Political process in a most democratic countries draw their strength from a Free and Independent Media. While this government may attempt to take credit for mushrooming several private news channels, one must not also forget that given the 21st century information revolution this was inevitable. In other words, this government cannot take credit for it. Had Nawaz of Benazir or any of the other politicians been in power surely they could also not stand in the way of this information revolution. That said, we have to see whether the current media is REALLY Free and Independent or is it, just preceived to be so.
Print Media remains a vital component but in the day of CNN, BBC, Sky, Fox, Zee etc etc, Pakistan has only been able to really produce 2-4 news channels. The ones that really do get watched are GEO and ARYONE WORLD. While Aaj, and some regional channels also have limited viewers.
So, in my effort to narrow down, in order to explore how free the media is, I will look at the two MAIN channels. That is to say, GEO, and ARY ONE WORLD. In these two channels there are many programs but lets face it, there are essentially 6 main journalists whose programmes have some impact on opinion making. In GEO, you have, Hamid Mir & Kamran Khan, and the other dude who does JAWAB Deh, while on ARY its mainly Dr Shahid Masood, Javed Malik and PJ Mir that can be comapred.
With the exception of Dr Masood, Javed Malik and Hamid Mir, the others seem to be bending over backwards in supporting the military. I really do think that if these 6 journalists, make a vow to uphold democratic principles and work towards educating the masses on the importance of Democracy then they are in a position of doing so.
I have often tried to call, and em ail various programmes and made my comments known but most dont reply, and the lines are really busy. I do feel that it is only through Media that we can gurantee a just society.
If USA can fight and win wars on the back of Fox, CNN and other propoganda, why cant the Pakistani channels work towards achiving a better future.
I urge all users to “Lobby” these 6 journalists and call on them to speak their concencience. For ease of reference I mention the names again:
GEO ARY
Hamid Mir ( Capital Talk) Dr Shahid Masood ( Views on News)
Kamran Khan (Aaaj Kamran ) Javed Malik ( Insight with JavedMalik)
JAWAB DEH Q&A With PJ MIR
Would you agree?