Daily Times

It is perhaps hard to imagine today but until 1999 Pakistanis were reliant solely upon PTV for their news. The only other channel was STN and that provided us with entertainment. Then came the Musharraf era and things changed. Numerous private television channels seemingly sprang up over night and we were treated to freedom of expression as provided for in our Constitution. This not only broke the monotony — it also broke the monopoly of state run television, with its penchant for showing that all was well, if not with the world, then at least with Pakistan. Not only that, independent radio stations also entered the scene with quite the splash.

The media as an industry needs to learn to self-correct. Meaning that we must wave goodbye to the practice whereby the cult-of-personalities masquerading as genuine opinion makers also entrench themselves as part and parcel of the news cycle

As we lapped up all of this — the knock-on effects were soon felt in the job market. This swiftly led to industry competitiveness. Meaning that suddenly we were bombarded with different versions of a single news item. And rather than coming of age, the media today is seemingly stuck in those moody teenage years. At least this is how it behaves. For teenagers are held hostage by a host of competing emotions that may manifest themselves as the active courting of drama, the pursuit of individualism and the satisfying of curiosity unbound.

Indeed, we need look no further than the recent Supreme Court saga, which is lamentable in as much as it represents a microcosm of all the above. We have had paraded before us expert after expert. And then there is the small matter of a female MNA being harassed by her party chairman. Though for me, this is a moot point. Especially considering that she or any other woman parliamentarian has already had to overcome the challenges of dealing with predatory men to get to where they sit today. Yet these allegations brought with them the thrusting of every politician, civil society and human rights activists firmly under the spotlight.

Now is the time for the media to act decisively and responsibly. For the fourth pillar has inched its way into our homes and become part of the family. And we wish it to remain this way and not come to consider it an unwelcome guest. This means a concerted effort to turn away from the sensationalism that now passes as journalism. We could surely have lived without on-the-ground reports from Edhi sahib’s freshly dug grave. Similarly our world would still have spun in the absence of being shown the gold-plated bathroom taps from Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza’s honeymoon suite. The same goes for the recent media frenzy surrounding Ayesha Gulalai and her rhetoric that has simply ended up painting Pakistan as no country for women. This despite the fact that the country has produced mountaineer Samina Baig, the women cricket team and now sees women taking their rightful place in both the police and the armed forces. This is where the media needs to step in to provide a counter-narrative.

But such responsibility doesn’t just end there. The media as an industry needs to learn to self-correct. Meaning that we must wave goodbye to the practice whereby the cult-of-personalities masquerading as genuine opinion makers also entrench themselves as part and parcel of the news cycle. Another practice that will no longer do is the electronic media cherry-picking sources or experts according to respective viewpoints. It is not the job of journalists to thus blatantly boast of their political affiliations. It is, by contrast, very much the job of journalists to keep checks and balances on those in power.

Yet we cannot pin this on the media alone. We, too, must also shoulder part of the blame. For our own impatience. Just look at us. We go to school, college and university. But never have we learned the science of critical thinking. Indeed, if the media is stuck in a teenage time warp then we, the consumer, are stuck as school children. The same ones who, rather than admit a mistake, do their utmost to justify it. The fallout of this is that when we are confronted with a talk show comprising, say, three guests and an anchor forever jumping in and never allowing any one of them to make his point to the end — we stay tuned instead of dropping out. We must wonder at the possible psychological impact of this, of treating news as if were entertainment or a spectator sport. At least in the old days, one knew where one was with just the one news and sports channels.

And then should ask, as we ultimately must: what about those who are supposed to be watching the media? Where are they in all of this? It is high time to review PEMRA’s existing rules and regulations. The regulatory body ought to become stricter in taking to task those who propagate sensationalist or fake news. It is not sufficient to busy itself with safeguarding the image of just one state institution.

The writer tweets as gul_shagufta

Published in Daily Times, August 11^th 2017.