Within less than a decade, the news media in the country has gone through an evolutionary process that has brought more freedom to it than it might have aspired for. Did this change lead the media from one extreme to another? This is the question that comes to mind when we try to analyze any event from the reports that appear in different newspapers. The task becomes more complicated and difficult when a report needs verification from newspapers belonging to different languages. News appearing in an Urdu newspaper may not be available in an English newspaper or the contents in both publications may differ in details and approach on the subject being reported. In a country where the society is deeply divided on ethnic, religious, and political grounds the role of media becomes so crucial that it can either keep this divide within tolerable limits or stretch it to a point where it can trigger intolerances that may result in justifying violent reactions.
The freedom of expression has its own virtues and vices. How this freedom is to be used and practiced determines the results it may generate. During this age and time, the media has assumed one of the key roles in shaping the fate of a country. What it supports and opposes forms the mindset of the people living in a country. Even the forces that wield unquestionable power in a society try either to please or intimidate the news media for taking their sides or avoiding subjects that may be harmful to their interests. Pakistan has witnessed this magical power of the media during the movement for the restoration of judiciary when it fearlessly sided with the judiciary in the presence of a military dictator and led it to a success that was unprecedented. Had there been no such media support to this movement, it might have lost its energy and vigour long before it could have gathered its momentum.
A similar scenario repeated last year when the vast media coverage to the flogging of a girl by the Swati Taliban caused overwhelming condemnation by the people of Pakistan that forced the Taliban to keep changing their statement from one admission to another and then shamelessly denying it altogether. It was the first time when a force like the Taliban that is famous for its undeterred actions of brutality against its opponents was wavered from its earlier position and denied its involvement at the end. Nothing other than the fear of a mass reaction of the media and the people could have been the factor to have forced them take such a decision. Staying firm on their earlier position was bound to make them loose whatever media support they normally enjoyed in the shape of media condemnation of civilian casualties in military and drone attacks. Inviting a feud with the media at a time when the Taliban were already facing military operation in Swat and FATA might not be a wise step for them either.
Staying as a very hot subject of the media attention for about a week or so, the issue of girl's flogging subsided and then with the exception of a few supportive articles in different newspapers the chapter was closed down. The suo motu action from CJ and the instruction of the President Zardari for an inquiry remained lying unactioned for about a year and then there was a complete silence on all fronts on this issue. The media and the public had almost forgotten this event when suddenly a small news report appeared in the Daily Jang and The News on 29 March 2009 claiming that the video was a fake. It said:
Video of girl's flogging in Swat was fake
Monday, March 29, 2010
Peshawar: A resident of Swat, who claims to have prepared the fake video of flogging of a girl in Swat, has termed it drama and revealed that he received Rs0.5 million for doing so before the launch of military operation Rah-e-Rast.
Once again, this issue gained its media value but it conspicuously remained confined to the Jang media group only. Being the largest media group of the country they tried to create the kind of stir among the people that was noticed a year ago. Obviously, they couldn't achieve their objectives but they did manage to show how the media power can be used and misused. Soon after the appearance of the report, the Senator, Professor Khurshid Ahmed of Jamat-e-Islami, brought up the subject in the senate to demand an investigation of the authenticity of the video. Unfortunately, no such action was taken by the senate when the girl's flogging video was first reported last year and almost every newspaper and TV channel talked about it. Either the senate was more cautious then or the male chauvinism is more to blame for it this time. Whatever be the reason, the cues emitted by the newspapers and the Senator didn't take too long for the popular religious talk-show of the Geo TV, Aalim-on-Line, to pick this subject for a discussion and condemn the video as a conspiracy against Islam and the country. Contents of this talk-show were published in the Jang on 12 April 2010 wherein the Chief Justice of Pakistan was requested to take a suo-motu action against this incident and award exemplary punishment to the perpetrators of this conspiracy (surprisingly the host of the program, Dr. Aamir Liaquat Hussain, was unaware that the Chief Justice had already taken a suo motu action against the incident last year). No newspaper or TV channel other than those that are owned by the Jang Group showed so much interest in proving the video as fake even though the report of fake video was simply based on a source that referred to a resident of Swat. How did such a source become so reliable for a media group that has access to more reliable resources? Was it a professional honesty or a lack of it? It's for the analysts to decide. All I can do is to report some interesting findings that I have gathered out of my research on this subject.
A year ago, the editorial published by The News, one of the publications of the Jang Group, had carried the following comments on the incident of the girl's flogging:
Things to come
Saturday, April 04, 2009
The video exposes the barbarity that lies at the heart of the Taliban movement. ......How should we respond to this? There will be those who will watch the video and say 'Yes that is the right thing to do. She deserves that punishment. Others should be punished in a similar way.' .....Then there are others who will watch it and say 'No, this is not the way things should be done. This is not the Islam that I believe in. ... You members of the softly-spoken majority have a choice to make. Either you continue to speak but have your words drowned out by those who would publicly whip your sisters, mothers, daughters and wives for whatever petty gossip is parlayed by jealous or malicious neighbours; or you raise your voices loud in protest. Say strong and clear that this is not for you. Organise and march and lobby and agitate and protest and in so doing stem the tide of extremism that rolls ever closer. You choose. Because if you don't choose, and the tide rolls around the corner of your street and it is your wife or daughter or sister or mother screaming in front of you as she is flogged then you have nobody to blame but yourselves.
An act that was called barbarity a year ago by one of the media of the Jang Group has now become highly questionable for them. With a little twist of the same event the tide has now been turned against the person who acted a year ago exactly in line with what the editor of The News said on 4 April 2009; ....you raise your voices loud in protest. The same Geo TV that was the first to relay the video on its channel back in April 2009 has now hosted a program that requested the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take a suo motu action against the NGO that was blamed to have spent millions of rupees to make this fake video. In the program, Abbas Ansari, a senior analyst of the Jang Group also made these comments:
(English translation); Although the breaking news is a need of the media, it doesn't mean that the media can act irresponsibly in matters that harm the image of the country and defame its religion. After the appearance of the questionable video, some mischief makers had conspicuously tried to attack the holy Quran and repeatedly said that the punishment of girl's flogging was an act of brutality and against the teaching of the Holy Quran. These people should seek clemency for such acts.
For reasons best known to the anchor and the senior analyst, they didn't seek a suo motu action against the Geo TV and the editor of The News who were also involved in committing a similar crime that the NGO in question was blamed for. Probably, they didn't remember that the girl's flogging was condemned by the Chief Justice of Pakistan as well. In a press statement issued by the registrar of the Supreme Court that was published in The News on 4 April 2009 it said:
The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, on Friday took suo moto notice of a girl's flogging in Swat and issued notices to the federal interior secretary and the chief secretary as well as the inspector general police, NWFP, to personally appear before the court on Monday. ..... According to a press statement, issued by the Supreme Court registrar office, Geo News Television Channel released a video film on Friday of a 17-year-old girl being whipped in public. It further said the Constitution of Pakistan guarantees fundamental rights of its citizens. No person can be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment/punishment. Whipping is prohibited by law.
Having a difference of opinion is a healthy sign and a basic pre-requisite for a society that wants to establish democratic values. However, substantiation of an opinion with facts needs not to be compromised in projection of any opinion. This is a principle that loses its importance as and when it doesn't suit the opinion one is in favour of. Right at the time when the video on girl's flogging appeared in the media last year and attained its popularity, most of its opponents refused to accept its authenticity unless and until a thorough inquiry is complete. The editorial appeared in the Jang on 5 April 2009 suggested that since the Chief Justice of Pakistan has already taken a notice of this event, no assumption be made before the facts are submitted and thoroughly investigated by the court. Here is an excerpt of it:
Why wasn't a similar principle adopted against the report that declared the video as fake? Admittedly, the media is going through a phase of its infancy but the basic norms and principles of journalism need not to be ignored for any reason. Instead of showing the strength of the media power truth needs to be pursued.
Muhammad Nafees is working as a Research Analyst with The Financial Daily, Karachi and is a Senior Research Fellow for Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy, Islamabad.
