Talk shows as cockfights

Electronic media methodically give exposure to the likes of Hamid Gul and others who are Taliban acolytes. The popularity of Imran Khan among the youth is also fueled by the right wing media which seldom probe deeply into Imran Khan’s reactionary agenda. The plethora of political talk shows are like a circus where everyone tries to outshout the other as the anchor smugly watches the cockfight

In the ‘Press Freedom Index’ for 2011, issued by the ‘Reporters without Borders’ every year, Pakistan ranks a dismal 151 out of 179 countries evaluated, behind both India and Bangladesh and most humiliatingly one notch behind even Afghanistan. It is widely believed to be one of the most dangerous countries for the journalists, fifteen of whom have been murdered since the beginning of 2011 including Zaman Ali, Wali Khan Bahadur, Saleem Shahzad whose death is believed to be ordered by the ISI and most recently Murtaza Rizvi, a senior columnist for the ‘Dawn’ and one of the very few who advocated a sane foreign policy and spoke against intolerance and religious fanaticism.

The difficulties that the press faced in Pakistan and yet remained vibrant despite them, date back almost to the birth of the nation. Whereas Quid-e-Azam strongly believed in a free press, soon after his death, the press faced restrictions of various kinds. The withholding of government advertisements was and still remains a powerful weapon to force the printed media to yield to the government’s dictates. In the period preceding the imposition of the first military regime of General Ayub Khan, thirty eight newspapers were banned in Punjab alone, fifteen of them for a whole year. In addition to the incentive of being granted government advertisements, newspapers were given money as well to induce them to present news stories according to the government’s wishes. However, the most devastating blow to the freedom of the press was dealt by the government of General Ayub Khan, when it took over one of the most respected news groups in South Asia, comprising of ‘The Pakistan Times’, which had the largest circulation in Pakistan, the Urdu daily ‘Imroze’, and the weekly ‘Lail-o-Nihar’ arguably the best periodical of its kind in South Asia. These were edited by eminent literary figures i.e. Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Maulana Chirag Hasan Hasrat followed on his death by Ahmed Nadeem Qasimi and Syed Sibte Hasan, respectively. The Progressive Papers Limited’s majority share holder was Mian Iftikhar Uddin who had leftist views which didn’t sit well with the government strongly allied with the United States and led it to execute the take over on the flimsy and bogus claim that the group espoused anti-state views and was funded by ‘foreign’ powers. The working details of this action were prepared by none other than Qudratullah Ullah Shahab , the Secretary of Information at that time, who is now considered to have been a very honest civil servant and has assumed the stature of a saint after his death, with the connivance of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, a minister in General Ayub’s cabinet. The promulgation of the ‘Press and Publication Ordinance’ (PPO) allowed the government to close down newspapers and arrest journalists.

Although Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto fired Z.A. Suleri, known for his reactionary views, who had taken over the editorship of The Pakistan Times, on national TV, he failed to reverse the takeover of the Progressive Papers Limited and carried out his own suppression of the press. The freedom of the press hit rock bottom under the tyrannical and dark era of General Zia-ul-Haq who made more draconian additions to the PPO, according to which the publishers were to be liable for prosecution if a story was determined to be not to the liking of the government even if it was factual and pertained to the national interest. During his rule censorship was direct and dictatorial and the news media became totally subservient to the government. It decided which news could be published and which had to blacked out, jailed newsmen, banned newspapers, issued directives and most shamefully even publicly flogged four newsman. The history of the struggle of press has been documented in various writings particularly those by the late Zamir Niazi.

The Musharrarf regime could justifiably claim giving far greater freedom to the press than the previous regimes by allowing opening up of independent channels and radio stations, whatever its motivation. This policy has admirably not only been maintained but even improved by the PPPP government. Yet, during particularly the last days of the Musharraf regime, draconian measures were again taken against networks like GEO, which was stopped from broadcasting for several weeks and Dawn, whose owners complained as far back as 2005, that the newspaper’s government advertising revenues were curtailed because of its opposition to the policies of the Musharraf government. In 2009, the PPPP government also stopped GEO TV’s broadcasts.

Unfortunately, the relatively far greater freedom that the electronic and print media now enjoy has not been handled with corresponding sense of responsibility by them. There is virtually no training given from reporters to anchors, and investigative reporting is practically absent. Most of the reporters can barely talk properly, speaking heavily accented and many a times incorrect Urdu to say nothing of English. The whole environment is geared towards ‘sensationalism’ in order to gain ascendency in the ratings wars. The electronic media have been responsible to a large extent for radicalizing the population of the country, perpetuating ridiculous conspiracy theories and creating a fiercely anti-American environment which cannot possibly be good for the country. The biggest culprit in this is the largest network, some of whose top anchors are visibly pro-Taliban and viciously anti-west. Their lack of objectivity and partisanship is crystal clear and cannot be concealed under a feigned neutral stance. Such anchors were able to stoke the fires of the outrage that followed the killing of Osama bin Laden. Not one anchor questioned why the declared number one enemy of the power with which the country was on friendly terms was allowed to stay hidden right under the noses of the establishment while they all castigated the United States for violating Pakistan’s sovereignty and spun dark, implausible and laughable conspiracy theories. It was this quite clear tilt towards the Taliban and the extremist forces that Hamid Mir had the audacity to give equal time to the perpetuators of the Lal Masjid fiasco and tried to transform the traitors who wanted to challenge the writ of the government into martyrs. The right wing electronic media methodically give exposure to the likes of Hamid Gul and others who are Taliban acolytes, question the involvement of Taliban in terrorist attacks, accusing Indian agents or other outside forces for such atrocities and proclaim these savages to be ‘our brothers’. The popularity of Imran Khan among the youth of the country totally and rightfully disillusioned with the present corrupt and inefficient government is also fueled by the right wing media which seldom probe deeply into Imran Khan’s reactionary agenda. The plethora of political talk shows are like a circus where everyone speaks at the same time and each person tries to outshout the other as the anchor smugly watches the cockfight. However, there are some notable exceptions to this bleak landscape. One of the very few objective and sensible talk show is the one featuring Najm Sethi, the seasoned journalist and publisher whose program ironically is presented on the same channel that is host to the likes of Hamid Mir.

Another act of irresponsibility, of which, again the biggest network is the most guilty is fanning the flames of intolerance and bigotry in a nation obsessed with a crazed religiosity, by offering far too many religious programs. It was on one of such programs that the shady ‘Alim’ and fake Dr. Amir Liaqat Ali elicited from one of his profusely hirsute guests the ‘Fatwa’ that Ahmedis being ‘apostates’ were ‘wajib-ul-qatl’ leading to the murder of three innocent Ahmedis the very next day.

In the entertainment field, the lack of responsibility is glaringly evident too as I tried to point out in my last post in the Viewpoint. With the rapid proliferation of TV channels to fifty there is an insatiable need to feed them resulting in production of plays, more than 90% of which are of really poor quality, penned by novices, with untrained actors and green directors, and producers concerned only with maximizing the profits of the channel owners. The repetitious hackneyed plots more often than not are idiotic and implausible and do a great harm to the society by presenting awful portrayals of women as weak, hapless, totally at the mercy of their husbands and in-laws with no way out who can be summarily thrown out by the husband merely repeating ‘I divorce you’ three times, or of minorities such as Hindus and Sikhs as being deceitful and murderous. The comedies are done in very poor taste and are almost universally of poor quality.

Despite many problems, Pakistan has made significant strides having a relatively free and vibrant press. It is high time that the owners of the channels strive for professional excellence by providing training at all levels and inculcating the attitude that anchors, other than in their personal capacity ought not to be political partisans and ought not to spin the news according to their predispositions. Press in Pakistan needs to mature significantly before it can become a real force in the development of democracy and growth of the country into a modern enlightened state.