Daily Times

The Axact saga, more than the global obsession with fake diplomas/distinctions, is a reflection of the sorry state of affairs in Pakistani media. The Pakistani media has been accused of irresponsible behaviour. In the case of the electronic media, which is a more recent phenomenon, it was assumed that with time maturity would seep in. Things, however, have gone from bad to worse. That corporate media turned into a tool for propaganda should not concern anyone. But with the visibility and outreach that electronic media enjoys, it started becoming a hegemon in its own right. Men (and women), armed with cameras and microphones, started wreaking havoc on all, intruding on privacy, sensationalising the trivial, demonising and destroying anyone who came in their way. Anyone who tried to raise any concerns regarding the media would be dubbed a threat to freedom of expression and the media. Thus, the media became one entity about which any debate was barred in forums, political or journalistic. And then the worse turned to worst during the lawyers’ movement.
With the lawyers’ movement, the media became a power player and when the czar fell, the media started believing it could make or break governments. And thus came a tirade against the Zardari government. In the process, accusations were hurled. Politicians were mocked through animated cartoons. Theatrics dominated news channels with comedy theatre stars taking centre-stage. Not only that, the media also learnt one very valuable trick of the trade: the name of the game was to make audiences realise that the media is the only one on their side. With this angle of sounding sympathetic to the audience, staged reporting began, which would undermine the credibility of everything and everyone in the state and society.
This time, however, the media has to learn two lessons. First, its power to topple government’s is limited (to say the least). Two, when it became a power player, it could not have remained a monolithic identity; interests and egos clashed and thus came the media wars. The wars had political alignments. For instance, ever since the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) emerged onto the scene, the PML-N/PTI war has gripped the media as well. Similarly, after the Hamid Mir attack, battle lines were drawn on the premise of a fight between the state’s institutions. But every such war had an element of rivalry between media houses and media persons. So, it seemed kosher for the media to align with one or the other power players. However, despite all its differences, the media will keep conducting itself as the moral police of society with reporters, cameramen, news anchors and media outlets sensationalising and scandalising everyone.
To be fair, there have been sane voices from within the media that tried to highlight and correct the media frenzy but those voices have been few and far between, with the media continuing to act as the new ‘Brahmin’ of Pakistani society. But in this Brahmin forte lay another class segregation, between those who were more Brahmin than the Brahmins and the lesser beings: the haves and the have-nots. We have the media owners, media executives, administrative journalists and million-dollar baby anchors who rule the screens, and with their (often limited) intellect, lecture the nation about what is kosher and what is not. They lecture us on how immoral it is for a politician to switch parties for power but happily hop from one channel to the other for a fatter paycheck and more prominent slots on our television screens. They cheerfully highlight the corruption of anyone and everyone in society but cry hoarse when allegations (both substantive and unsubstantive) are levelled against them, their media house or their prime sponsors. On the other hand, we have ordinary media workers who are paid (often delayed) low wages and are made to work hard for their jobs with the only privilege and power of protection (and sometimes undue) that being a media man/woman grants them.
In the Axact saga, this divide between the media has been highlighted starkly. Prominent media practitioners joined the channel, convinced many workers to switch their jobs (most had been working with organisations for a decade or more) and move to the channel in the hope of a better life. They flocked. When push came to shove, the captain of the ship was the first to jump off leaving the lesser beings behind in the middle of nowhere. With families to support and meagre means and savings to survive, we can only wish them well. I hope they manage to save their careers. Based on this experience I hope they come out more mature, more humane, more sombre and less of the media Brahmin that the media men (and women) have become. Hope is all I can have.
In the meantime, when you see someone popping up on your television screen lecturing you on ethics, honesty and character, recall the golden words of Colonel Slade (Al Pacino) from Scent of a Woman: “As I came in here, I heard those words, ‘cradle of leadership’. Well, when the bow breaks, the cradle will fall. And it has fallen here; it has fallen.”

The author can be reached on twitter at @aalimalik