No to a Ban on Geo
While Geo is largely inaccessible in Pakistan, a formal ban cannot be ruled out in the days to come despite a formal apology in the daily Jang and The News, on May 26. Viewpoint strongly condemns any such move especially when the driving force to muzzle Geo is the Pakistan military/ISI under the notoriously familiar pretext of blasphemy!
At Viewpoint we support Geo’s right to stay on air despite the fact that we strongly disagree with Geo’s editorial policy. Geo’s editorial line is out-and-out reactionary [And after a likely compromise, it will turn further right]. Its journalistic practices have contributed to a culture of gutter journalism. As well, labour practices at the Geo/Jang Group leave a lot to be desired. More importantly, Geo contributes to a culture of fanaticism and blind ‘patriotism’ which poses a threat to its own existence. For example, Geo did not even tender a formal apology when it’s star-anchorperson and noted televangelist Aamir Liaquat Hussain instigated violence against Ahmedia community. Two Ahmedis were assassinated after his hate speech.
Though Ansar Abassi is not a Geo employee, he works for Geo’s sister organisation The News which glorified Governor Salman Taseer’s assassin and took pride in tracking down an online blasphemer with PTA’s help back in 2009. Mr. Ansar Abassi with the driving force behind the vigilante action. Now he himself stands accused of blasphemy.
Ironically both Geo and Mr Abassi have been accused of blasphemy by Mubashar Luqman, himself a discredited anchorperson because of his role in Mediagate. It seems that the chickens always come home to roost.
II
From a critical viewpoint, the Geo-ISI conflict offers interesting lessons.
First, for a period of time Geo dared to challenge the Pakistan army, the country's most powerful institution. They were forced to capitulate overnight after ARY’s anchorperson Mubashar Luqman detected blasphemy in a morning show, hosted by Shaista Lodhi, on Geo. It does not matter that ARY itself committed exactly the same blasphemy in the past. In other words, any transgression, from the murder of a governor to the gagging of country’s largest TV channel, is possible in the name of blasphemy. Clearly this calls for a strengthening of our resolve to fight back against the so-called blasphemy laws imposed by the Zia dictatorship.
Secondly: Media are not powerful in themselves. They merely reflect the balance of forces in a given society at a given moment. Under the declining Musharraf dictatorship, Geo, like other TV channels, was able to side with the Advocates Movement. Apparently however, under a democratic rule, even when the civilian set up subtly sides with Geo, an all-powerful Geo TV has gone off-air. This makes it imperative to build and strengthen civil society.
Thirdly: during this conflict many so-called journalists played the role of either ISPR’s spokesperson or Geo’s PRO. A nuanced view of the journalist community is missing. It is not the job of an employee of the Jang Group to visit Pemra on the Geo establishment’s behalf in order to influence Pemra. Likewise, ISPR-briefed anchorpersons and columnists have helped to blur any distinction between the media owners and the journalists.
Finally: In the wake of the Geo-ISI conflict, the mainstream media have further damaged their credibility. The fact of the matter is that every baron in Pakistan’s media Hamam is stark naked. Most rivals, while they accuse Geo of accepting foreign funding, have themselves benefited from imperial largesse. Moreover, certain recent entrants in the media market have very dubious reputations as business tycoons. We hope the peddlers of today’s anti-Geo smear campaigns stand exposed tomorrow. The job of critical media activists is to build alternative outlets to make this happen.
III ‘Not to laugh, not to cry, but to understand,’ advises Spinoza. Without laughing at the mainstream media’s ironies, without crying over Geo’s fate, let us understand. Geo’s closure will, at least symbolically, undermine hard won democratic liberties and civil society will suffer a defeat at Khaki hands. Therefore, supporting Geo against the Khaki censorship is not merely an abstract principled position, it is also strategically vital. Let us re-iterate our support for Geo’s right to stay on air and at the same time hold our noses to express our disgust for Geo’s editorial line.
At Viewpoint we support Geo’s right to stay on air despite the fact that we strongly disagree with Geo’s editorial policy. Geo’s editorial line is out-and-out reactionary [And after a likely compromise, it will turn further right]. Its journalistic practices have contributed to a culture of gutter journalism. As well, labour practices at the Geo/Jang Group leave a lot to be desired. More importantly, Geo contributes to a culture of fanaticism and blind ‘patriotism’ which poses a threat to its own existence. For example, Geo did not even tender a formal apology when it’s star-anchorperson and noted televangelist Aamir Liaquat Hussain instigated violence against Ahmedia community. Two Ahmedis were assassinated after his hate speech.
Though Ansar Abassi is not a Geo employee, he works for Geo’s sister organisation The News which glorified Governor Salman Taseer’s assassin and took pride in tracking down an online blasphemer with PTA’s help back in 2009. Mr. Ansar Abassi with the driving force behind the vigilante action. Now he himself stands accused of blasphemy.
Ironically both Geo and Mr Abassi have been accused of blasphemy by Mubashar Luqman, himself a discredited anchorperson because of his role in Mediagate. It seems that the chickens always come home to roost.
II
From a critical viewpoint, the Geo-ISI conflict offers interesting lessons.
First, for a period of time Geo dared to challenge the Pakistan army, the country's most powerful institution. They were forced to capitulate overnight after ARY’s anchorperson Mubashar Luqman detected blasphemy in a morning show, hosted by Shaista Lodhi, on Geo. It does not matter that ARY itself committed exactly the same blasphemy in the past. In other words, any transgression, from the murder of a governor to the gagging of country’s largest TV channel, is possible in the name of blasphemy. Clearly this calls for a strengthening of our resolve to fight back against the so-called blasphemy laws imposed by the Zia dictatorship.
Secondly: Media are not powerful in themselves. They merely reflect the balance of forces in a given society at a given moment. Under the declining Musharraf dictatorship, Geo, like other TV channels, was able to side with the Advocates Movement. Apparently however, under a democratic rule, even when the civilian set up subtly sides with Geo, an all-powerful Geo TV has gone off-air. This makes it imperative to build and strengthen civil society.
Thirdly: during this conflict many so-called journalists played the role of either ISPR’s spokesperson or Geo’s PRO. A nuanced view of the journalist community is missing. It is not the job of an employee of the Jang Group to visit Pemra on the Geo establishment’s behalf in order to influence Pemra. Likewise, ISPR-briefed anchorpersons and columnists have helped to blur any distinction between the media owners and the journalists.
Finally: In the wake of the Geo-ISI conflict, the mainstream media have further damaged their credibility. The fact of the matter is that every baron in Pakistan’s media Hamam is stark naked. Most rivals, while they accuse Geo of accepting foreign funding, have themselves benefited from imperial largesse. Moreover, certain recent entrants in the media market have very dubious reputations as business tycoons. We hope the peddlers of today’s anti-Geo smear campaigns stand exposed tomorrow. The job of critical media activists is to build alternative outlets to make this happen.
III ‘Not to laugh, not to cry, but to understand,’ advises Spinoza. Without laughing at the mainstream media’s ironies, without crying over Geo’s fate, let us understand. Geo’s closure will, at least symbolically, undermine hard won democratic liberties and civil society will suffer a defeat at Khaki hands. Therefore, supporting Geo against the Khaki censorship is not merely an abstract principled position, it is also strategically vital. Let us re-iterate our support for Geo’s right to stay on air and at the same time hold our noses to express our disgust for Geo’s editorial line.