‘Media’s growth over past decade a success story’

Karachi
The impressive growth in Pakistan’s media over the past decade is a success story in its own right. However, citizens in some regions – specifically conflict-affected areas – are still yet to reap the full benefits of the vibrant media scene as regional journalists, apart from often lacking professional skills, remain under frequent attack.
To help the local media keep up with the growing demand for trained professional journalists and access to reliable information, the Government of Denmark on Friday announced its support for a two-year programme aimed at improving the Pakistani media.
The project will be implemented by the International Media Support (IMS), a media development non-profit organisation, which will work in collaboration with several Pakistani media support organisations.
The project was launched on Friday by Danish Ambassador Jesper Moller Sorensen at a ceremony that included panel discussions with key media professionals, political representatives and media development practitioners.
The panel members discussed the state of Pakistan’s media industry, with particular focus on the imperatives for media professionalisation. Participating in one such
discussion, Ambassador Sorensen said Denmark was pleased to support a project that would help improve the conditions for professional journalism in Pakistan as strengthening the media’s role in some of the most remote and difficult areas of the country remains a priority.
While he spoke of the media as the ‘backbone of a democratic society’ and highlighted its crucial role in shaping successful democracies around the world, Ambassador Sorensen was also quick to acknowledge the challenges under which regional journalists – and especially those reporting from conflict affected areas in Pakistan – are forced to work in.
“It is the regional journalists who play the important role of highlighting socio-economic challenges in far flung areas which, otherwise, are neglected by the mainstream media,” he said.
Ambassador Sorensen also noted that following the devolution of power to local governments in over 100 districts across Pakistan, district-based journalists have become even more important players in the evolving scenario of power devolution in light of the increased political and development activities at the local level.
“Pakistan’s regional language media can play a significant role in consolidating the gains made so far in the civil and political processes by focusing on serving the needs of citizens and fostering a sense of inclusion among marginalised communities by advocating for human rights,” said Ambassador Sorensen.
“The emergence of a vibrant media sector over the past decade has played a crucial role in Pakistan’s evolving socio-economic and political discourse. But media workers, especially those employed at the regional or provincial level, are still often untrained and underpaid.”
In addition, he said, threats and violent attacks continue unabated with an estimated 100 journalists having been killed in Pakistan over the past decade.
Ambassador Sorensen also spoke of the gender inequality prevalent in the media industry and said that it was not just a local issue as the same problem can be seen on a global scale. “Of the nearly 18,000 journalists in Pakistan, less than five percent are females,” he said, before adding in a lighter vein, “However, if you compare the number of female Danish ambassadors with the number of male Danish ambassadors, you will notice a huge imbalance there as well.”
Agencies add: Among the other prominent personalities who spoke at the event was senior Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Sherry Rehman, who highlighted the corporate business model prevalent in South Asia’s media industry as the main reason why journalists here are forced to forego ethical practices and do the owners’ bidding.
“Bonafide journalism is required to raise questions on public issues,” she opined, “However, the business and journalistic aspects may not always collude. To report independently, one would have to face various challenges as media houses are easily pressurised by political, religious and ethnic groups.”
Sherry too acknowledged that the journalistic community was one of the most vulnerable in Pakistan. “Journalism is not a job. It is not about selling something; it is a career where one’s top responsibility is to help define the public good and defend those ideals,” she said.
PPP Senator Taj Haider said some true journalists actually wanted to reflect society’s issues but, in the face of pressures from militant groups and media house owners, they are often powerless.
“Do we really expect that in a corporate media model, voices will actually be raised for the rights of people?” questioned Haider.
“Sometimes, media house owners tend to believe they have more power than state institutions. That is when we see them ridiculing these very institutions as well as political forces of the country,” he added.
The senior PPP leaders also touched upon a largely ignored subject; that of labour rights in media organisations.
“There are several instances where we have seen journalists fighting for their own basic rights as owners refuse to pay salaries for months on end,” said Haider.
Owais Aslam Ali, secretary general of the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), informed the audience that Pakistan was among the few countries where community radio stations were not permitted.
“Locally, there is no trend of non-commercial media platforms. The government fears the spread of uncontrollable propaganda through community radio stations, therefore, it does not allow for their operation,” he said.
Ali maintained that, despite the varied issues being faced here, the Pakistani media was still doing a commendable job. “Adhering to values of professionalism is not an easy task, but Pakistani journalists are still doing some good work,” he stated.
“You have to be impartial, fair and unbiased in your coverage and I don’t think the local media has done that bad a job. Of course, it is not up to the mark but producing what they are under such tremendous pressures is no mean feat.”
Senior journalist Iqbal Khattak was of the view that Pakistani media had come a long way despite the lack of a conducive environment. “The electronic media especially lacks in ethical and professional standards. Often, there is no cohesion between the newsroom and reporters,” he said.