Status of current media in PAKISTAN-Faraz Ahmed Jarral
Largest teams of news and news agencies are based in Pakistan, we can say that Media we have is the strongest instrument and pillar now a days.
What is the major function of the media ? To provide facts with figures, happenings, promotion of the country’s image.
What Pakistani Media is doing?
Copying Indian media which exponentially grew a decade earlier indulge in making news rather than reporting to increase viewer ship in pursuit of better rating. Promoting negativity, showing controversies and violence which is not to be shown as per ethics. But who cares, our media is running in a marathon where every channel wants to get first on the screen and create there own news.
There are so many events which places every day or so but they are totally neglected by media such as Educational policies, functions, student activities and so on.
Pakistan has more other industries and sectors to show rather than holding up politicians and politics all day long on every channel.
We are the largest sports manufacturers in the world but we do not brand them, our surgical equipments are exported to all over Europe without branding and that’s what other countries are using our products with their names. Made in Pakistan become something else. Media have to highlight these issues, give awareness to the citizens but nothing is happening.
There are few statements about Pakistan from the world, and I blame Pakistani Media because what ever they show on the channel is viewed by the world.
Image of Pakistan in Global Media :
- Pakistan is the international migraine, says Madeline Albright (Former US Secretary of State, CNN)
- The most dangerous nation in the world isn’t Iraq, its Pakistan ( Magazine NEWSWEEK)
- Its difficult to see international cricket in Pakistan in future. ICC
While other countries are using their media to promote their image.
India is also a victim of terrorism of hindu fundamentalism in growing disparity between the rich and the poor but there are also good things which the Indian media has used to promote a soft image of a country as “Incredible India”
During the Asian financial crises 1997, Thailand’s booming economy came to a halt and there was massive unemployment but Thai economy has now recovered and country is finally free from debt.
This point could have gone against the country but their media didn’t create hype over it and they continue promoting their country.
Pakistani media has to show the wider and a greater image of the country rather than making PAKISTAN fun in front of the world. It should promote the fact that the glass is half full, not half empty! Must highlight success stories, national and local role models in our society and country.
nicely written and it is 100 % true that Pakistani media is copying what indian chanels like star and zee used to do..
I think Pakistan media is working more better then any organizations excluding Pakistan army.
Well faraz ! you are hundred percent right. but what to do in this situation?? whats the way out?? how can we open minds of people who are unaware of these facts?? News is now dramatised …. lost its meaning… but i should say true journalism is now absent … all these things show the lack of sincerity and responsibility of our media.. who itself humiliates its nation though giving other ways to raise their voices against us!! We are welcoming our negative points rather than uprooting them…
Just to portray the right picture, avoid bullying and showing positivity. Making fake news, creating masala is atleast not the way.
– No Haya, still journalism is present, and they are working on it. We just have to be united and raise voice against those who doesn’t wants stability in state. Me and your kinda ppl can change, and yes Change is what we need.
PAKISTAN: No action taken against Geo TV presenter who incited Muslims to murder members of Pakistan minority on air
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-STM-244-2008 September 18, 2008
A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission – PAKISTAN: No action taken against Geo TV presenter who incited Muslims to murder members of Pakistan minority on air http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2008statements/1694/
PAKISTAN: Two persons murdered after an anchor person proposed the widespread lynching of Ahmadi sect followers – ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME – Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-203-2008 10 September 2008 – http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2008/2999/
Ahmadi massacre silence is dispiriting – The virtual conspiracy of silence after the murder of 94 Ahmadis in Pakistan exposes the oppression suffered by the sect Declan Walsh Monday 7 June 2010 14.59 BST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jun/07/ahmadi-massacre-silence-pakistan
Candles were lit by members of a civil society for victims of the attack on the Ahmadiyya sect in Lahore. Photograph: KM Chaudary/AP
I often find myself defending Pakistan against the unbidden prejudices of the outside world. No, Islam is not the cause of terrorism. Yes, the Taliban is a complex phenomenon. No, Imran Khan is not a major political figure.
This past week, though, I am silent. The massacre of 94 members of the minority Ahmadiyya community on May 28 has exposed something ugly at the heart of Pakistan – its laws, its rulers, its society.
It’s not the violence that disturbs most, gut-churning as it was. During Friday prayers two teams of attackers stormed Ahmadiyya mosques in the eastern city of Lahore. They fired Kalashnikovs from minarets, chucked grenades into the crowds, exploded their suicide vests.
As the massacre unfolded, a friend called – his father-in-law, a devout Ahmadi, was inside one of the besieged mosques. The family, glued to live television coverage, were sick with worry.
Two hours later, my friend’s relative emerged alive. But many of his friends – old men, including a retired general and former judge – were dead.
The killers were quickly identified as “Punjabi Taliban” – a loose collective of local extremists with ties to the tribal belt. This was unsurprising. More dispiriting, however, was the wider reaction.
Human rights groups reacted with pre-programmed outrage; otherwise there was a virtual conspiracy of silence. A dribble of protesters attended street protests against the attack in Lahore and Karachi; eleven people showed up in Islamabad.
The normally vociferous media were unusually reticent. Commentators expressed dismay at the violence, but few dared voice support for the Ahmadiyya community itself. Politicians turned yellow.
Few visited the bereaved; still today, the chief minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, has not visited the bullet-pocked mosques or offered compensation to the injured.
In the national parliament, three brave female MPs crossed party lines to propose a resolution condemning the attacks, in the face of massive indifference. The motion passed, just.
The reticence is rooted in law and history. Ahmadis believe that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a 19th century Punjabi cleric, was the messiah sent by God – a notion that deeply offends orthodox Muslims for whom Muhammad, who lived in 7th-century Arabia, is the final prophet.
The problem is that the state has taken sides in this religious argument. Since the 1970s, civilian and military governments have passed laws enshrining the discrimination against Ahmadis, today thought to number about 4 million in Pakistan.
And so they live in the shadows of society. Under the law, Ahmadis may not call themselves Muslims and may not refer to their places of worship as “mosques”. Orthodox Muslims applying for a passport must sign a statement deriding Ahmad as an “imposter”.
Any Ahmadi who defies these edicts can be sentenced to death; in 2009, 37 were charged under the blasphemy laws and 57 under Ahmadi-specific laws.
This state-directed discrimination has caused prejudice to soak into the bones of even well-educated Pakistanis. It is acceptable to denigrate Ahmadis as “agents of foreign powers” such as the CIA and Raw, India’s intelligence service.
In 2008 a prominent preacher on Geo, the country’s largest channel, suggested that right-minded Muslims should kill Ahmadis. Within 48 hours two Ahmadis had been lynched. The television presenter has prospered.
Last year a banner appeared outside the high court in Lahore, declaring “Jews, Christians and Ahmadis are enemies of Islam”. Few complained.
The silence that followed the Ahmadi killings was broken last week by a tsunami of outrage at the Israeli commando raids on boats headed for Gaza. Commentators and politicians fulminated at the treatment of the Palestinians – a minority that suffers state-sanctioned, religiously driven discrimination. Nobody got the irony.
It makes one realise how small the constituency of true liberals is in Pakistan – not Pervez Musharraf-style liberals, who drink whisky and attend fashion shows, but people who believe the state should cherish all citizens equally. That, after all, was the publicly expressed desire of Pakistan’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, 63 years ago. Today it lies in tatters.
Aamir bhai this shows that you have a wide range of research and analysis on the topic you commented, I am a fan of your thoughts, writing power and research but sir I would really appreciate if you say something on the particular topic. would you tell how can our Media changes the views of international media in the burning issue of Pakistan specially poverty, education, medical etc .
What should media do to promote the Nation’s image?
i have been watching Geo and ARY, they are just promoting their channels, newspapers but i am sad that they forget that what is happening currently in PAKISTAN. 70% of the time they keep on promoting their channels and left 30% for ~PAKISTAN.. 🙁
There are variety of news channels. If all channels presents news in the same way, how people will differentiate them.
Similarly, it is also the responsibility of the media to present analysis and new dimensions as food for thought.
I agree media violated on some parts, but we have to look the entire situation and results in the field of media.
I should avoid mentioning the PP but on the top of the page there are so many PPs flags, so it was easy to point out more openly.
I am surprised you should also point out the ways of Indian & Western dressing on entertainment channels which do not meet our local culture, and unfortunately I could not find this aspect in your writing. Your focus is basically on news channels, and I know that Peoples Party is angered and trying to defame the news channels.
I don’t know why PP is afraid of switching off Geo News & Ary News. Just they were covering the President cum Peoples Party Chairperson’s Europe visit and presenting analysis in the present disastrous situation.
Undeniably believe that which you said. Your favorite reason seemed to be at the net the easiest thing to take into accout of. I say to you, I definitely get irked while other people consider issues that they just don’t recognize about. You controlled to hit the nail upon the highest as neatly as outlined out the whole thing with no need side effect , people can take a signal. Will likely be again to get more. Thanks
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