Journalism Pakistan
Journalism Pakistan
Freedom of expression shrinks in Pakistan as PECA Amendments take toll: report اظہارِ رائے کی آزادی محدود، پیکا میں ترامیم سے میڈیا کو شدید دھچکا: رپورٹDawn urges Indian media to abandon war rhetoric ڈان کی بھارتی میڈیا سے جنگی بیانیہ ترک کرنے کی اپیلIndia bans 16 Pakistani YouTube channels following Pahalgan attack پہلگام حملے کے بعد بھارت نے پاکستان کے 16 یوٹیوب چینلز پر پابندی لگا دی'In A Different Realm' offers a philosophical take on cricket's greatest innings ان اے ڈیفرنٹ ریلم کرکٹ کی عظیم ترین اننگز پر ایک فکری نقطۂ نظر پیش کرتی ہےCoordinated or coincidence? Identical tweets by Pakistani journalists raise eyebrows ہم آہنگی یا محض اتفاق؟ پاکستانی صحافیوں کے ایک جیسے ٹویٹس نے سوالات اٹھا دیےThe PSL paradox: pageantry or progress? پی ایس ایل کا تضاد: دکھاوا یا ترقی؟Sher Afzal Marwat launches personal attacks on journalists after PTI expulsion پی ٹی آئی سے نکالے جانے کے بعد شیر افضل مروت کے صحافیوں پر ذاتی حملےJournalist Sanaullah Khan alleges FIA blocking accounts of YouTubers and families صحافی ثناء اللہ خان کا انکشاف: ایف آئی اے یوٹیوبرز اور ان کے خاندانوں کے اکاؤنٹس بلاک کر رہی ہےA launch in style: Dr. Nauman Niaz unveils 'In A Different Realm' ان اے ڈفرنٹ ریلم کی رونمائی: ڈاکٹر نعمان نیاز کی کتاب Sindhi journalist AD Shar brutally murdered, PFUJ declares three-day mourning سندھی صحافی اے ڈی شر کا بہیمانہ قتل، پی ایف یو جے نے تین روزہ سوگ کا اعلان کر دیاAJK government registers case against newspaper and staff آزاد کشمیر حکومت کا اخبار اور عملے کے خلاف مقدمہJournalist Arzoo Kazmi alleges FIA threats, possible arrest over reporting صحافی آرزو کاظمی کا دعویٰ: ایف آئی اے کی دھمکیاں، رپورٹنگ پر ممکنہ گرفتاری

Media's dirty war - who won, who lost?

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published May 03, 2014 |  Daud Malik

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Media's dirty war - who won, who lost?

ISLAMABAD: Almost two weeks since the attack on Hamid Mir in Karachi, a rhetorical question can be asked: Who has suffered more – the anchorperson or the media as a whole or the right to freedom of expression?


Going by the bitterly divisive atmosphere after April 19, there can be more than one answer, again highlighting the divide that is defining any debate on media freedom in Pakistan.


It is now no more a secret that the reaction to the attack on Mir from “both” sides has taken the attention away from journalists who have been killed and those who have been harassed and tortured. With no holds bar, the focus instead is on the infighting among the media houses and the “anchorpersons”.


On this year’s World Press Freedom Day, journalism and media are more than confused, lost in the vituperative tweets and retweets and manipulative presentation of information. The calls for restraint, ethical journalism, code of conduct and not going too far in infighting so as to lose the press freedom have fallen on proverbial deaf ears.


The media itself has become “burning” news in Pakistan, with salt and spice provided by the talk shows full of innuendoes, allegations and counter allegations. Today the fear is that these divisions will ultimately take away the freedom media has fought for in Pakistan, especially after 2007.  


After 2007 in the background of campaign to restore the judiciary almost every assessment report obviously mentions emergence of two fundamental changes in Pakistan – an independent judiciary and a freer media.  Though both the judiciary and media were lightly rapped for presenting themselves to the people of Pakistan as new messiahs, their suo motu and aggressive posturing were taken as part of new vibrant Pakistan.


But the shocking infighting between media houses shows that much more is at stake than the abstracts of freedom of expression, ethical journalism, and code of conduct.  Declan Walsh, no stranger to Pakistani media, puts it bluntly in his piece - Attack on Journalist Starts Battle in Pakistani Press: “Mr. Rehman (Mir Shakeel) of the Jang group has a rancorous relationship with Sultan Lakhani, who owns the smaller Express media group, which includes a television station and several newspapers (One of those papers, the English-language Express Tribune, prints The International New York Times in Pakistan). A third station, ARY, is owned by a family of gold dealers that has little love for Mr. Rehman.”


Though many felt strong editorial control on April 19 may have avoided the “crisis”, the control of owner as driver of editorial direction is perhaps making all other players in the media industry irrelevant. It is no surprise that a mixture of patriotism and media ethics underpinned by huge commercial interests has pitted known journalists against each other – tweet for tweet, talk show for talk show and column for column.

 

(The writer is a senior journalist who has worked for The News and Dawn)

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