Impact of the Media in Pakistan

[Nemesis]

Guest columnist Ahmed Rashid reports on how the real problems facing Pakistan are being sidelined by a surge of conspiracy theories.

Switch on any of the dozens of satellite news channels now available in Pakistan.

You will be bombarded with talk show hosts who are mostly obsessed with demonising the elected government, trying to convince viewers of global conspiracies against Pakistan led by India and the United States or insisting that the recent campaign of suicide bomb blasts around the country is being orchestrated by foreigners rather than local militants.

Viewers may well ask where is the passionate debate about the real issues that people face - the crumbling economy, joblessness, the rising cost of living, crime and the lack of investment in health and education or settling the long-running insurgency in Balochistan province.

The answer is nowhere.

One notable channel which also owns newspapers has taken it upon itself to topple the elected government.

Another insists that it will never air anything that is sympathetic to India, while all of them bring on pundits - often retired hardline diplomats, bureaucrats or retired Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officers who sport Taliban-style beards and give viewers loud, angry crash courses in anti-Westernism and anti-Indianism, thereby reinforcing views already held by many.

Collapse of confidence

Pakistan is going through a multi-dimensional series of crises and a collapse of public confidence in the state.

Suicide bombers strike almost daily and the economic meltdown just seems to get worse.

But this is rarely apparent in the media, bar a handful of liberal commentators who try and give a more balanced and intellectual understanding by pulling all the problems together. The explosion in TV channels in Urdu, English and regional languages has brought to the fore large numbers of largely untrained, semi-educated and unworldly TV talk show hosts and journalists who deem it necessary to win viewership at a time of an acute advertising crunch, by being more outrageous and sensational than the next channel.

On any given issue the public barely learns anything new nor is it presented with all sides of the argument.

Every talk show host seems to have his own agenda and his guests reflect that agenda rather than offer alternative policies.

Recently, one senior retired army officer claimed that Hakimullah Mehsud - the leader of the Pakistani Taliban which is fighting the army in South Waziristan and has killed hundreds in daily suicide bombings in the past five weeks - had been whisked to safety in a US helicopter to the American-run Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.

In other words the Pakistani Taliban are American stooges, even as the same pundits admit that US-fired drone missiles are targeting the Pakistani Taliban in Waziristan.

These are just the kind of blatantly contradictory and nut-case conspiracy theories that get enormous traction on TV channels and in the media - especially when voiced by such senior former officials.

The explosion in civil society and pro-democracy movements that brought the former military regime of President Pervez Musharraf to its knees over two years has become divided, dissipated and confused about its aims and intentions. Even when such activists do appear on TV, their voices are drowned out by the conspiracy theorists who insist that every one of Pakistan's ills are there because of interference by the US, India, Israel and Afghanistan.

The army has not helped by constantly insisting that the vicious Pakistani Taliban campaign to topple the state and install an Islamic emirate is not a local campaign waged by dozens of extremist groups, some of whom were trained by the military in the 1990s, but the result of foreign conspiracies.

Economic crisis

Such statements by the military hardly do justice to the hundreds of young soldiers who are laying down their lives to fight the Taliban extremists.

Nor has the elected government of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) tried to alter the balance, as it is mired in ineffective governance and widespread corruption while failing to tackle the economic recession, that is admittedly partly beyond its control.

Moreover the PPP has no talking pundits, sympathetic talk show hosts or a half decent media management campaign to refute the lies and innuendo that much of the media is now spewing out.

At present, the principal obsession is when and how President Asif Ali Zardari will be replaced or sacked, although there is no apparent constitutional course available to get rid of him except for a military coup, which is unlikely.

The campaign waged by some politicians and parts of the media - with underlying pressure from the army - is all about trying to build public opinion to make Mr Zardari's tenure untenable. Nobody discusses the failure of the education system that is now turning out hundreds of suicide bombers, rather than doctors and engineers.

Or the collapsing and corrupt national health system that forces the poorest to seek expensive private medical treatment, or the explosion in crime or suicides by failed farmers and workers who have lost their jobs.

Pakistan cannot tackle its real problems unless the country's leaders - military and civilian - first admit that much of the present crisis is a result of long-standing mistakes, the lack of democracy, the failure to strengthen civic institutions and the lack of investment in public services like education, even as there continues to be a massive investment in nuclear weapons and the military.

Pakistan's crisis must first be acknowledged by officialdom and the media before solutions can be found.

The alternative is a continuation of the present paralysis where people are left confused, demoralised and angry.

BBC News - Ahmed Rashid: Pakistan conspiracy theories stifle debate

This is exactly the problem that some members on the forum continue to highlight. This explosion of conspiracy theories is part of the problem. Unless there is a real debate on why militants continue to kill innocents, there will be no solution. At least there are some who are willing to acknowledge it in Pakistan.

 

[SSGPA1]

KARACHI: Pakistan's television networks are heaping political pressure on an increasingly unpopular President Asif Ali Zardari with critical and influential programming that offers a voice to the poor.

In the decade since military ruler Pervez Musharraf issued licences and softened state control on media after seizing power, more than 50 channels have mushroomed in the country, with around half dedicated to news broadcasts.

The channels have become campaigners against the leadership, have whipped up fervour for and against the Taliban, have embarrassed the security services and sown fear with 24-seven coverage of attacks beamed into living rooms.

'The government is under constant pressure from the media,' Mutahir Sheikh, head of international relations at Karachi University, told AFP.

A recent Gallup survey claimed that more than half of Pakistanis - 57 per cent of those polled - blame the media for stirring up political instability in the country, which has known regular periods of military rule.

There are dozens of private satellite channels based in Pakistan and abroad that present every possible political opinion, pumping out news and debate in Urdu, English and regional languages to the country's 167 million people.

Owned by newspaper groups, wealthy businessmen and private individuals, critics accuse them of sensationalism and peddling conspiracy theories, particularly about perceived interference from India and the United States.

Renowned author Ahmed Rashid accuses talk show hosts of 'demonising the elected government, trying to convince viewers of global conspiracies against Pakistan led by India and the United States or insisting that the recent campaign of suicide bomb blasts... is being orchestrated by foreigners.

'The campaign waged by some politicians and parts of the media - with underlying pressure from the army - is all about trying to build public opinion to make Mr Zardari's tenure untenable,' he wrote on the BBC website.

This week, authorities banned a Dubai-based show presented by an outspoken critic of the government on Pakistan's most influential private channel, Geo.

'Apparently the Pakistani government, President Zardari to be specific, used his position to get the authorities in Dubai to impose a ban on the airing of the programme,' Azhar Abbas, Geo's managing director, told AFP.

'The government is unnerved and uneasy over the independent criticism it faces in our unbiased programmes. But instead of countering argument with argument it goes for tactics which bring more embarrassment.'

Last month the authorities cut live footage broadcast by some TV channels of a 20-hour siege on the Pakistani army's headquarters.

Television channels were also seen as having influenced a government decision to publish a list of officials, including Zardari, who have benefited from an amnesty on graft accusations that expires Saturday. The move has raised fears that heads may roll.

'The government had to expose its own allies, party officials and politicians who benefitted.... There are no sacred cows now,' said Sheikh.

Many say the media play a vital role in shaping public opinion in a country where nearly half the population are illiterate.

'Independent media has empowered the underprivileged people to express themselves, which is itself a revolutionary change,' said Fateh Muhammad Burfat, a sociology professor at Karachi University.

The channels supported a movement to restore ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, siding with opposition leader Nawaz Sharif until Zardari's government caved in, reinstating him in March to avert violence in the capital.

Television executives believe their news helps inculcate democracy and gives a voice to the disenfranchised, who get little assistance from the state.

'We adopt very democratic methods. Here you find people from both sides,' said Talat Hussain, executive director of news and current affairs at Aaj News.

'The impression that we create chaos in society is not true,' said Hussain.

In fact, he says, poor and underprivileged people with problems - looking for employment or outraged by an issue - descend on TV stations hoping for answers.

'In Pakistan people have utmost faith in two institutions - judiciary and media. Our people pin their hopes on us and we do whatever we can to make ours a better society,' said Hussain.

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | TV accused of fanning political instability

 

[Developereo]

BBC News

The BBC accusing others of bias and improper reporting!

At least there are some who are willing to acknowledge it in Pakistan.

There are those in Pakistan who will sell their grandmother to appease the West and make money by saying what the Western media wants to hear.

 

[SSGPA1]

Two great things:

1. Acknowledgement of freedom given by Gen. Musharraf.

2. Majority realizing that our media is out of control.

Pakistani society has many good and bad attributes like any other social group. In my opinion two major vices are corruption and laziness. Favourite pass time is criticism of everyone but themselves.

Our media is also a true reflection of our society so all the good and bad attributes are also part of it. I have heard from 'reliable sources' that most of the news quoting reliable sources can be challenged in a court of law but no one does that.

The reasons behind not challenging the media are the piles of evidence against govt. officials which media uses to blackmail at the time of choice.

For example, if a politician decides to challenge a story in court, media outlet concerned with that story will blackmail govt. officials and political party officials against such action and will threaten to break stories against everyone else. In order to avoid scandal at a much greater scale, officials from political party and related govt. office pressurise that politician into submission, end result is that no story is challenged in court.

Pakistanis need to stop watching those channels which they believe are spreading instability in Pakistan.

 

[Nemesis]

The BBC accusing others of bias and improper reporting!

So the BBC is also biased about Pakistan?

Another zionist conspiracy by the western world to defame Pakistan, is it?

There are those in Pakistan who will sell their grandmother to appease the West and make money by saying what the Western media wants to hear.

The standard rhetoric for the delusional - Everyone else is too blame for Pakistani problems except Pakistan.

 

[BlackSonic]

So the BBC is also biased about Pakistan?

Another zionist conspiracy by the western world to defame Pakistan, is it?




The standard rhetoric for the delusional - Everyone else is too blame for Pakistani problems except Pakistan.

All problems get solved when you find someone else to blame for it.

 

[Balance]

The BBC accusing others of bias and improper reporting!

Please treat that "All-The-World-is-Enemy-of-Pakistan" syndrome of yours.

 

[kidwaibhai]

i think the decision making circles are quite clear where the threat comes from. Plus the conspiracy theories that he is talking about is done by some fringe elements not the entire media. So Mr Rashid is over generalizing a little bit.
As far as one media outlet trying to oust the government is not such a wierd thing. Look at how Foxnews is treating this current administration. Although i think Geo is reflecting the views of large proportion of Pakistanis who want to see Zardari gone.

 

[SSGPA1]

Although i think Geo is reflecting the views of large proportion of Pakistanis who want to see Zardari gone.

Geo has done same to Musharraf and will do the same to the next govt. They make money by creating a hype.

I want Zaradri out too but at the same time I respect the fact that he was elected by our Parliament and Pakistanis elected that Parliament.

 

[qsaark]

Geo has done same to Musharraf and will do the same to the next govt. They make money by creating a hype.

I am curious to know how exactly did Geo make Musharraf to go? and how it will make this happen again to Zardari?

 

[PAFAce]

The media fought for its right to be "azad", it is not a great "qarz" or "ahsaan" by Gen. Musharraf, it was his obligation. NExt thing you will claim is that Musharraf "gifted" us a free judiciary or that Zardari is currently "giving" us success in FATA. And yes, the media can be out of control, but take a look to the East and you'll see that even in its infancy, our media at least remains highly more credible than that of our neighbors. Give credit where it is due. That said, our media isn't perfect, and the article is right to a certain extent, but it will get better, rest assured.

I have noticed, and this is just a personal view, you may choose not to agree, that most people who have a problem with the media are supporters of a particular personality or a particular group. They dislike the fact that people can criticize their beloved on television. Just look at the types of people who criticize the media most; Zardari fanatics, Musharraf fanatics, Altaf Hussan fanatics, criminals, terrorists, and the list goes on and on. This also goes, by the way, the other way around. Blind supporters of the free media also include some crazy supporters, for example, currently it's the Nawaz supporters and people like Sheikh Rashid.

So the BBC is also biased about Pakistan?

Another zionist conspiracy by the western world to defame Pakistan, is it?

The standard rhetoric for the delusional - Everyone else is too blame for Pakistani problems except Pakistan.

Correct. It goes both ways, though. You won't believe the nonsense I've heard and read from certain Indians about how everyone is out to get India. "USA is India's number 1 enemy", "China wants to destroy India", "foreign elements are conducting love-jihad in India" and what not. It is easy to blame others, yes, but what is even easier is to only blame others, which is what you have done here. You shouldn't throw stones if you live in a glass house.

And in any case, just because one man from the BBC thinks we indulge in conspiracy theories a lot doesn't make it so. That is his opinion, and simply because he has the "BBC" label behind him doesn't mean its sacred. There is a lot of very smart investigative reporting to be found on our channels, sometimes of levels that are lacking even on the BBC. For a people who, until just over a decade ago, were only used to seeing the government's side of all things, this is really a gift from God.

 

[SSGPA1]

The media fought for its right to be "azad", it is not a great "qarz" or "ahsaan" by Gen. Musharraf, it was his obligation.

Good on Gen. Musharraf to fulfill his obligations. now post some sacrifices by the media and I will point to the countless editorials in NAWAI-WAQT & JANG praising Gen. Zia.

There was no sacrifice by the media, it is a commercial entity and commercial entities don't make sacrificies they only make compromises.

 

[SSGPA1]

Owner of Daily Tulou is in trouble for writing against the Jang Group.

By Abdul Nishapuri


Shoaib Bhutta is the name of a courageous journalist who tried to expose the evil designs of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and his commerical empire known as Geo TV / Jang Group. He was the one who revealed a few weeks ago that Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman has demanded 400 crore rupees from President Zardari in order to stop the anti-democracy propaganda by Jang and Geo TV.

Additional Sessions Judge, Islamabad, Muhammad Tanvir Mir, has been bribed ten million rupees (one crore) by Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman to issue an arrest warrnat of a serving journalist. Independent journalists have protested against this act of Geo TV/Jang group / Judiciary as an attack on freedom of press.

Here is a history of Shoaib Bhutta:

Pakistan media freedom report 2002
On 5 August, Shoaib Bhutta, journalist with the weekly Capital, was severely beaten by armed individuals in a street of Faisalabad (centre of the country). The attackers were wearing security guard uniforms. Shoaib Bhutta suffered a broken leg. He was one of the rare journalists who had ignored the governmental directive inciting journalists to actively cover the trial of Asif Ali Zardari, husband of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Source

Reporters wihtout Borders: 2008 Report on Pakistan
Serious police brutality
Brutality and raids against the media also accompanied the imposition of emergency rule [of General Musharraf in 2007]. The secret services also went after journalists, and even more aggressively. Eight agents arrested Shoaib Bhutta, editor of the Urdu-language Daily Tulou at his office in Islamabad in November 2007. In two days of questioning, during which he was kept chained up and deprived of sleep, they quizzed him about why he was critical of the authorities. Source

Newspaper editor released
By Our Staff Reporter (Dawn, November 20, 2007)

ISLAMABAD, Nov 19: An Urdu newspaper editor, who was picked up by the personnel of law enforcement agencies at the weekend, was released here on Monday evening.

Shoaib Bhutta, the editor of Daily Tulou, was handed over to a group of journalists some 500 meters away from the Cantonment police station at around 6:30pm.

Mr Bhutta was picked up by a group of eight people believed to be personnel of a security agency from his office last Saturday night.

Mr Bhutta, when contacted, said he was picked up from his office, blindfolded and taken to an unidentified place where he was kept in the same condition till Monday morning.

During the period he was not allowed to sleep and was fettered too.

The personnel informed him that he was detained allegedly on the orders of the Punjab chief minister and the inspector general of police.

The personnel also asked him why he wrote against the president and the chief minister, but they did not produce any material in this regard on his request.

The captors also inquired about people who assist the journalists in their ongoing movement, he added.

Mr Bhutta quoted the personnel as saying that their high-ups directed them to arrest him, besides checking his record.

Sohail Iqbal, the chief editor of Online news agency, told Dawn that the president of Rawalpindi-Islamabad Press Club Mushtaq Minhas asked him to contact the station house officer of the Cantonment police station and get the editor released.

He said that the SHO told him that Mr Bhutta was handed over to him on Sunday night. This was a very high-level matter and Deputy Inspector General of Police Rawalpindi himself supervised it, Mr Iqbal quoted the SHO as saying.

“He (Mr Bhutta) was released as he was cleared during investigation,” the SHO told Mr Iqbal.

Meanwhile, a group of five personnel wearing Punjab Constabulary uniform stormed the office of Daily Tulou located at G-7/1 Monday morning and seized all the office record and computer.

They also searched the office from top to bottom. However, the record and computer were also handed over to the journalists in the evening. Source

Court [bribed by Geo TV] issues arrest warrant for Bhutta
Thursday, November 26, 2009 (The News)

ISLAMABAD: Additional Sessions Judge, Islamabad, Muhammad Tanvir Mir, has issued an arrest warrant for Muhammad Shoaib Bhutta, publisher of a daily in Islamabad.

The judge summoned him on December 4 to ensure his presence in the court. The court issued an arrest warrant for Bhutta on the complaint of Abdul Aziz Mohmand, resident editor the Jang, The News and Geo editorial management, and on the basis of arguments and evidence presented before the court.

Abdul Aziz Mohmand in his application stated that in the best national interests, the Jang Group had played a leading role in the movement for an independent judiciary and rightly represented the masses. Besides, the Jang Group and Geo TV raised the issues of governance and corruption among the masses, due to which the group has to face serious challenges, he added.

He stated that the said person published defamatory, unfounded, false and baseless reports and financial charges in his newspaper against the Jang Group to damage its popularity and reputation among the masses.

The daily alleged that the head of the Jang Group editorial had sent a message to important personalities of the government that if they wanted end to one-sided campaign against them and personnel of the judiciary in the group newspapers, editorials and electronic media, they have to accept their demands. After the government refusal the group editorial head gave go-ahead to his workers and said that if the government is facing difficulties, then it should cut advertisements of other newspapers and electronic media to fulfil their shortage.

Abdul Aziz Mohmand maintained that the said publisher republished such baseless materials twice, and damaged the reputation of the group and tried to weaken its commitment.

The petitioner said that besides publishing baseless news against Geo TV, Daily Jang and The News the publisher Malik Shoaib Bhutta also printed posters and panaflex banners with logos of Geo TV, Jang and The News. The posters contained extremely contemptuous sentences against the Jang Group of Newspapers and Geo TV. When the workers of the Jang and well-wisher readers removed those banners and posters after the city administration failed to do so despite repeated complaints, the said publisher reported the next day, “the Jang Group could not tolerate few banners and posters against it”.

The same person also levelled baseless allegations against Jang Group during a talkshow on official TV channel. The petitioner requested the police to register an FIR against the accused, but the police neither responded positively nor registered an FIR.

Abdul Aziz Mohmand pleaded in his petition that this act was crime under section 499, 5000, 501, 502 and 502A of the Pakistan Penal Code. Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Tanvir Mir accepted the petition for regular hearing on the basis of arguments and evidences and said it seemed that Mohammad Shoaib Bhutta had intentionally committed defamation, hence his arrest warrant were being issued. The court adjourned the hearing till December 4, 2009 and ordered to appear before the court. Source

Let us build Pakistan: Shoaib Bhutta: Geo TV bribes judiciary to suppress the voice of an independent journalist

 

[qsaark]

There was no sacrifice by the media, it is a commercial entity and commercial entities don't make sacrificies they only make compromises.

There was no sacrifice by the media? Is it that you are not informed or you think rest of us are illiterate and lack any sort of common sense? What is the back bone of any print or electronic news media? Their men power most notably the reporters, the investigative journalists, the columnists....How they make sacrifices? By going to the jails; by serving sentences; by loosing jobs when their news papers are nationalized or simply closed down and by simply loosing their lives in the line of duty.

And commercial entities don’t make sacrifices they compromise...right, they make compromises and is that how they have toppled the illegitimate regime of Musharraf? This is for the first time for me and I am sure for the rest of the members to learn that a compromising entity managed to topple a powerful regime that had every possible resources at her disposal from finances to brutal military force.

 

[PAFAce]

Good on Gen. Musharraf to fulfill his obligations. now post some sacrifices by the media and I will point to the countless editorials in NAWAI-WAQT & JANG praising Gen. Zia.

There was no sacrifice by the media, it is a commercial entity and commercial entities don't make sacrificies they only make compromises.

When did I claim the media made sacrifices? How can the media make sacrifices, like you said, it is a commercial entity?

Also, yes, good on Gen. Musharraf for, at least initially, doing his job. I am not anti-Musharraf in ever way, don't get me wrong. However, there is no denying that later on in his regime, he became more and more "dictatorial"; he wanted to control the Army, the judiciary, the media and the policy.