In 2002, General Pervez Musharraf opened up the media landscape to include private television channels. Since then, this sector has grown exponentially. Indeed, during an interview with BBC HARDTalk back in May, on the state of coercive media manipulation in the country, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry boasted that: “Pakistan is probably one of the freest states as for as media is concerned. We have about 43 international channels including BBC, we have 112 private channels, 258 FM channels (radio), and 1,569 print publications.”
However, international watchdogs such as Reporters without Borders (RSF) as well as human rights researchers, and foreign diplomats continue to express grave concern over what they see as the media’s credibility crisis. Credibility here refers to the perceived believability in mass communication process and delivery. That is, the ability to report, analyse, and dispense information freely, fairly, and accurately. And while the term is evidently subjective in nature — there are internationally recognised models that assess credibility. These are used by fact-checkers to scale the scope and intensity of this value in journalism.
Yet demons live both within and without. Starting from prime time talk shows. Sadly, Pakistan’s electronic media seldom invites academics to expound objectively on socio-political issues. Similarly, experts on international relations, development studies, economics, and political science are conspicuous by their absence. Thus, objectivity goes out of the window. And what we are left with are uninformed politicians and analysts who are only interested in viewing things through a particular prism. The omission therefore of a scientific method levering against diverse variables ends up excluding reliability from the media framework. This, in turn, dilutes the scope of argument required to infer conclusion within the context of a larger real-time paradigm.
Among the expanded media outlets in Pakistan, very few are keen to enhance content quality by way of establishing intellectual synergies with research institutions and universities. The incomplete academic and circumstantial scrutinies allow propaganda, rhetoric, and conspiracy theories to come to the fore as fake news, misinformation, and disinformation, respectively.
Media outlets hire reporters at low wages, pay little heed to honing their professional skills by way of training, workshops, or exposure. The sensationalism added to the news-making process triggers distinct imbalances in the frame-setting process
Thus, the serious media audience in Pakistan mostly relies on official websites, foreign media, and press releases to keep informed. Social scientists remain sceptical about the authenticity of electronic media and hesitate to cite the latter as credible sources.
Media outlets in the country hire reporters at low wages, pay little heed to honing their professional skills by way of training, workshops, or exposure. The sensationalism added to the news-making process, starting at the reporter level and moving upwards to the newsroom, triggers distinct imbalances in the frame-setting process.
The selection of words, images, videos, location, screen graphics and music — when it comes to exclusive scoops and breaking news — are mostly sensation-driven. This deliberate tilt towards sensationalism, when combined with contradiction, leads to Pakistan’s electronic media failing the Evidence Chain test of credibility. This refers to an approach whereby the method used to collect, analyse, and frame information is explicitly crosschecked by developing alternate links to the source and passing contradictions through triangulation.
One of the top anchors in the country explained it to me thus: “We are working for consumer-oriented business enterprises. Commotion is more saleable than boring conclusiveness. We are all in competition and are frantically grappling for public attention to bag more ratings and advertisements. Heated debates, hysteria, on-set drama, and violence all contribute to ‘the cause’’’.
The reputation of media owners, anchors, analysts, and content-makers in Pakistan faces a diverse array of limitations. The Reputation Network approach qualifies information as credible if it originates from a reputed media outfit, anchor, analyst, website, and institution. All these together and interdependently constitute a “web of trust” which fosters confidence in the information provided. News outlets run on the basis of this trust.
However, a large number of media associates in Pakistan allow political leanings — steered by ideological and material interests — to violate the minimum acceptable level of neutrality in their conduct. Their likes and dislikes impact their jargon, tone, spin, and in severe cases, facts also. Unbounded subjectivity causes periodic logical fallacies in their journalism and makes their thought process too predictable to expect impartiality.
The state also intersects the Reputation Network. The PTI-led government has developed an overwhelming tendency towards centralisation of perception. There have been many cases of brazen censorship like controlling aired content, threatening media owners with withdrawal of advertising, and incidents of jamming the appearances of opposition representatives. Many journalists are restricted from appearing on-screen subject to their criticism of the deep state.
Field reporters face harassment from the religious and political right, as well as power groups, and corporate mafias. Many have been assaulted and kidnapped. Freedom Network reported that 33 journalists lost their lives in the line of duty in 2013-19 in Pakistan. According to Reporters Without Borders, the country has dropped down six places to rank 145 in the Freedom of Press Index with a global score of +1.34. The government fails to implement the UN Plan of Action on Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity. The higher state control, personal and organisational interests, and financial constraints are tarnishing the web of trust and damaging the public perception of media in Pakistan.
Global access to social media is proving a game-changer. The power of live streaming, images, opinion notes on Twitter and Facebook is captivating the mobility of public opinion. Achieving the required mark of credibility is important for Pakistan’s electronic media to stay relevant. The power of the Internet permits unprecedented fact-checking and scathing indictments of falsehood.
A large section of the electronic media fails to prioritise a composite projection of public policy in their editorial preferences. The glorification of political polarisation consumes major proportions of news bulletins and live debates. The fallout being that subjects like poverty, fiscal imbalances, technology, industry, tourism, agriculture, aesthetics, culture, history, global affairs, public policy, strategic studies, geography, and astronomy scarcely get airtime. Thereby diminishing discourse in the country.
Pakistan hosts a multicultural and multiethnic polity. Credible journalism in general, and electronic media in particular, is inexorable to keep the state constitutionally efficient. Media credibility preconditions cohesion in public narratives defining national goals in politics, society, and the economy. Human collective wisdom has a meticulous propensity to grow if allowed, within the boundaries of responsible freedom. The repression or falsification of truth exacerbates polarisation in Pakistan. And this results in the country dancing on multiple fault-lines of opinion.
The writer is an academic, columnist, and public policy researcher