Daily Times

Talking heads and idiot boxes. This sadly sums up the state of Pakistan’s electronic media in the run-up to next month’s general election. For the latter has allowed itself to be distracted by the politics of deflection. That is, the choreographed side-shows performed by the country’s political leadership across the great divide.

The latter include in-fighting among the PTI camp; with detailed accounts of Shah Mehmood Qureshi throwing shade after electoral shade at Jehangir Tareen. Or Chaudhry Nisar and his repeated quick fixes as he courts the limelight to keep everyone guessing as to the status of his bromance with Imran Khan and what this may or may not mean for the cuckolded Sharifs.

There was a time when the fourth estate at least used to pay lip service to its mandated role as an opposing force; the keeper of checks-and-balances that is so crucial to the democratic model. Yet the explosion of news channels has had a paradoxical impact on editorial ethics and oversight; rendering the latter collateral damage in the relentless battle for ratings. This is not to wholly absolve print media of responsibility on this front. For when newsrooms sub stories pertaining to political party meetings that involve nothing more than backslapping and old boys networking while failing to ask hard questions — they, too, are guilty of compromise.

Nevertheless, during the last 10 years, of uninterrupted democracy no less, parliamentarians have been wont to treat the fourth estate as little more than a public relations wing of their respective parties. And the latter has not fought back. Not in the way that it should. Meaning it has been left to certain sections of the print media to dedicate editorials to raising grave concerns over the absence of party manifestos. This is unfair. After all, newspapers cannot realistically compete with television channels in terms of outreach. Then there is the not un-small matter of high illiteracy rates making much of the country dependent on electronic media for information. For while television sets may well be beyond the financial grasp of individual households — entire communities will often have access to at least one.

Pakistan’s electronic media, by rights, ought to have been at the forefront in giving a voice to society’s most disadvantaged. This naturally means going beyond covering the latest global reports on poverty or childbirth or the fragile security situation confronting religious minorities. It must include talking truth to power; asking mainstream parties to outline positions on these and other equally important issues before moving on to details of enforcement. For it is not enough for the party that introduced the Benazir Income Support Programme to rest on its laurels; staunch in the belief that its work has been done. Or for the last regime to issue hollow promises of how, if elected in Sindh, it will develop Karachi. As if a party that holds the Centre cannot propose initiatives for the provinces.

Pakistan is one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists, it is true. Yet this is due to the risks of crossing red lines demarcated by those who ought to be in the barracks. But what excuse does the media have for beating such a hasty retreat when it comes to holding the civvies to account?

The fourth estate must do better over the next five years. If it does not — it will risk adopting yellow journalism as a matter of policy. And that will be good for no one.  *

Published in Daily Times, June 26^th 2018.