Daily Times

The government suffered yet another embarrassment where YouTube is concerned; with the video-sharing site temporarily suspending its official account. The point of contention appears to be based around the issue of consent. One vlogger went public — which in this day and age means that he tweeted — about how the Government of Pakistan used images from one of his travelogues to promote the country’s soft face. Except that it did so without asking for prior permission. The account was soon back up; but only after full credit was given to the ‘contributor’. The latter was reported as saying that YouTube took action on the back of several additional complaints of a similar nature.

This has got to stop.

For what message does this give to the media as well as businesses? Already the former is rather lackadaisical in this regard. After all, the industry has been caught many a time with its hand in the proverbial cookie jar; at times, wittingly at others sleep-eating.  Meaning that Pakistan’s media has been known to lift unauthorised images to accompany articles or else to jazz up websites. And this doesn’t just extend to visuals. It goes beyond this. To reporters filing stories and not accurately attributing quotes or else, editors in their quest to make the written word sing — erroneously overlooking who has said what. But we, as an industry, know that we need to do better and most of us are working towards improved standards of journalistic professionalism. But bluntly put, the government should know better and if it claims otherwise, it shouldn’t be in the position it’s in. We therefore urge PEMRA to reprimand the relevant department. Because what we want to avoid is creating further precedents whereby we only get our house in order when foreigners direct us to.

After all, we already have the dubious dishonour of being known as a country not averse to stealing intellectual property. From advertising billboards recasting a puny British fictional character that ran for Olympic glory as a local banking ambassador. To block print designs that have been pilfered from artists’ Pinterest pages worldwide. The list is long. In many cases, those who have been called out argue that they should be let off the hook given that this is a poor country that is still building its institutions.

And as ludicrous as this get-out-of-jail clause is — the government has trotted out the same line. For instead of apologising to the vlogger in question, it simply told him that he should feel proud that he is contributing to showcasing his country in a positive light. Yet this should be the primary responsibility of those at the helm. And on this front what we have seen is an epic fail. *

Published in Daily Times, February 3^rd 2018.