.com, like what the hell, where’s the sense there?), I’ll lose it. If anything, I prefer the “fluffier” talk-shows that come about, such as “24/7″ or “17 minutes”–at least there I feel as though I’m getting a combination of entertainment as well as some knowledge (I know my choice of viewership is limited, blame my workplace!). [...]