No faith in the media

Broadcasting poorly researched news or fake news for the sole purpose of creating sensationalism and increasing television rating points (TRP) is a common trend that is being practiced by the media industry across the world. A tsunami of attention-grabbing false news stories – fake news – has affected the credibility of many media houses. Recently, a famous TV anchor made baseless allegations and accused Zainab’s killer of being part of child pornography rings running across Pakistan. Now, the JIT team that was formed to investigate the anchor’s claim has declared these allegations to be completely false.

These fake allegations have added weight to the speculations that certain media houses are owned by certain groups whose objective is to portray the wrong image of the country in the international community. The incident has greatly affected the roots of free and objective journalism in Pakistan. TV anchors must realise that the media industry has the power to shape the people’s opinion towards different socio-economic and political events. If some elements will continue to work only for the sake of TRPs, the people will soon lose faith in what the media shows. It is being feared that keeping in view this sad incident might compel the SC to impose a certain level of censorship on the media. This, if carried out, will have a negative effect on news reporting in the future.

Ali Salman Andani

Hyderabad