race, reliability was dented as the media didn’t have ample time to check on facts.
“Thus independence of the media began to get precedence over responsibility,” Sarmad said.
He spoke of the repression faced in the Zia era when journalists were flogged and there were newsprint restrictions. Ads, he added, were used as leverage to make the media fall in line, so those who came after these restrictions were removed didn’t know how to use this independence.
However, Sarmad said, “We shouldn’t start regulating this independence.”
Ali Hassan Naqvi of Dawn said new sources of the media had forced mainstream media to become responsible.
Business Recorder Editor Arshad Zuberi, in his paper titled “Pakistan Media Perspective”, said that no doubt reporters were a great force, but people wrongly tried to bank unduly on them. Reporters, he said, were still subordinate to the media house owners and they could not alter or influence the policies of the groups they were working for. “It must be clear that it is the media owners who matter,” he said.
Journalist Agha Masood said that independence came very rapidly after Musharraf’s exit. He was against unfettered freedom and said that media would have to be regulated.
This was followed by a panel discussion on the state of the freedom and responsibility of the media. The panel was based on six participants. Most of them were of the opinion that the media was really independent but was not displaying the responsibility.
Lubna Jarrar Naqvi said that irresponsibility was reflected in the unverified news, while senior journalist Amir Zia agreed that there was freedom but said it was marred by the blame-game of journalists.
Gibran Peshimam of Geo News, however, was of the opinion that the media was highly responsible, but not independent enough.
Owais Mangalwala said the media were purely commercial organisations and were least bothered about social welfare. “No organisation regulates itself as that leads to a clash of interests,” he said, adding that the rating system which was being followed by the electronic channels today was a big flaw.
Sabeen Agha said that freedom of expression was there, but not much responsibility was displayed as the media houses didn’t invest in training. Ejaz Wasay, head of the IoBM’s Media Studies department, explained the MRII and its workings. He thanked the USAID and the Citizens’ Media Forum for their cooperation in holding the seminar.