Television is known as the idiot box. Pakistani electronic media is smarter, however. It is turning us into commodities that remain glued to witnessing abuse while raking in money on the pretext of ratings. Not only is it making us idiots that can be sold to the highest advertiser but also ensuring that we learn to enjoy abuse and public humiliation. On October 26, 2013, many of us witnessed a talk show on one of the private news channels, supposedly ‘anchored’ and ‘moderated’ by Mr Kamran Shahid. The honourable guests included Mr Ansar Abbasi, head of the investigative unit of The News; Mr Orya Maqbool Jan, a columnist and retired civil servant; Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy, a nuclear physicist and essayist, and Mr Zafar Hilali, a former diplomat. The topic of discussion was the book written by Malala Yousafzai, with the help of Christina Lamb, titled I am Malala: The girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban. The talk show’s content details are irrelevant here. The task of any talk show is to present different points of view on a subject with the moderator ensuring that all the perspectives are given adequate time. After all, isn’t the whole point of inviting different guests to present to the viewer the diversity of the arguments? Apparently, Mr Shahid disagrees. To start with, the show, supposedly moderated by him, went into chaos from the onset. There was no moderation by the anchor/moderator and it was being felt that Mr Abbasi was running the show, and at times it was evident that the anchor was purposely doing it: handing over the show to Mr Abbasi, not because he had something valuable to add to the topic, but because he wanted to stir the debate. In other words, rather than steering the conversation, the moderator was adding oil in the hope of having a raging fire. A raging debate there was. At the expense of Dr Pervaiz Hoodbhoy. By virtue of being invited, it was evident that all guests were there to present different opinions, to which each was entitled. If all the guests had a similar viewpoint, what was the point of inviting them? So, dissent on the topic under discussion is expected. However, using a television show to hurl personal insults and abuse one of the guests is not only inappropriate but also speaks volumes about the lack of understanding of Mr Shahid’s task as a moderator. More than Mr Orya and Mr Abbasi, it is Kamran Shahid who needs to be questioned why he allowed his show to be used as an opportunity to vent personal venom against Dr Hoodbhoy. While watching the show, it felt as if Dr Hoodbhoy was invited only to be used as a personal punching bag by Mr Abbasi and Mr Orya Maqbool Jan. Dr Hoodbhoy is known for his views, which are not shared by many in this country. After all, a country that reads conspiracy into every event, is ashamed of Dr Abdul Salam but offers Eid prayers with Hafiz Saeed as the imam, cannot be expected to allow Dr Hoodbhoy’s views to be popular. However, even by Pakistani tolerance standards, it is inappropriate that a person is used as a dartboard on national television. Mr Abbasi and Mr Jan are columnists themselves and have been associated with the media for decades. However, both have a tendency in talk shows, moderated by professional anchors, to make irrelevant, personal comments. Lady luck was smiling on Mr Jan and Mr Abbasi that evening as they got a chance to participate in a talk show conducted unprofessionally, and, therefore, all hell broke loose. The further tragedy, for people like me, is that the show got good ratings, because let’s face it: the more insulting the remarks, the more voyeuristic is the public. This takes us to another aspect of our media: commercialisation. Our media, particularly the electronic media, has been liberalised for more than a decade now, and has witnessed amazing growth over this period of time. However, this growth, which should have been vertical, has so far been only horizontal. By this I mean that our media has been successful in increasing their coverage over a major part of the country, with the exception of Balochistan, and many places in FATA, which are also parts of this country. Conversely, it has been unsuccessful in adopting the high standards of news reporting being followed in other parts of the world. This accusation is quite evident these days, especially on one of the most viewed news channels in Pakistan. On October 29, 2013, at about 12:52 am during the news, the newscasters very cheerfully advertised a music reality show being promoted by their channel. This was accompanied by another such advertisement by a shampoo brand, which was offering the last chance to participate in the music reality show. All of this was done during the news and not as a separate advertisement. This calls for a serious review of policies being followed by different media groups operating in the country. Freedom and independence in news reporting is very important but they should be accompanied by responsibility. It is important to realise that whatever is being shown on our TV screens is understood by many as the last word on any given topic. Therefore, the media personnel, including senior anchors, columnists, editors and others, must tread very carefully before telecasting or publishing anything, particularly on matters that are close to the religious sentiments of our people. Governor Salmaan Taseer was murdered only because he was being openly accused on our media of supporting a woman accused of blasphemy. The anchor of the talk show under discussion also committed the same mistake, either purposely or not, we do not know. It is quite understood that heated debate in a talk show certainly contributes towards its success, but if the topic of discussion is of a controversial nature it can also lead to chaos, not just during the show but on the streets as well. It is never justified to inflame the religious sentiments of people just for making the show more commercially successful. More than anything else, the anchor of the show failed in his duty as a moderator, and only allowed one of point of view to prevail, which might have been his own point of view as well. The writer is a development consultant. She tweets at @GulminaBilal and can be reached at coordinator@individualland.com