Daily Times

For seven straight days Veena Malik’s divorce continued being the Breaking News, stopping only after Noor filed for divorce from her fourth husband after which, of course, Noor took up space as Breaking News for the next seven or so days.

Seven straight days, all news channels repeatedly played the same news of Veena Malik’s divorce after short intervals, the intervals of which were filled by news of a blast here and a crash there. Large segments of shows and programs were dedicated to this matter; Veena and her husband were phoned and sometimes called on the shows to inquire further into this matter of national security. A massive event was organised with a religious scholar and the two, Veena and husband, aired live. The aim was reconciliation. Numerous bloggers covered this ‘event’ repeatedly till Veena and husband decided to not get divorced. Then, obviously, there were celebrations since political stability and order had been restored in the country.

The same procedure took place when HumeraArshad and husband got divorced, Humera’s five-year-old son was interviewed and asked who he would like to live with and why to which he answered, “papa kay sath, mama sharaab peeti hain.” This statement of a five-year-old was aired several times a day on national television and various analysts sat in circles speculating about Humera’s character and whether or not Humera is fit to be a mother. Because domestic matters of a celebrity need to be discussed by serious political analysts on news channels.

News of famine in Thar and stories of street crime in Karachi are played in between news of Imran Khan’s marriage, divorce and plans for another marriage with occasional news of the Panama papers and coverage of a politician’s daughter’s destination wedding in the Maldives.

Celebrities may or may not float the news of their own divorces into the media for whatever reasons and the private part of their private lives is questionable but where are the sensibilities of our news channels? Why does scandal sell like hotcakes? Do we as an audience have zero intellect or are we consciously fed stupidity to lower our already questionable IQs? What is the deal with our media?

Then there are our bloggers, providing us with the most authentic and original news and ideas. From the green-eyed chae-wallah to a certain status update of a certain keyboard activist. Whatever happened to serious reporting and writing is unknown, but recently it is all sensationalised headlines which seem like a matter of life and death and articles that result in free lawn joras.

This is the age of the internet, an age that can make an idiot a scholar, let’s not make scholars out of idiots. If you have created a space for yourself on the internet do not waste it with 650 words on Noor’s divorce. It is always a choice, make a sensible one. Let’s not kill journalism, let’s not kill writing.