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very disaster leaves the survivors with some lessons. Unfortunately, in Pakistan’s case, the government, the people and the media do not appear willing to seize the moment and prepare themselves better for future disasters. Every time people react as if it is for the first time, and move on as it is for the last time. We have done very little to cope with future calamities, even in the wake of rising noise regarding climate change that may result in a greater devastation than what we have already witnessed.
Like the government and the masses, our media, particularly the mainstream broadcast media, lacks the ability to properly cover calamities. The term ‘follow-up’ has become redundant in journalism for the last couple of decades as the national media has only been engaged in ‘breaking news’ cycles while covering natural disasters. Covering the problems the victims face in the aftermath of such disasters is not among the top priorities of bulletin rundowns.
The latest example of this is one of the worst floods in the history of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It impacted around six million people living in villages and towns around the rivers. Early warnings were not highlighted by the media the way these should have been. People living in the affected towns and villages were caught off guard by the flood water. Many said later they did not get sufficient time to move their families, belongings and animals to safer places.
Although some international relief agencies termed the response of local authorities as “tremendous,” they also sounded an alarm that the “needs are huge.” Millions of affected people were left waiting for relief as they had been left with nothing to survive on. Many of them had taken shelter in camps that lacked facilities. They also remained unsure about when they will return to their homes. These ordeals needed attention of the government. The media remains the only agency that can bring their stories to the quarters concerned.
The mainstream broadcast channels rushed to the areas soon after the floods caused devastation. This made headlines for many days. However, as soon as the water started receding, the coverage dropped drastically, leaving the voice of the affected unheard. Weeks later, the government machinery had barely managed to gather data on the flood victims.
The mainstream media soon turned to focus on other more ‘important’ and ‘urgent’ matters like politics and judicial affairs. It has become a regular practice for news channels to quickly divert attention towards issues that require less effort and expenses to report on. With the exception of one or two, all major news channels are running losses in any case. No wonder, they find sending their teams to remote areas for news coverage hard.
The absence of local media deprives the rural populations of their right to access the authorities so that their voices can be heard. In many countries, India included, the local media plays a significant role in highlighting the problems of the fragile communities residing in far-flung areas. However, in Pakistan, the local media has not flourished. To further complicate the situation, there is little to no concept of community journalism.
Most media outlets lack adequate mechanisms to provide opportunities for journalists working on the field to learn how to cover disaster-hit areas and to do follow-ups of events taking place after a calamity. Only a couple of news channels arrange on-job training for their staff.
Another important issue faced by the media is that it has become very difficult for the media to commission special reports and air those. This is due to pressure from governments and other powerful institutions to air content they prefer. A flurry of events have to be shown live or pre-recorded on the demand of the governments and institutions, failing which news channels might lose business. In this scenario, special reports, especially pertaining to public interest, fail to get airtime. The restrictions on the media have changed the journalism landscape in Pakistan. For now, one can see no way out.
The writer is a senior broadcast journalist. He has worked with several news channels in Pakistan.