Daily Times

The media in Pakistan is as free as any in the world and in certain ways perhaps even more. Media persons of all hues have safely trod ground that might still be ‘no go areas’ for other emerging media. The credit belongs to both those who have the courage to speak and those who have the grace to tolerate. That augurs well for Jinnah’s Pakistan.

It is also true that our media is still going through the throes of evolution. Its mushroom growth has caused concerns, some genuine and some spurious, that the media explosion has done elsewhere in the world too.

There are certain universal truths about the world media, including Pakistan. It stands formidably united on its absolute right of freedom of expression. It reacts ferociously to the smallest counter argument or slightest rebuke. It remains fiercely nationalistic and loyal to professed national values and aspirations. However, on issues other than that, complete neutrality and absolute objectivity are considered neither moral obligations nor viable commercial options.

Some perverted ideas have also crept into the popular perception that negate the very basics of human ethics. “What is freedom of expression when without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist?” There is also a strong feeling on how if you state your opinion it is free speech but if I state mine it is hate and intolerance? Right, I forgot how it works. That is exactly how it works. Charlie Hebdo considers it is right to ridicule Islam and Christianity, laugh at the miseries of Muslim refugees and even make fun of the Russian civilian plane tragedy, termed by Russia as “sacrilege” but the magazine fired an anti-Semitic cartoonist for ridiculing Judaism in 2009.

In international media, the existence of various lobbies, misinformation, proliferation of sponsored themes, false propaganda and scandalous campaigning against a target country, organisation or celebrities cannot be denied. So is its ability to mould public opinion, turn the ordinary into significant and vice versa, and make mountains out of a mere molehill. To defend its assumed themes and affiliations, a media house can be extremely subjective. Money comes in abundance, be it the profit over the people and the truth. This is the role model emerging media tends to follow.

Every culture has its own traditions, customs and values. The west prides itself on ‘sexual liberalisation’ but here it still remains unmentionable. There gay marriages are being widely accepted but here the very word is loaded with shame. There a princess can publicly admit her infidelity but here for another 50 years there is no likelihood of someone following her example. It is not hypocrisy; it is the inherent modesty deeply rooted in the culture and tradition. An interlocutor who loses sight of eastern courtesies extended to seniors and elders sounds more offensive than liberated.

The same goes for the native sense of privacy that might sound strange to the west. Marriage is a sanctified institution. All unabashed references to marriage or divorce carry affront. The family structure has its own accepted norms where good breeding and grooming are immensely valued. Love and respect go together. The women behave in a certain way in the presence of men. The notion that “it is my life and I do what I like with it” is alien to our culture. We remain awfully interconnected. By blindly following the morning shows’ trends popular elsewhere, we are following a course that will be difficult to correct.

And then there is that fine line between modernisation and westernisation. The media has to be acutely cognizant of that. Indian media failed to see the difference and is racing to deface its rich cultural heritage. The much talked about resilience of Indian culture despite persistent foreign invasions seems to now be fizzling out in front of the Indian media’s cold-hearted commercial onslaught.

The mad race to be the first in ‘breaking news’ runs many risks. It can compromise security, put the government in an awkward position for tackling a delicate situation, unwittingly expose gory scenes or trample on someone’s privacy. To quote a journalist on the subject, “That free speech is not an absolute right.”

Any narrative that can cause a rift or aggravate the misgivings between any two institutions can be extremely harmful to the national interest. There is no bar on any discourse about judicial decisions or weaknesses in the military. But to blame the judiciary for ethnic bias or pit the military against civilian institutions could adversely affect public morale and cause loss of faith in the system and the government. The Indian media’s attitude towards their top institutions is a good case in point. The last Indian army chief claimed that he could take on China and Pakistan together, a nightmare for any genuine professional and yet the Indian media never censured him for the unnecessary bragging. Two, the Indian military stopped the agreement on Siachin and Sir Creek without being blamed for interference in the foreign policy of India. The Indian media looked the other way when the judge deliberately took sides in the case of the Babri Mosque against the Muslims. The Indian media seems to have adopted some of these self-imposed restraints.

The media enjoys unlimited powers. It must also shoulder commensurate responsibility. It must act as the custodian of Pakistani culture, its values, traditions and ideological frontiers. It has to construct narratives to positively influence the youth’s attitudes and responsibilities. It can promote trends and develop public taste for the sombre and the traditional or inject alien leanings that defy the majority’s dream of our family structure, which is the envy of western societies.

It has to deliberately participate in the war against terror. It must provide counter-narratives to deviant ideologies that have so lethally infested and confused minds, especially of the younger generation. It can awaken the mind to the difference between mere rituals and the essence of the value system of Islam and our society that the traditional mullah, under obligation to the monarchs, deliberately ignored and that immoral rulers would never encourage.

The media is free. That is not enough. It has to take people along, make them free also, free to live according to their beliefs, customs and traditions. The media has the power to realise Jinnah’s dream of Pakistan while remaining equally commercial and profitable an enterprise.

The author is a retired officer from the Pakistan army. He can be reached at askarirazamalik@gmail.com