Daily Times

As the general elections are approaching, two issues have been a subject of public debate — increased media ‘censorship’ and political engineering.

A number of articles in foreign publications about Pakistan, the upcoming elections and the fate of the Sharif family have suggested that there is massive manipulation underway. Pakistan’s political landscape is polarised and many of the international reports reflect that, since foreign media persons talk to Pakistanis and reach conclusions. For example, several persons who quote the international media and disagree with the verdict passed by the NAB court against Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and his son-in-law failed to notice that his unlawfully acquired wealth and property has also been written about abroad.

Sarwar Bari, the General Secretary of FAFEN, in a statement yesterday indicated that only 10 percent of political personalities had complained of interference in their election campaigns. Bari also said “the ground reality contradicts the claims of politicians that some ‘Khalai Makhlooq’ is trying to manipulate the outcome of the election”. FAFEN was quick to add that there may be administrative irregularities on election-day.

FAFEN’s statement belies the impression that there is widespread pre-poll rigging underway. There have been disqualifications of candidates across party-divides. Defections are a norm before every election as the ‘electable’ candidates sense where to ally as remaining in power is their overarching ideology. Therefore, former PML-N parliamentarians switching sides in South Punjab does not prove country-wide engineering. PML-N’s return to power was less likely after the Panama verdict in July 2017 and the electables want to be on the winning side.

On the thorny issue of media censorship, many local and foreign media houses have reported about ‘pressure’ on select media houses. While these complaints have circulated widely, hard evidence for such pressure is not available. There may be self-censorship at work as mentioned by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in its recent reports; there is no officially stated policy as such. Broad generalisations therefore need to be avoided. In 2018, no media outlet has been banned or stopped by the concerned authorities and this is certainly an improvement from the past when there were direct gagging orders.

Pakistani media is unregulated. Many television channels get away with misreporting on a variety of political and social issues including the incidence of fake news. A few powerful media houses that act like a cartel regulate the industry.

Corporate media model has inherent flaws and limitations. Most media owners are businessmen with close links to political parties in power and business interests thereby making them far less objective in their outlook.

It should be mentioned here that while there is an impression of the military censoring media, many mainstream newspapers have been printing anti-establishment articles, editorials and news stories. Similarly, Pakistan’s social media spaces are quite vibrant and enable scathing critiques of state institutions. In fact, some of the journalists who are active on Twitter sound more like activists. This is an old debate: should journalists be activists or stick to reporting hard facts? In Pakistan’s case, journalists on both sides of the divide – pro and anti-establishment -end up with activism.

It should not be forgotten that Pakistan is fighting a dangerous terrorist insurgency, and faces external interventions from the eastern and western borders. Our media industry needs to exercise caution and avoid running stories without substantive evidence. The media regulation frameworks should be improved and the next parliament must think of strengthening key institutions such as Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA).

Sweeping statements regarding media censorship should be avoided. After reading the recent spate of articles, a foreign reader would think that Pakistan’s media has been entirely muzzled. This is an incorrect impression that generates a cycle of negative commentary on Pakistan. Like Pakistan’s democracy, media freedoms and regulatory regimes are also evolving.

Published in Daily Times, July 24^th 2018.