Daily Times

After the army and politicians, the media has become our favourite whipping boy. Talk to a parent and he/she will complain of the ‘outside’ influence encouraged by the media. Talk to the police and they will complain about the alleged blackmailing tactics of the media. Talk to a social activist and he/she will declare that the media is money and power hungry, and how it is all about ratings. Mubasher Lucman recently opened his show by declaring that he was shocked to hear headline news of how Saif Pataudi’s children are now friends with their stepmother, Kareena Kapoor.

My question to Mubasher would be: why be surprised? If one possesses the stomach to do a quick survey of our headline news, one would find that the content and the presentation style is more akin to an evening newspaper rather than a national television station. In the news, there are commercials, songs and sound effects playing in the background while the main news runs on the screen as tickers. Islamabad and Rawalpindi based readers would perhaps understand if I said that I would not be surprised to see the ‘Karegar’ owner presenting the news one day. A report on one of the private television channels on the route of the NATO trucks had the newscaster play the role of a Pakhtun driver in a very stereotypical way. Perhaps this report was a progression from news as entertainment to news as bad entertainment.

In a democracy, media pundits tell us that the media has three roles to play: gatekeepers, watchdogs and agenda setters. However, before discussing the roles, let us first focus on what the media is in Pakistan. According to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, today there are a total of 18,000 journalists as compared to 2,000 journalists in 2003. Some 80 percent of these 18,000 journalists are of 40 years or less age and only 60 percent of them have a maximum of five years or less journalism experience. Some 12 percent of these journalists are women. These journalists power the 96 television channels, 147 FM stations and, of course, the 749 print publications. To say they are young is a fact. To say they are untrained can be posed as a question. Studying credible research on the Pakistani media by the likes of the Washington State University and the BBC, one learns that there are 15-18 media organisations in Pakistan training the Pakistani media. To date, 4,000 media professionals have been trained. Most of this training has been imparted by these 15-18 organisations as the media houses themselves do not invest significantly in training of their staff. In fact research has revealed that only one-third of news organisations provide ongoing training to their own staff. Public and private news organisations are equally guilty. The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, through its internal academy, used to conduct training but since the past one year, has stopped due to budget cuts.

Speaking of training, consider this: I work for an organisation that conducts media training and claims to have trained around 3,000 journalists. However, if independent research shows that only a total of 4,000 journalists are the beneficiaries of media training by the 18 media development organisations, this can only mean one of two things: either the research is not credible or that all 18 of the organisations are essentially only targeting the same 4,000 journalists. In other words, media development organisations are making the same mistake as the media houses. They are investing all their energies in one group of journalists and not expanding their outreach. The media houses also shine their lights and camera over some areas while other geographical areas are black holes.

This is the media demographic profile. In terms of incomes, while we hear about the high pays of a few anchors, lets us not forget that 80 percent of our journalists make less than $ 500 a month. Of course, I am talking about the ones who are paid. Most of the rural media is supposed to generate revenue for themselves and their employers while the urban media suffers from non-payment of salaries. Given this situation, I can only ask myself: do we expect this media to perform differently? With social media and the television remote at our fingertips, are we more informed and aware?

The writer is a development consultant. She tweets at @GulminaBilal and can be reached at coordinator@individualland.com