The Pakistani Spectator

Media manages to live in troubled times since Pakistan decided to be an active participant in the ‘war on terror’.

However, the decision for Pakistan to take part as a front line country in this war has brought unforeseen consequences and challenges to the Government, common man and especially the media.

Terrorism is no new phenomenon to Pakistan. During the time of partition there were numerous killings and huge numbers of lives were lost. The early 90s saw terrorism emerge to a different level and develop into some of the most tragic events in Pakistan. As of today terrorism incidents have had a major increase in number and this has certainly affected solidity of Pakistan.

As a result of such terrorism incidents taking place on regular intervals, there is immense pressure not only on the associated officials and Government of Pakistan.

In such situations with consistent blasts, hostage situations and cross firing in public places the people seek fast, accurate and responsible information. This is where great pressure lies on the media to deliver.

It would not be incorrect to say at this point that the current media on a few occasions failed to deliver the goods it was expected due to its intelligent history and love for the nation.

The media industry growth at a fast pace and channels privatized is viewed as one of the positive trends seen in Pakistan in the early years of Musharraf’s regime.

However, this did give rise to a tough competition between these channels to improve their rating and increase their viewer ship.

The contest amongst these channels is healthy but at times gives birth to unsubstantiated reporting just to catch some immediate view ship and attention.

Citizens strictly disagree with this.

Citizens believe that at the moment Pakistan is in a very critical position locally as well as Internationally.. The conditions within Pakistan are at their worst. Issue such as poverty alleviation, unemployment and gender issue should be brought under limelight. This will help the common man which in turn will affect the growth of the country.

The nation believes that the media’s role at the moment should be the old traditional one that is accepted everyone. The media should report systematically and most importantly on aspects of life other than giving coverage to only political figures, political issue and terrorism.
The focus of especially some of the leading news channels, whom people have trusted the most, has been on elected representatives and the sensational news such as the NRO for the past few months.

Every time one turn on the television set or reads a newspaper, there is a high probability that sensational news of terrorist attacks will be highlighted on the main page that will force you to watch the complete show or buy the newspapers. Once the details are read it is observed that the news is not as bad as the hype was created.

A good example of this would certainly be the issue revolving around the NRO. The current media created so much hype about the NRO issue that anytime you switch to a news channel they are debating on this issue. It seemed like nothing else was happening in Pakistan other than this.

The media at times can slightly go further and spent a lot of quality time on discussing a single issue that undermines other crucial incidents. Consider.

On a pleasant morning in the beginning of November the city of Rawalpindi was struck by yet another bomb blast in one of the most crowded areas, Saddar. This main victims of this suicide bomb were the people queued outside a bank. Some were waiting to receive the monthly salary, others to pay utility bills or run errands. Thirty four people died in this incident who were all common men and innocent.

When the twin cities heard about this news a lot of people were curious as to what had happened. Immediately people tuned in to the news channels to get an update. Unfortunately, people were disappointed when they saw that our respected media was still debating on other issue and this incident was not being given the deserved coverage.

This incident is an example of how the current media can at times focus on a single political disagreement. A debate between two representatives tends to carry more importance and abruptly removes the limelight from the scene where thirty four people have just lost their lives.

Opinion being that a disagreement between two political leaders over the issue of the NRO at times can be more important than the lives of people. This is  ofcourse partially due to the pressure built on media by the political parties who use media as a strong resourse to enhance their campaigns and popularity.

It is also agreed by citizens that the awareness of political issues is very important and the natives must be updated at a decent pace from the media. At the same time it is also important to keep a balance. There is no comparison of one human life loss to anything.

The source and authenticity of any news should be confirmed before launching it to almost millions of viewers. Just in the the month of November it was experienced that many news were published which lacked legitimate source. News did get a lot of attention and created panic which could have been avoided.

Some of the alarming incidents and our current media’s reaction on them would be important to analyze.

Photos were published of houses claimed to be offices of Black Water agencies. International journalists were caught up in the fire of jealousy and were alleged by their colleagues to be partners of secret agencies. This created such hype on International level that foreign media organizations decided to write a letter to the Federal Minister to pay attention on such acts by the journalists.

This certainly brought Pakistan media under International limelight because such news was published for Daniel Pearl a few months before his kidnapping.

Other than that the incident in which it was claimed that a suicide bomber had entered the vicinity of the capital. When the brave police encountered the terrorist the next morning everything was claimed as fake.

Without thinking how this would affect the motivation of our police this news was published. It then carried to the television sets rapidly due to cross owner media ship without any further checking.

Due to all these unique statements day after day people believe that media should check the realism of every news as it has always been happening except in the past few years. A lack of genuine news being aired to the audience results in lack of trust.

However, with such immense pressure being handled we should not let this undermine the good work being done by our media.

In the city of Karachi in November, eight media organizations met to further shoulder the responsibility of a much groomed future media. A code of conduct and rules prescribed how the media should report on terror was discussed and a common ground was agreed upon.

A valid point was raised about the use of delayed reporting.  No more airing footage in hostile situations because this would not only discourage the mastermind but also reduce their activity very effectively.

Another important issue raised was to ban reporting on unconfirmed events. Incidents that took place in November were discussed. Due to baseless leads security forces as well as the media tends to waste revenue, time and energy that helps no one.

The same investment can be done on a single department where the news source is confirmed thoroughly before launching it. This will clear many doubts in the people minds and thus they would be able to trust what they are receiving.

History proves media can make a difference and especially a responsible one is a must ingredient for the bright future of the country.. Information is power and media is the most influential vehicle to change the mentalities and affect the mind sets.

Further building on what was started in Karachi earlier this November, more positive attention needs to be paid and people believe that day is not far when maximum credit will be given to our media for helping Pakistan get out of this critical situation.