Where is the media? | ePaper | DAWN.COM


I wrote a Letter to Dawn Newspaper (see the above link) that was comprised of above 650 words. But they edited it up to 400 words according to their policy.

My Actual Letter is following:
Media is dubbed as ‘fourth pillar of the State’ all over the world; British Member of Parliament Lord Macaulay (1800-1859) had given this status to media. Media plays an important role as an informative bridge between governing bodies and general public. It plays a crucial character in shaping the healthy democracy. It is like a mirror which shows us the naked facts and harsh realities of life. Democracy and media power mutually cooperate with each other. The media has made the voice of public noteworthy. It is the media only who reminds politicians about their unfulfilled commitments which they have proclaimed at the time of election. Media during the election helps the masses in electing their representatives in power corridor.
In the regime of Musharaf, media faced a decisive progress that would lead to boom in Pakistan’s Electronic Media. The new liberal media ruined the State’s monopoly on electronic media. Now more than hundred TV Channels are broadcasting their transmission in the country. This progress paved the way of media activism in the country.
In Pakistan media is performing as a watch dog. News spreads like a fire in forest. Even a small piece of news is portrayed as breaking news. Every News Channel strives to give the news first, even before the event has happened. It was the media only which made the Lawyer’s Movement a triumph and restoration of judges. It is the media which presented the ‘Capitan’ a strong political figure.
But despite all of these activisms, there are some areas on which media remains unvoiced. The condition of Pakistani courts is very miserable. If you go to court and want to get copies of verdict, you have to pay bribe to the personnel of courts. If you attend the ‘Dates’ in courts, you have to pay to your advocate as their Kharcha Pani (Bread n Butter), besides their fixed fee. Why media does not exhibit this flip side of picture? If you go to any government office and want to forward your file to the superior executive, first you have to pay bribe to his subordinate. If you want to file an FIR in police station, you have to pay bribe. If you want to install Gas, Water or power connection in your office or home, you have to pay bribe. If you want to repair your Gas and water pipe line or electricity wire from concerned authorities, you have to pay to the bribe to the repairer as their ‘Kharcha Pani’. Why media remains soundless on all these kind of issues? These are the small amounts in apparent but it irritates to middle class.
The part of the society which is most victimized due to this malpractice, is youth. They get discouragement when they hear that their names do not exist in selecting list for next phase of recruitment. They induce to inferiority complex when they see that the less educated and less experienced candidates’ names are there in recruitment list. The irony of the situation is that the selection has already been made even before advertisement of vacancies. Even if candidates have passed the written test and interview too, their candidature is cancelled in the pretext of medical disqualification and they have to pay bribe to clear their medical test. The ‘Mufhafiz’ in Punjab Police are witness of paying bribe to get selected in police department. Pakistani Police have been named as the most frequent recipient of bribes in 2010 Global Corruption Barometer of Transparency International.
Pakistan’s media is very active and working as watch dog. But why these malpractices are not displayed on news bulletin or on newspaper? Why media does not tell the story that FIA post is sold at the rate of 800K? Why media does remain unspoken that if you want to be selected as Lecturer through Service Commission, you have to pay 600K? Why media personnel use their job cards to avoid traffic challans? These are some stories which remain behind the Screen or paper.

Well done, keep it up.as far as editing is concern, it is the requirement of the newspaper to adjust all the necessary content in a specific edition.

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what humbugs we r,who pretend to live for beauty and never see the dawn :)

Well done.

brother kindly tell me the way for writing to the editor? Is it through email or postal address and kindly also tell me the address.

thanks.

Thanks Abdullah...
You can send it through e mail i.e.

letters@dawn.com

They may publish your texts in 15 days. If it does not publish within 15 days after your sending email, it will be consider as rejected.

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"If you don't like a rule, just follow it. Reach the top and change the rule."

"People do not lack strength; they lack will."

fantastic job. I agree you.

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Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.

To start with, I must say that the way you have woven the facts into words is laudable. After having read both drafts- the original and the published one, I guess it was likely to be edited. Nothing important has been missed out, but summarised. Keep writing bro!

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Real richness is that you are so expensive that no one can buy your character.

Thanks Aariz & azeegum......

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"If you don't like a rule, just follow it. Reach the top and change the rule."

"People do not lack strength; they lack will."

Good job Mukarrum.
You have very correctly pointed out the situation .
Media pursues doggedly some issues, while others are ignored completely. For example, why do they not talk about the "Kashmir issue" on the popular channels as Geo, Express etc?
Why is it just PTV that seems to know there does exist a Kashmir issue?
On other channels, Kashmir is kind of "unheard of". Why we never find Baluchistan being discussed?
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Media sometimes create hype about trivial matters. Media will happily spend a whole day discussing democracy, or how the cricketers were found involved in corruption, or worse, why veena did this or that blah blah...
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The fourth pillar of state is not performing its role properly!

@azure I agree with u..
Geo n some other channel try to create hype... Sometimes these channels overlook national interest... N Kashmir issue is not highlighted by these private channels.

__________________
"If you don't like a rule, just follow it. Reach the top and change the rule."

"People do not lack strength; they lack will."