WHAT I BELIEVE OF MY MEDIA

I know! One would call me pessimist and biased though I am sure that Media can profile growth, governance, serve audience as their third eye and a prolonged ear to have clues of future trends. It can also help in forming positive perception regarding  public representatives, policy and institutions.

But it wouldn't be wrong, if I today generalize the functioning of my 24x7 TV channels as a business with desperate acts of pathetic dynamics.

Sheer sensationalism and an over-enthusiasm to report under breaking News has now started to give this impression of media to its typical viewers in a country where an average citizen starts his day by listening morning news and wraps it up by watching the late night's prime time opinions, all, just to keep himself informed of truth and reality.

In the name of analysis and political discourse, most news channels have now decided to operate on a popular formula that was formerly associated with Urdu Mainstream press. 
 

The formula, which once asked newspapers to cover more of those events and issues which had their pitch against the immediate government, and consequently those papers grabbed more readership, circulation and advertisements than their neutral counterparts.

 This also gave promotion to the filthy culture of TV talk shows where the blunt disgrace for each other   determines the success of the Show and channel among audience today.

To catch more advertisers, a flood of programs copying the content lines from across the border have increased dramatically with the passage of time. similarly re-telecasting an Indian Program has  also become more the matter of competition and marketing tool for every TV channel in Pakistan.

To be conclusive of what I am saying is that our relatively young enthusiastic electronic media has committed few mistakes and sacrificed definite standards operating under certain impulses evolved out of our own endogenous circumstances, yet the most positive thing for media critics is that media itself has been critical of its role and debates have been ranged by them to analyze what social responsibility demands of them.

                                                                                                        Photo courtesy Google