State of media in Pakistan: any hope?
Today everyone in Pakistan knows about the drone strikes, TTP’s offer of talks to the government and many other happenings all over the world. It is all due to flourishing media in the country. Some years back people were aware of a few events around them which they would get from the state-run PTV. Now media has made people able to know each and everything around them. When people know exactly what is happening around, they can become active citizens and play their meaningful and active role in the affairs of country. It is impossible to imagine of having real democracy or good governance without informed citizens. In any democratic dispensation, public opinion is required to develop freely and independently and journalists have a special responsibility in this regard. Mass media being an instructor, informer, reformer, guide and a trend-setter is more accountable. Therefore it should follow ethics strictly. The purpose of ethics is to describe moral sentiment as well as to establish norms for good and fair behavior. Boundaries of ethics are drawn in different dimension in various societies. In Pakistan, the ethical dimensions are somehow similar to those of other countries having different demographic, religious and social backgrounds. Media ethics are formulated so that the media of a country can play a positive role for the betterment of society. The government-owned PTV and couple of its specialized news and entertainment subsidiaries dominated the Pakistani media till 2002. These channels were the only source of information for the people in Pakistan. Media in Pakistan purposely followed the ethical lines to broadcast the credible information, which gradually mounted the political interest and social responsibility of people and brought the maturity in society. The last decade has witnessed a great change in the media policy of the government due to opening of a lot of private television channels. Lined up with the global trends, the government also introduced the news media technologies in the country resulting in a rapid growth of electronic media in Pakistan. Gradually it has become diverse and touching the topics which once were considered not allowed for public. Today Pakistani media is one of the five pillars in the country i.e. government, opposition, judiciary, establishment and media. Pakistan’s media has become an industry in the real sense of the word and is following its own agenda. By the opening up of the media industry, the unrestrained news channels are involved in a mad race of breaking news syndrome in order to win the public opinion and popularity instead of delivering correct information to viewers. Nowadays, prominent news channels are telecasting uncensored violence, crime stories, and live coverage of terrorist attacks while sacrificing media ethics. Business interest of media to generate profit never let it to observe public service message time. News channels sensationalize the event to make them commercial which is against media ethics. The TV anchors are losing their credibility as they are found biased and they manipulate the issue most of the time, serving their owners or other specific stakeholders for petty gains. This practice is against the norms of journalism. Sensitive issues regarding gender are highlighted in a vulgar way. Yellow journalism and inappropriate division of time for coverage of news events and personalities through electronic media raised the question about media ethics. Important issues of society that have to be dealt with more seriously such as public health, infrastructure, non-availability of potable water, load-shedding, wages, poverty, unemployment etc are not pursued by the media properly to a point where a solution is eventually reached. According to a survey by Gallup (in November 2009) it was found that almost one-third of Pakistanis (31%) blame media for political instability in Pakistan. There are two important implications of these findings: firstly, media is spreading disorder and uncertainty by distracting the public from real issues; and secondly, with unconfirmed reports they are discrediting themselves, and members of media are undermining their own profession and eventually freedom of the press. All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE), and Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) have developed code of ethics to follow. Similarly, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has formulated rules to follow but implementation of these rules is not observed, which shows that Pakistani media is not fully mature. At this juncture, it is very essential to prioritize the socio-political health of the public through credible and news-worthy information and positive entertainment. It is necessary to develop a code of ethics for the media so that it could serve as a watchdog in the society besides serving public, through opinion about national and international issues and through provision of authentic and verifiable debates. Codes of ethics are formulated through which government can control the media, rules and regulation of Press Council Ordinance and the PEMRA are major examples of such codes in Pakistan. Similarly, the code of ethics drafted by the owner and the broadcasters unnecessarily defends their rights. The issues which have been described can be resolved through a code of ethics with a possible consensus amongst all stakeholders on broadcasting. At this stage media owners, professional journalists and editors etc should pay due attention to the issue and prepare a comprehensive code. This code should be acceptable to all parties, including viewers. Importantly Pakistani media community should adopt the international practice of defining standard that it shall always struggle to achieve. The code of ethics for Pakistan media which has been formulated by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists is based on the idea that fair, balance and independent journalism is essential for good governance, effective public administration and bringing genuine democracy and peace in Pakistan. The code recognizes that the creation of a tolerant, peaceful and just society depends on the freedom of citizens to have access to responsible journalism, through that media respect principles of pluralism and diversity. To make this code to be effective, journalist and media policy in Pakistan should fellow certain principles. Firstly, that media, whatever the mode of broadcasting, is free, tolerant and reflect diversity of opinion enabling full democratic exchange within and among all communities, whether based on geography, religious belief, ethic, origin or language. Secondly, law protects the rights of journalists and the rights of all citizens to freedom of information and the right to know; Thirdly, that there is respect for civilized working and professional condition, through legally enforceable employment rights and appropriate regulations, that guarantee editorial independence and recognition of the profession of journalism; Fourthly, that there is effective peer accountability through self regulation by journalists and media professionals that will encourage editorial independence and high standards of reliability, accuracy, and quality in media. In Pakistan all the media stakeholders should collectively need to reassess the role of media in society and come up with a collective will for compliance on the code of conduct for journalists of the print and electronic media. These steps will not only bring a positive change in Pakistani society but will also reinforce media itself and bring more institutional credibility. The childhood of Pakistani media is almost over and senior journalists, connected government officials and society as a whole should play their role in making media more vibrant and torchbearer of truthfulness while keeping in the societal norms and traditions.
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Tuesday, December 09, 2014
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