Is city administration populism?

Recently, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Hamza Shafqaat held a poll on Twitter asking if fizzy drinks be banned in schools or not.

A thumping majority of about 20,000 people voted to ban it. As a result, he issued a notification that such unhealthy products should not be available for sale in schools.

Everybody appreciated it as it was obviously a good gesture. However, producers of these drinks, surely, did not like it.

A non-professional yet mainstreamed journalist thought it is a terrible action as some think that the DC is doing such things to get popular. It may be news to many Pakistanis but in Europe and the US popular is not a good world.

It has a theoretic framework behind it that derives from populism. Populism has three basic components, conflict and controversy being relevant in the case in point.

These two are also taught as news values in our universities. Politicians suffer from the populism syndrome, usually.

It is also considered a threat to quality of democracy because politicians prefer to get engaged in conflict and controversy. This way they manage to be in the limelight and people start thinking about them as real achievers. However, in reality they compromise their duty of being in the service of the masses that have elected them.

After all, they are elected to work out ways for public welfare instead of getting down their throats through non-stop media stream.

Now that you know the bottom line about populism and popular people, we can link this debate with the ban on fizzy drinks and the method that was adopted to put it in place.

Though Mr. Shafqaat is not a politician, he no doubt is the most successful DC in the country. I have met him many times. Being a media teacher and professional, I am interested in his social media activism. I have studied his social media activities for months now.

The point is that populism is not the most relevant theoretic framework that defines such activities. There is a concept of community journalism in which stakeholders are engaged in solving community problems.

Unfortunately, this concept is almost non-existent in Islamabad. The city even does not have credible local media outlets.

Some people with vested interests have set up online channels claiming that they are doing local journalism in Islamabad. But you tear down the layers and you will find business minions behind them. Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad and even Multan have local channels.

In such a situation, I think that social media activism of Mr. Shafqaat falls in the category of community journalism as it aims at solving problems. He is one of the main decision-makers in the city and it should be encouraged if he engages citizens in the decision-making process.

His Twitter account is a must for any Islamabad citizen if they want to be aware of what is going on in the city. People are benefiting from him. I remember once he told me that he could be transferred to any part of the country but he will be fully committed to serving residents of Islamabad as long as he is around. We wish him success and expect more of such decisions as banning the fizzy drinks from him in the days to come.