Pakistan

Pakistan
When it’s too ‘live’ for comfort

Mustafa Nazir Ahmad

Asia Media Report 2009 | Pakistan 39

When it’s too `live’ for
comfort
The Pakistani media held the mirror up to several new trends: TV’s
sensationalist reporting often overtook accuracy. Corporate and
political figures of influence became news channel owners. The
media reflected the overall state of governance: it was mediocrity at
best, writes Mustafa Nazir Ahmad

Overview of the media considerably, despite the fact that their

The period 2006-08 was significant for
the Pakistani media for many reasons: not
only did it register phenomenal growth, it also
played a much more proactive role in
shaping public opinion than in the past.
However, the electronic media stole the
limelight, mainly due to the mushrooming of
cable networks and the increased popularity
of FM radio channels. Moreover, the Pakistan
Electronic Media Regulatory Authority
(PEMRA) awarded licenses to a record
number of new TV and radio channels.
On the other hand, the number of daily
newspapers and other periodicals decreased
circulation increased manifold over the last
decade mainly due to improved literacy in the
country.
The increase in the number of viewers
and listeners has meant an enhanced, if
superficial, awareness among the common
people of political, social and economic
issues. With sensationalism and one-
upmanship often overtaking accuracy or
authenticity in the electronic media, the
impact of events sometimes takes a grave
turn. Live coverage of the Karachi visit of
‘deposed’ chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry led to ethnic and sectarian riots.

40 Asia Media Report 2009 | Pakistan

 Content and approach to coverage are
one aspect of it, but TV’s reach has generated
enormous revenues. Newspapers too profited
through circulation, newsprint availability on
subsidized rates, and ads, whose inflow has
slowed due to the global economic meltdown
and the reduced advertisement budgets of
most big companies.
A new trend was especially significant
during the last two years: many influential
groups – such as politicians, business tycoons
and land developers – launched TV channels
and newspapers with a view to saving the
expenses incurred on advertisements and
using their own media outlets to swing policy
in their favour. However, the traditionally
family-held media houses continued to
dominate the scene, the owners of major
newspapers also owning successful TV
channels: the Jang group owns Geo TV, the
Dawn group owns Dawn News, the Nawa-
e-Waqt group owns Waqt TV. The increased
influence of private TV and radio channels
resulted in loss of viewership for the state-
owned Pakistan Television (PTV) and Radio
Pakistan, which then brought about some
positive changes.
The media reflected the overall status of
governance in the country, most of the TV and
radio channels and newspapers too being
mediocre at best. Perhaps the only positive
was that the salaries of journalists increased
in the period under review, mainly because of
the lack of human resources and increased
competition among TV channels. Unlike in the
past, it was not the English media alone that
benefited.
On the negative side, many people,
with no experience of journalism, and more
importantly, no commitment to the profession,
made their way into various newspapers and
TV channels. This was mainly the outcome
of the media’s increased influence and the
job opportunities created by its rapid growth.
However, the media bubble appeared to
Pakistan
be bursting, just like the economic one, as
evident from the closure towards the end
of 2008 of some major upcoming media
ventures, like Geo English.
Space for media
Due to a record increase in the number
of listeners and readers, the Pakistani media
assumed a major role in politics and public
policy making. Within media, TV channels
and English newspapers exercised the
most influence. In particular, the electronic
media transformed the political landscape
in Pakistan, where illiteracy barred 60% of
the people from reading newspapers, thus
influencing public policy more. The media’s
increased influence became evident at
the peak of the lawyers’ movement, which
started with the removal of Chief Justice
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry by then
president, General Pervez Musharraf, on
March 9, 2007, on charges of corruption.
The movement continues to this day, but
its initial success was largely due to the
media coverage it received. Though Justice
Chaudhry was subsequently reinstated by
the Supreme Court, the Musharraf regime
imposed ‘emergency’ in the country on
November 3, 2007, and sacked more than
60 judges of the superior judiciary. Most of
them still languish despite the fact that the
February 2008 elections were won by parties
that supported their reinstatement.
Despite getting unprecedented freedom
in the recent past to report on hitherto taboo
issues, such as HIV/AIDS or the defence
budget, or telecast talk shows wherein
every institution of the state is taken to task,
including the military, the Pakistani media
was not wholly free yet. For example, the
government could take off the air any TV
Asia Media Report 2009 | Pakistan 41
channel put out through the cable networks,
besides imposing restrictions on the media
through the introduction of ordinances, as
happened after the imposition of ‘emergency’
on November 3, 2007 (box 1). Similarly,
it could withdraw advertisements from
newspapers and reduce their newsprint quota
if they adopted too hostile a stance.
The major problem, however, continued
to be the military. On many occasions, during
2006-08, the Inter-Services Public Relations
(ISPR) ‘advised’ media outlets against airing
or publishing certain items of news.
It is important to mention here that the
Pakistani media mostly exercised restraint, or
what can be aptly termed, ‘self-censorship’,
when it came to reportage of issues
concerning the so-called ‘national interest’,
such as Kashmir or the recent Mumbai
attacks. Presumably, the media complied out
of a fear of reprisal. At times, the English
media crossed the line, but only because
limited audiences and readers do not force
the government to resort to extreme measures.
The Pakistani media also came under
increased corporate influence due to its
expanding role. As a result, glamour and
showbiz gained prominence at the cost of
real issues. This resulted in a situation where
not much space remained for reportage and
analysis of serious issues; thus, the media
very rarely stimulated meaningful debate
on important policy matters. Even more
negatively, because it was fast becoming
an industry, the media resorted to unethical
practices that militated against the spirit of
journalism – for example, publishing paid-for
news or giving undue space to big business.
Increased corporate influence also
limited the autonomy and freedom available
to professional journalists. The focus on
celebrities and stars sidelined coverage of
issues relating to the marginalised and the
42 Asia Media Report 2009 | Pakistan
poor. Investigative journalism also suffered
due to this phenomenon, as well as due to
the increasing facility available to reporters,
courtesy the Internet and mobile phones,
to file ‘desk’ stories. Largely, the journalists
also lacked skills to report on economic or
developmental issues, or to do investigative
stories that rose above the level of what the
‘sources’ said.
Media interests and inclinations
Although the media was relatively free
– compared to the past – commercial interests
dominated during the period 2006-08. Events
sponsored by big business companies – the
major sources of revenue – got excessive
coverage. For example, events like the Lux
Style Awards or Rafi Peer festivals received
disproportionate coverage, while many
newsworthy items failed to make it to the
headlines. However, the Pakistani media
overall could not be accused of working
under any political influence, though there
might be journalists supporting specific
political parties or groups to seek benefits at
the personal level.
Due to increased globalization and
availability of time on TV channels, the
scope of media coverage also broadened
considerably during the last two years. It is for
this reason that international events, like the
2008 US presidential elections, were reported
with diligence. This trend helped the average
Pakistani become a part of the ‘global
village’ and they then developed an
increased liking for international and regional
news. However, the content of most of the
programmes on international and regional
affairs was pathetic; the so-called ‘experts’,
invited to share their opinions, seemed
to excel in generalisations alone. Besides
international and regional events, some of
the remote areas within Pakistan also received
 Pakistan
How to practice self-censorship
The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) (Third Amendment)
Ordinance, 2007, enacted on November 3, 2007, by President General Musharraf,
notified at least seven new violations that were not part of the version of the law that existed
before the state of emergency. For each of these newly-notified violations, as well as any
old violation under the preceding law, the penalties were enhanced to: jail term up to
three years; fine up to Rs10 million or $112,000 (increased from Rs1 million or $11,200);
suspension of broadcast for an indefinite period, or its seizure, and sealing of licensee
office, without advance notice. The offences were made cognizable and compoundable.
The newly notified violations that would trigger these dramatically enhanced punishments
included:
1) Terrorism-related coverage (“[Media will not] broadcast video footage of suicide
bombers, terrorists, bodies of victims of terrorism, statements and pronouncements
of militants and extremist elements, and any other act which may in any way promote
and/ or abet terrorist activities or terrorism”;
2) Liberal interpretation of political history (“[Media will] ensure that no anchorperson,
moderator or host propagates any opinion or acts in any manner prejudicial to the
ideology of Pakistan, or sovereignty, integrity or security of Pakistan”);
3) Passionate discourse and debate (“[Media will] not broadcast any program inciting
violence or hatred, or any action prejudicial to maintenance of law and order”);
4) Criticism of Musharraf, armed forces, parliament and judges (“[Media will] not
broadcast anything which defames or brings into ridicule the Head of State, or
member of the armed forces, or executive, legislative or judicial organs of the state”);
5) Discussion on court proceedings on Musharraf’s eligibility for re-election as president
and challenging of PCO and judges’ sacking (“[Media will] not broadcast any
program or discussion on a matter which is sub-judice”);
6) Free speech (“[Media will] not broadcast anything which is known to be false or
baseless or is malafide or for which there exist sufficient reasons to believe that the
same may be false, baseless or malafide”);
7) Live coverage (“Notwithstanding anything contained in this Ordinance, the live
coverage of incidents of violence and conflict shall not be broadcast. A licensee or
permission holder shall ensure nothing is transmitted or broadcast in violations of the
provisions of this Ordinance, rules and regulations and Code of Conduct [as drafted
by PEMRA], and for this purpose shall install time delay equipments within its system to
prevent any such violation”).

Asia Media Report 2009 | Pakistan 43

Protest march: the Khyber Union of Journalists in Pakistan condemns the killing of Swat-based journalist
Musa Khankhel, in February 2009. (Photo: Ashfaq Yusufzai)
increased attention, again mainly due to the
paucity of ‘news’ for the electronic media.
Importantly, using its increased influence,
the media brought almost every issue into the
public sphere, from the ‘jacked up’ marks of
the chief justice’s daughter to Ajmal Kasab’s
nationality. The popularity of some of the talk
shows, which helped politics enter the drawing
rooms of the common people, was so
immense that the government had to impose
a ban. However, unlike in the past, the owners
of media groups stood behind their staff
when faced with government pressure. Geo
TV resisted when the government urged that
popular talk shows, such as Capital Talk and
Meray Mutabiq, be taken off the air. Other
major channels, like Aaj TV and ARYONE
World, too followed its example.
Similarly, the English daily, The News,
stood behind its editor (Investigations), Ansar
Abbasi, who broke the story of the chief
justice’s daughter’s marks. It is important to
44 Asia Media Report 2009 | Pakistan
remember that only a few years ago, the Jang
group – which owns both Geo TV and The
News – had fired its group editor Shaheen
Shehbai – since reinstated – upon government
pressure.
Despite this, the media continued to face
restrictions on freedom of expression and
many journalists lost their lives in the line of
duty, especially in the violence-hit Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and North-
West Frontier Province (NWFP). In other parts
of Pakistan, the post-‘emergency’ period was
the worst for the media, with banning of TV
channels and enormous pressure being put on
journalists not to do anti-government stories.
Space in the media
Despite its rapid expansion in the
last couple of years, the Pakistani media
continued to ignore issues that affected the
marginalised, especially women, minorities
and the rural poor. For example, it gave very
little coverage to tropical cyclone Yemyin
that struck parts of Balochistan and Sindh on
June 23, 2008 (case study), while a tragedy
of similar, or even smaller, magnitude in
Punjab or the NWFP would have been in the
headlines for months. Moreover, the media
continued to cast women in submissive
roles, thus reinforcing stereotypical images.
Similarly, though a quarter of Pakistan’s
economy depends on agriculture, the media
completely ignored this and other rural
issues.
In addition, media coverage of most issues
lacked depth and quality. For example, the
country faced the worst energy crisis of its
history in the period under review, but the
media not only failed to apprise the common
people of the pros and cons of the issue,
but also did not offer any solutions. What it
did instead was publish or air generalized
comments of different people, none of whom
could be termed an authority on the issue.
Another major problem with this
approach was that the views of marginalized
communities were not widely covered by
the media. Thus, for example, the views of
Sindhi nationalist leaders on Kalabagh Dam
or those of Baloch nationalist leaders on
provincial autonomy, were largely blocked
by the media. Similarly, the media addressed
the preoccupations of the urban elite and
neglected the needs of the majority in the
countryside. For example, besides English,
Urdu newspapers – in particular, ‘eveningers’
– also started devoting full pages to celebrity
pictures and news.
True, the solution to most problems was
beyond the media’s mandate or capacity;
however, it could have spread information
and awareness on issues, such as energy
conservation. At times, editorials and opinion
pieces raised vital questions, but the lack
of proper follow-up ensured that nothing
concrete was done to address the issue, by
either the government or the private sector.
Pakistan
A major case in point is that of farmers and
labourers, an increasing number of whom
were rendered jobless during the last two years
after privatization of state-owned enterprises.
However, the situation was not so bleak
when it came to media coverage of civil
society’s policy positions on the issues related
especially to governance. The way the media
highlighted the sacking of the country’s top
judge, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and
covered his rallies showed that it was willing
to pay a proactive role in the country’s
governance. However, many analysts were of
the view that the media created unnecessary
hype about an issue with which the common
people had nothing much to do.
Key challenges
It is interesting to note that during the last
two years, the media showed an increased
inclination to report on those who wielded
power rather than issues concerning the
common people. Marriage ceremonies of film
stars received live telecast, while sugarcane
growers, who could not get their dues from
mill owners on time, did not fit into any time
slot. This trend was so obvious that many a
time one was at a loss to understand who
really controlled the media.
Some of the key challenges journalists
faced included lack of job security and
professionalism, and respect for merit and
quality. Few worthwhile issues – barring the
political -- merited investigation. Similarly,
it became increasingly difficult to criticise
corporate interests. In this scenario, the
culture of seeking favours from those who
wielded power thrived.
Another visible trend during the last couple
of years was the use of the media by NGOs,
which, to be in the news, extended journalists
Asia Media Report 2009 | Pakistan 45
 Case Study: `Slow death is not news’
“The media is not interested in human
suffering where the process of death is
slow,” lashes out Sadiqa Salahuddin,
director of the Indus Resource Centre,
an NGO working in the flood-affected
area of Sindh. “Bomb blasts and suicide
bombings keep the media riveted, not
stories about the poor.” The death toll
was roughly 319, with 2.5 million people
affected and 367,394 displaced when a
tropical cyclone, Yemyin, struck southwest
Pakistan in Balochistan and Sindh on
June 23, 2008. The havoc caused by
floods did not make it to the headlines of
a single national newspaper, says Zubair
Murshid of the state-run National Disaster
Management Authority.
Lacklustre coverage meant that national
and international aid organisations
did not respond, relief workers lament.
Fund-raising became difficult, points out
Salahuddin. “We needed urgent supplies
of medicines, but those sitting in Karachi
didn’t know the scale of the devastation
and were not mobilised enough to
support us.” Three weeks later, an appeal
for $38 million in relief aid, issued by
the UN, realised barely 14% of what
was required, a large chunk of which
came from the UN’s Central Emergency
Response Fund.
In 2005, when a quake measuring 6.7 on
the Richter scale devastated parts of Azad
Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and the NWFP,
46 Asia Media Report 2009 | Pakistan
the remotest villages were teeming with
reporters for months. As a result, Pakistan
was the recipient of unprecedented
philanthropy. “Loss of life is always
‘big’ for the media, loss of livelihood
and suffering do not add up to much
sensation,” says Harris Khalique, director
of the NGO, Strengthening Participatory
Organisation, which worked in both
quake-affected provinces.
From the media’s point of view, alleges
Salahuddin, cynically, ``The poor are
already suffering and so, there is nothing
newsworthy there,’’ but the long-term
suffering caused by a flood cannot be
undermined.
With the flood-affected areas being so
remote geographically, relief work was
slow, says Masood Ahmed Lohar, national
coordinator for UNDP’s Small Grants
Programme. “Kashmir, on the other
hand, has a good road network. The
devastation of the beautiful valleys added
further drama to the tragedy. In Sindh and
Balochistan, all there is to see is desert.”
The political situation in the country is so
``distracting at the moment’’ that natural
calamities take a back seat, admits
Khawer Khan, a reporter with a private TV
channel, Dawn News, who covered the
floods two days after the cyclone’s fury
and ``didn’t bump into any journalists’’
in Jhal Magsi, a district in Balochistan,
which was completely inundated.

Bearers of office: the Tribal Union of Journalists’ newly elected officers at the Peshawar Press Club,
January 2009.
all sorts of ‘cooperation’, such as lavish ‘field
visits’ and invitations to ‘workshops’ and
‘conferences’ abroad.
On a positive note, the alternate or online
media, fulfilling the information gap from
a people’s perspective, thrived during the
period under review. When the Musharraf
regime unplugged the TV channels and radio
stations in November 2007 to disrupt real
time news and information flow, the country’s
estimated 20 million Internet users turned to
the web where these channels continued to
remain operational.
Blogs and social networking sites also
managed to organise protest rallies, start
international petitions and plan strategies for
opposing military rule. As a result, a symbiotic
relationship evolved between the media and
civil society. When ‘emergency’ was imposed,
web news became available more and more
in both English and Urdu, and even in Sindhi,
to satiate the growing hunger for information.
However, this form of media could benefit
mainly the urban elite because of the low
Mustafa Nazir Ahmad works with The News on Sunday as editor, political economy
section. He also teaches at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore.
Pakistan
literacy rate in the country’s rural areas.
In another positive development, an
increasing number of academics and
development activists – Dr. Anwar H. Syed,
Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, Dr. Pervez Tahir, Dr.
Shahid Siddiqui, Rafay Alam, Dr. Mubarik Ali
and Dr. Rasul Baksh Rais, to name a few –
contributed regularly to both English and Urdu
newspapers. However, the country failed to
benefit from this interface between the media,
civil society and academia. Unfortunately,
efforts of organisations, such as the South
Asia Free Media Association – which works
mainly on the interface between media and
development, especially peace – also failed to
bear fruit.
The Pakistani media began to realise its
potential in the period under review, but it
still has a long way to go before it can play a
meaningful role in the country’s development.
Skill development of journalists, more
freedom of expression, and respect for merit
and professionalism can go a long way in
achieving this end.
Asia Media Report 2009 | Pakistan 47