On Nov 24, 2024, millions of Pakistani households tuned in to witness yet another chapter of political unrest. But what they saw depended on which channel they watched. Geo News reported the event with a focus on public safety and law enforcement, using headlines like “Protest leads to traffic disruption, Rangers ensure law and order”, whereas ARY News framed it as a crackdown on dissent, with headlines such as “Peaceful protesters tear-gassed, govt silences voices demanding justice.”
These conflicting narratives are more than editorial decisions; they are shaping how citizens interpret reality, whom they trust, and even how they relate to one another at the dinner table.
As Pakistan’s media landscape grows increasingly polarized, it is no longer just public trust that is at stake. Families are beginning to fracture along ideological lines drawn not by their values, but by the news channels they consume.
“Fathers believe one thing, sons another, not because they disagree on facts, but because they have seen two completely different versions of the same news,” said sociologist Amina Bashir. Media polarization is becoming personal. It is entering our homes and pitting loved ones against each other if they belong to opposing political ideologies.
Media polarization is becoming personal. It is entering our homes and pitting loved ones against each other
In many households, political arguments have become routine, even hostile. In some cases, family members reportedly avoid watching news altogether. The screen, once a site of shared information, has become a source of division and generation gap.
A recent study by Gallup Pakistan (2024) revealed that nearly 64% of respondents aged 18-35 said they frequently disagreed with older family members over political news, with most attributing the discord to “differences in trusted news sources.”
Among others, ARY and Geo News are often perceived as representing two opposing political camps. ARY leaning toward PTI, and Geo more aligned with establishment-friendly narratives. These affiliations are not just editorial, rather they have become ideological identities.
Coverage of October 21, 2022, for instance, underscored this divide. ARY described Rawalpindi as a battleground: “Rawalpindi Muzahireen par shelling, ilaqa maidan-e-jang ban gaya.” Geo, by contrast, focused on chaos outside a state institution: “Tosha khana reference k faislay k mouqah par Election Commission k bahir shadeed badnazmi.”
As these narratives filter into family WhatsApp groups and social media threads, they deepen rifts. “It is no longer just news, it is an extension of who you are politically,” said Dr. Samina Khalid, a media psychologist. And when political identity becomes entrenched in family relationships, it becomes harder to compromise, even on basic facts.
This polarization is contributing to a broader crisis of confidence in journalism. According to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report (2024), trust in news media has been dropping in the world. However, there is a sharp decline in Pakistan. Perceived political bias and inconsistency between major outlets are among the leading reasons for this decline.
Audiences now approach news with suspicion, expecting slant rather than substance. “Viewers are tuning out,” said a senior Pakistani journalist, Asma Shirazi. They are tired of the manipulation, tired of having to decode the agenda behind every broadcast.
Even important news, such as the January 2024 sentencing of Imran Khan, is received with skepticism. ARY’s coverage, “Cipher case mai bani PTI ko 10 saal qaid ki saza”, felt like legal reporting. Geo’s framing, “Imran ko saza hogai 10 saal qaid ba mushakat”, emphasized punishment. To many viewers, neither version felt fully credible.
The long-term impact is not just mistrust, but fragmentation. Viewers, overwhelmed by conflicting narratives, increasingly retreat into ideological bubbles, often reinforced by family members and digital communities that echo their preferred views.
The result is a fraying of the social fabric. Political debate becomes personal; shared truth becomes elusive. “We live under one roof, but with different realities,” A student from the English Department at Riphah International University in Islamabad emphasized the issue of polarization in electronic news media and its contribution to increasing disorientation among individuals in Pakistan while defending her MPhil thesis.
The political divide in Pakistan, often caricatured through the labels ‘youthia’ and ‘Patwari,’ is increasingly being rationalized as a generational gap. While this framing may offer some explanatory value; however, it oversimplifies deeper issues of political polarization, intolerance, and hate. The million-dollar question remains: when will we move beyond such binaries and begin to act as one nation?
The way forward is twofold: media literacy education and editorial accountability.
It is crucial for consumers of electronic media to read newspapers for accurate information. While certain ideologies may influence print media also, written news is generally considered more authentic. A newspaper offers its readers the opportunity to analyze information critically, free from the prosodic sensationalism often present in electronic media.
We also recommend for critical thinking curricula in schools to teach students how to detect bias, distinguish opinion from fact, and evaluate the reliability of sources. Pakistan’s television news media could benefit from examining the successful editorial practices of leading global news channels to update their own policies.
At the same time, calls are growing for the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to enforce more transparent editorial policies across networks.
Until then, however, viewers remain trapped in a polarized media landscape, where trust is elusive, truth is divided, and even families are no longer safe from the fault lines of political news.
Muhammad Shaban Rafi is a Professor at Riphah International University, Lahore, and a lead guest editor at Emerald and Springer publishing. Ayesha Saddiqa is an Assistant Professor at Govt. Graduate College for Women, Samanabad.