Electronic media in Pakistan can be divided into pre-nineties and post nineties era. From its infancy till its so-called maturity presently, media has witnessed two extremes during the period.

Pre-nineties witnessed extreme strictness. Women were shown wearing dupattas all the time on TV. Whether it was some scene in the mountains, in the kitchen, or sleeping, the dupatta never came off. There were times when one had suspicions that men might be seen wearing dupattas. Under government control, Pakistan Television Channel was the only channel and the sole source of entertainment from 60’s-80’s. Unfortunately, PTV did not offer much entertainment to its viewers.

Besides, the standard PTV Khabarnama at 9:00 every day, few dramas, Qawali programs etc. the program schedule was not very impressive. It was a ‘marriage of convenience’ since the viewer had no other choice. Probably the only exciting event was on Saturdays when a program called Saturday night special was aired which was supposed to show an English movie. People waited the whole week for ‘The movie’ which was badly ripped apart by the ever so vigilant censor board and had been the victim of its member’s broad-mindedness. The air time included more ads and ‘Intizar Farmaye’ than the movie itself.  Most viewers were patient enough to with the dilemma.

The 90’s saw debut of few local private channels such as NTN, STN etc., along with few international news channels. This was a welcome change for the people and the list of channels grew steadily. As the list grew, the quality of the programs nose-dived.  Both TV and the cinema industry became victim of commercialism, one of the contributing factors responsible for the downfall of both the industries. The introduction of uncouth, illiterate class of producers and directors in the industry with financial stakes involve, did not help the industries either. Hence, the result.

There is no such thing as entertainment nowadays. With so many channels to choose from, yet none to choose from. All the channels air almost the same kinds of dramas, with same faces who can’t act and with the same Pathetic, miserable, un-intelligent storyline. Where has the intellectual lot gone? Time to wake-up from hibernation!

Coming on to electronic journalism, the news channels aren’t playing their part as well. The true essence of journalism does not seem to exist. A journalist has to be non-bias and impartial but very few fall within the category. Throughout the day, discussions and interviews are aired on every channel. Most of the participants end up fighting and cursing each other. Without any intelligent and sensible outcome from these programs. It seems such programs are a venue for people to come and let their frustration out. Instead of addressing issues and finding their solutions, the only agenda such programs seem to fulfill is political victimization of rivals on behalf of others.

A highly paid, over excited and an over confident anchor person is placed as a host who, in most cases knows nothing or very little, is merely a chatterbox and asks questions and then answers them himself most of the time. Most of the anchor persons seem to be serving the interests of others. In fact, these talk shows and interviews have become a basic platform for propaganda warfare in favor or against someone.

The crux of the matter is that the electronic media before or after the 90’s has neither fully matured nor being used properly to play its part in educating, entertaining and informing the people. Under Martial-Law, the media is restricted and curtailed to an extreme, while during democratic governments, it’s merely used as a psychological weapon.

People from good family backgrounds, strong moral characters, new ideas and most of all, those with manners and etiquettes should come in the forefront and join media, either as venture capitalists or directly in any other capacity. New faces with a vision to take the country ahead by educating the masses through media.  Media if guided properly, can actually shape the destiny of our country.

As Abe Lincoln once quoted ‘Government of the people, by the people, for the people’, same should be said about the media, ‘Media of the People, by the People and for the People’.