Electronic media has never been stronger than it is now. At the same time, it is less willing to use that sort of power and influence because of its increasing commercialization. There was this tradition that the media culture we had inherited from early broadcasts was intended to be a public service. Unfortunately we have lost that, not simply in fact, but in ideal.
When we observe our society and then switch on our TV, we observe a great contrast. We see two completely different worlds. When we turn on our TV, we see news bulletins, special reports and talk shows about unimportant and absurd issues, political melodramas are the most popular among those. We often see “breaking news” after every 10 to 15 minutes where a political leader has issued a statement about his opponents, a bull has been sold at a very high price, a celebrity has lost his wallet, a cat has jumped out of a window on the 3rd floor of a building or a semi-crazy person has eaten 20 sandwiches in one minute. Even if these channels cover the real news they try their best to telecast it in such a way which attract large number of viewers.
They often by-pass all the principles of humanity during coverage of natural and man-made disasters and try to exploit the victims’ sufferings. However, we cannot blame these channels; they are competing with one another and sensationalizing the news is probably the only way to outclass one another. But what have our electronic media done to highlight the common man’s issues? Being the fourth pillar of the state, isn’t it its main responsibility to play its due role in addressing our social issues. Issues which affect the lives of majority of our population.
If one visits a common marketplace in a city, he will see children running behind cars and cleaning the windscreens, selling flowers, newspapers, shopping bags and sometimes even begging. Some children will be working in mechanic workshops, restaurants and other commercial areas. It is worth mentioning that thousands of children being dropped out of schools annually in our country where 7 million children are already out of school.
He will see old people doing hard labor while few of them who cannot do such manual work are forced to beg for their livelihood. Long queues of poor old pensioners in front of banks during first week of every month are not uncommon. Vendors and retailers charging much higher prices for the common use groceries which make it out of reach for the common man.
Government is supposed to enforce the official price lists for these items but it’s not the case in our country. While going through the marketplace, there will not be much activity because there is no electricity for 10 to 12 hours per day. Power crisis used to be a major issue but now we have settled for our fate and accepted the fact that we can never get an uninterrupted power supply in this country.
Outside the main marketplace, he will see young men and sometimes even underage kids taking drugs. Some people are selling them drugs openly. Nobody is there to take notice. Perhaps nobody cares. If that observer goes to a rural area, he will observe extreme poverty there. Over half of the rural population is living below the poverty line. Basic health facilities are not available there; schools are not enough for the population. Women have no rights and are considered as property.
On the contrary, when he sits to watch TV, he sees a different world with totally different issues. News Bulletins dominated by reports regarding political twists and turns, celebrities’ day to day lives, Youtube videos, and film stars relationship crises to name a few. All news channels hold talk shows on similar issues instead of highlighting issues of labor class and other downtrodden segments of society.
Some anchors try to cover such topics but these issues have been blown out of proportion in the wake of competition. Similar is the case with entertainment channels. Most of the TV serials and series are based on the lifestyle of elite class which is less than 5% of our society.
This shameless ignorance of our electronic media has stood in total contradiction to the code of ethics and the moral responsibility it claims. Such cynicism is sometimes known as “ratings race”. The truth is we have dozens of TV news channels as business companies’ which only care about their revenues and have no concern for common people lives. According to seasoned journalists, the main cause of deterioration of journalistic views is that the electronic media has become a whipping boy like police after its boom in 2000s during which the professionals have been replaced with owners.
News bulletins, talk shows and news reports discussed the MQM issue for the last 2 weeks. The same issue rose to the surface quite a few times in the past but nothing has been changed and it is highly unlikely that anything will change this time. However, the electronic media got a “hot” topic for their talk shows. All news channels broadcast 3-4 talk shows on the same topic. It is the story of Pakistani electronic media for the last 15 years or so.
They always focus on issues which attract viewers and boost their ratings. Be it a 4 months long sit-in against alleged election rigging when news channels used to cover speeches from the container for 3-4 hours on daily basis, Panama leaks issue or MQM saga, our electronic media has continuously covered these in news bulletins, reports, talk shows and documentaries. News channels have seldom paid heed to the issues which directly affect common people.
The past two decades have seen a revolution in every aspect of the media industry – technological change has enabled consumers to develop sophisticated and subtle patterns of behavior, constantly being updated from a variety of sources. However, it also led to information bombardment, in which it is not easy for a lay man to distinguish between truth and lies, actual and exaggerated facts. The need to fill airtime – and particularly the need to be seen to be live – means that in the heat of the moment questionable editorial judgments can be made. Broadcasting unverified and exaggerated facts and figures in not uncommon and they don’t even apologize when their facts are disproved.
The emergence of private news channels led to a revolution in the field of journalism. Freedom of media became a reality in a country where journalist community was one of the most persecuted sections of society. However, this freedom has been misused by the media outlets in many instances. Instead of enjoying the freedom and making the most of it, the media has resorted to and crossed all limits of wandering.
Sensationalizing the non-issues has remained the hallmark of Pakistani electronic media. Petty news events are broadcasted as breaking news which has undermined the validity of the term “breaking news”. Moreover, the media has made no real effort to provide quality information and a wide range of perspectives to its viewers. A lack of trust exists between people and media.
The role of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has been disappointing so far. The government firm control has made it a dummy institution. They only take notice of those programs and news reports in which government is the prime target. But we are living in the age of information. Government cannot control all the sources of information. People will know the facts from one or other source. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to make PEMRA an independent authority so that it can play its due role.
However, PEMRA cannot dictate the news channels about their news coverage. It is the moral responsibility of the news channels to allocate sufficient time to issues of common man’s interests. It is worth mentioning that some of the long lasting has been resolved only through media campaigning but it can do a lot more. Ratings and revenues are vital for the survival of these channels but it should not be at the cost of ethics of journalism.