Pakistani Media: Paparazzi or Pure Journalism

I have been very disappointed with the role the Pakistani media has been playing for a while now. The practices some of the television channels have been using just to gain cheap publicity for their shows and the means they are using to increase their revenues are ludicrous and saddening at the same time. The Pakistani media has officially turned into the paparazzi. A recent incident which involved a famous journalist taking a bribe to air false slandering news on his show about some respected, senior government officials working day and night for the flood affected victims made me realize the gravity of the issue at hand and the need to raise it amongst the public.

Under the current government system, what we like to call democracy, the media has been given a lot of freedom so that the public can get un-tampered with, transparent information and news about the situation and conditions of the country. The public has no choice but to trust the news channels and unfortunately the news channels have been taking advantage of this situation. Therefore they have been injecting whatever rumors and false information they can get their hands on against the government into the minds of the public. The ever declining state of affairs of the country is proving the doubts of the public for the government and is working in favor of these news channels.

There is a certain code of ethics, morals and a sense of responsibility that every respected and credible journalist has to work under. The journalists in Pakistan need a trip down this lane. Most of the political wars and issues we see around us nowadays are usually media created. They aren’t realizing how fast they are losing their credibility through such practices and very soon the public will show as much trust in them as they do in the current government.

‘Journalism ethics include the principle rule of limitation of harm.’ (wikipedia)

They have to be conscious about the fact that a single piece of information they air worldwide can harm someone’s life or spoil the reputation of the concerned person. Some recent examples make it evident that the media plays around with rumors or some tittle-tattle and present them to the public without any confirmation and verifying the sources. If the media itself is not showing this sense of responsibility then we would naturally expect the government to step in. However, some of the top government officers themselves are involved in bribing these journalists and news channels to work for their best interests. This can be called the spiral effect, the government blames the media and the media blames the government for corrupting it. Thus creating a vicious spiral for the public, leaving them baffled as to who should be held responsible.

You switch on the television and you can sense how each news channel is vying to get ahead of the other and how hard they are trying to gain all the credit for being the first ones to air a certain piece of information. Many a times the news casters repeatedly mention that their news channel was the first one to transmit a certain incident to the public. You may also observe them throwing in their own opinions or anecdotes on a certain piece of information. The recent natural disaster that hit our country was devastating. The journalists visiting the relief camps should have empathized with the flood affected victims and the least they could do was to give them hope. However in most cases, it was widely observed that the journalists were pushing them into dark pits of helplessness and just adding to their misery by trying to add melodrama through their own fake emotional comments. Sometimes even trying to put words in the mouths of the victims, manipulating them to say what they wanted to hear themselves.

What they don’t realize is that the public is becoming aware of their propagandas and also becoming more and more sensible as to what piece of information to believe and what not to. The credibility and the reputation of these channels is their business. Once they lose these virtues, they lose their business. So the public can play a vital role by showing their discontentment and lack of trust in these channels and making them realize their responsibility. This way they will consciously work on becoming reliable sources of information.

Moreover, in my opinion journalists should remain neutral regarding any type of news. They should provide the public with all the information from reliable and credible sources that are, ideally, checked with the concerned people and verified and let the public be the jury and give their verdict. They should not compromise on their ethics, not be biased regarding any news or give their opinions. They should, in other words, just lay the cards on the table for everyone to see. Many journalists have very firm beliefs and opinions that might be the result of stereo-typing or pre-conceived notions and they keep stressing on them openly before the public. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but they cannot forcefully convince the others of it.

Our media can play a very important role in the development and the progress of the country. They should work on painting a positive picture globally, give hope to the public through highlighting positive news about the government, if any, and not work only on the basis of self interest. Instead of concentrating on creating a false sensation for publicity and cut-throat competition they should focus on becoming reliable and trustworthy sources of information. They should treat the respect and integrity of this country like it is their own.

For now we can only hope for every journalist in Pakistan to think like this.

                                                                

Misha Nawaz

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