The media in Pakistan is as
free as any in the world and in certain ways perhaps even more. The media
persons have safely treaded grounds, which might still be ‘no go areas’ for
other emerging media. The credit belongs to both, those who have the courage to
speak and those who have the grace to tolerate. That augurs well for Jinnah’s
Pakistan.
It is also true that our media is still going through the throes of evolution.
Its mushroom growth has caused concerns, some genuine and some spurious, that
media explosion also did elsewhere in the world.
There are certain universal truths about the world media, including Pakistan. It
stands formidably united on its absolute right of freedom of expression. It
reacts ferociously to the smallest counter argument or slightest rebuke. It
remains fiercely nationalistic and loyal to professed national values and
aspirations. However, on the issues other than that, complete neutrality and
absolute objectivity is considered neither a moral obligation nor a viable
commercial option.
Some perverted ideas have also crept into the popular perception, which negate
the very basic human ethics. “What is freedom of expression without the freedom
to offend, it ceases to exist”. There is also a strong feeling that “If you
state your opinion, it’s free speech but if I state mine, its hate and
intolerance? Right, I forgot how it works.” That is exactly how it works.
Charlie Hebdo considers it’s right to ridicule Islam, Christianity, laugh at the
miseries of the Muslim refugees and even make fun of Russian civilian plane
tragedy, termed by Russia as ‘sacrilege’ but “fired ‘anti-Semitic’ cartoonist
for ridiculing Judaism in 2009”.
In the international media, the existence of various lobbies, misinformation,
proliferation of sponsored themes, false propaganda and scandalous campaigning
against a target country, organization or celebrities cannot be denied. So is
its ability to mould public opinion, turn the ordinary into significant and vice
versa and make mountains of a mere molehill. To defend its assumed themes and
affiliations a media house can be extremely subjective. Money comes in
abundance, be it the ‘profit over people’ and the truth. This is the ‘role
model’ emerging media tend to follow.
Every culture has its own traditions, customs, and values. The West knows no
honorifics. The East is full of them. The West prides itself in ‘sexual
liberalization’; here it still remains an unmentionable. There the gay marriages
are being widely accepted; here the very word is loaded with shame. There a
princess can publically admit her infidelity, here for another 50 years there is
no likelihood of someone following her example. It is not hypocrisy. It is the
inherent modesty deeply rooted in the culture and tradition. An interlocutor who
loses sight of Eastern courtesies extended to the seniors and the elders sounds
more offensive than liberated.
The same goes for the native sense of privacy that might sound strange in the
west. The marriage is a sanctified institution. All unabashed references to the
marriage or divorce carry affront. The family structure has its own accepted
norms where good breeding and grooming are immensely valued. Love and respect go
together. The women behave in a certain way in the presence of men. The notion
that ‘it is my life and I do what I like with it’ is alien to our culture. We
remain awfully interconnected. By following the ‘Morning Shows’ trends popular
elsewhere, we are probably following a course that will be difficult to correct.
If modernization means immodesty, Pakistan is not in need of it.
And then there is that fine line between modernization and Westernization. The
media has to be acutely cognizant of that. Indian media failed to see the
difference and is racing to deface its rich cultural heritage.The much talked
about resilience of Indian culture despite persistent foreign invasions seems to
be now fizzling out in front of the Indian media cold-hearted commercial
onslaught.
The mad race to be the first in the ‘Breaking News’ runs many risks. It can
compromise security, put the government in an awkward situation while tackling a
delicate situation, unwittingly expose gory scenes or trample on someone’s
privacy. To quote a journalist on the subject, “That free speech is not an
absolute right”.
Any narrative that can cause a rift or aggravate the misgivings between any two
institutions can be extremely harmful to national interest. There is no bar on
any discourse about the judicial decisions or weaknesses in the military. But to
blame the judiciary for ethnic bias or pit the military against the civilian
institutions could adversely affect public morale and its loss of faith in the
system and the government. The Indian media attitude towards their top
institutions is a good case in point. The last Indian Army Chief claimed that he
could take on China and Pakistan together, a nightmare for any genuine
professional and yet the Indian media never censured him for the unnecessary
bragging. Two, the Indian military stopped the agreement on Siachen and Sir
Creek, without being blamed for interference in the foreign policy of India. And
the Indian media looked the other way when the judge deliberately took sides in
the case of Babari Mosque against the Muslims. The Indian media seems to have
adopted some of these self-imposed restraints.
The media enjoys unlimited powers. It must also shoulder commensurate
responsibility. It must act as the custodian of Pakistani culture, its values,
traditions, and ideological frontiers. It has to construct narratives to
positively influence the youth attitudes and responsibilities. It can promote
trends and develop public taste for the sober and the traditional, or inject
alien leanings that defy the majority’s dream of our family structure that is
the envy of the Western societies.
Media has to deliberately participate in the war against terror. It must provide
counter narrative to deviant ideologies that have so lethally infested and
confused minds especially of the younger generation. It can awaken the mind to
the difference between mere rituals and the essence of the value system of Islam
and our society that the traditional mullah under obligation to the monarchs
deliberately ignored and that the immoral rulers would never encourage.
The media is free. That is not enough. It has to take people along, make them
also free; free to live according to their beliefs, customs and traditions. The
media has the power to realize Jinnah’s dream of Pakistan while remaining
equally commercial and profitable an enterprise.