Daily Times

The Supreme Court has taken suo motu notice of a video that was leaked of a behind-the-scenes conversation during a programme on Dunya TV, where anchors Mubashar Luqman and Meher Bokhari interviewed real estate tycoon Malik Riaz, which clearly shows the interview was pre-planned. At one point, Meher Bokhari admits the interview is planted. After a petition was filed by President Lawyers Writers Forum Liaqat Ali Qureshi on what has come to be known as Mediagate, notices have been served on Malik Riaz, the two anchorpersons implicated and the Chief Executive of Dunya TV, Mian Amir. The court has also sought footage of the programme from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). As a result, Luqman and Director Current Affairs Nasim Zehra have resigned from the channel. The Supreme Court’s intervention must be welcomed. The whole Mediagate controversy has brought forth a rather uncomfortable reality and discussion on media ethics, or lack thereof. The stain of hanky panky on a few has painted the media as a whole in unsavoury colours. The public is questioning the credibility of the media. That is unfair to the many journalists who are making an honest living and upholding the values of journalism.

Mediagate shows that the media is still at the stage of infancy in Pakistan and has failed to regulate itself. Fairness, impartiality, integrity, truth — why are these values missing? Why have channels and newspapers abdicated their responsibility to the people in the rat race of increasing ratings, boosting circulation, or making a quick buck? The media has an important role to play in educating and informing the public, raising awareness and encouraging debate on important matters affecting state and society. There have been countless times when the media has played a positive role and exposed wrongdoing and other critical issues. Instead, in this current media free for all, unscrupulous and dishonest people are being allowed to get away with virtually blue murder. People tend to forget that the freedom that the media currently enjoys was not always there; these freedoms were won over long years of struggle, where many journalists made huge sacrifices against draconian censorship and repressive regimes. Freedom of expression must never be taken for granted. Nor can it become license for abuse of that freedom through irresponsibility. In a country that has known so few of freedoms taken as normal elsewhere, the media must now urgently turf out the black sheep from its ranks, evolve a self-regulatory regime, and uphold the best values and practices of journalism. Failure to do so risks inviting a return to the bad old days of state regulation (read censorship). The freedoms associated with democracy include freedom of expression, of which the media is one pillar. This whole episode should be treated as an opportunity to introspect and correct the warts, weaknesses and faults in the media through self-regulation before it is imposed from the outside. *