Journalism
or Stupidity
It was indeed startling to hear a journalist’s comments on
the arrest of ARY reporter Iqrarul Hassan, that whenever the history of Sindh
legislation will be written, the act of Iqrar will be written in golden words.
A critical observation reveals that not only Iqrar but a score of other
journalists will occupy the” same place” whenever history of the journalism in
Pakistan will be written. Journalism in Pakistan with the mushrooming growth of
private media has certainly marked a departure from journalistic ethic and
sense of direction. The key elements of journalism such as objectivity,
ascertainment of facts, and news for the sake of news are foreign to their
nature. Sensationalism, money mongering are both their movies as well as raison d'être. However, sometimes this disposition touches the heights of
stupidity and idiocy. A number of the so-called journalists are engaged in the
business, the private channels are instrumental in providing them outlets. Being
obsessed with only objective of sensationalism and attracting viewship through
foul or fear means, they go to any heights. “Sari Aam, Geo FIR,Juram Bolta Hy,
and Khyber Watch” and two guys used to
make appearances on Geo and ARY late at night,(no more now) are among such examples.
The recent act of taking a pistol into
the Sindh provincial assembly hall does not make any sense and the same is true
of the previous contents and persons
associated with the program. The man who
carried the pistol into the hall was a member of the team, and according to the
sources, when at the entrance the
security personnel wanted the body search of the suspect, Iqrar reacted and
said that he was him with and should not be searched and was thus was taken
into the hall (BBC). During the session the reporter made fuss that a man with
pistol has entered into the hall, and the pistol was brought to the speaker’s
dice. The security personnel of the assembly also said that whenever they
ask the journalist for security checking they take exception to it. Now what does it mean? Was it an act
oriented to reform the security system and bring forth the lapses? Or a reflection of the perennial stupidity common to the nature
of the program and men relating thereto.? It is interesting to note that the
same program when shows fake product of certain companies, their names are not
shown.If it is the public interest they work for they should show which of the
products can be fake which the customers should be careful of while purchasing it, but what make them hide the identity of the
products? What make them “hush”? if they hold that it is against the interest
of the original companies, now the question arises whether the interest of the
companies or that of the public is important??
“Juram bolta hy” and “Geo FiR” are in
all their manifestations the
glorification and tutorship of incrimination. One may opine that the viewers of
these programs can be those who are involved in the crimes of day today because
no man of sense can be its viewer. Pollute the minds and teaching them that in
which possible moments and cases they can be arrested and their plots exposed,
so that they may come up with a better strategy next time in carrying out their
operations. In fact these are the key lessons imparted by through these programs.
The story of sensational journalism or stupidity, however, does not end here.
One is
certainly taken by confusion to draw inference from the contents of the Khyber News program, “Khyber
Watch”. By closely following the stories
of the program, one can find a clear contradiction and purposelessness in them.
Though the program ,as it is true of its ilk, is yet popular among the illiterate
masses especially the Pakistani diaspora. At one time encroachments of the
vendors into public places is targeted by the program, and the inaction and incompetence of the government is
reflected, but when action against the same encroachment is taken, the spotlight is again on the
operation of the government with the most polite questions that the sources of
their income are being spoiled and they are deprived of livelihood.
The stupidity crossed all its limits
when the host of the program once targeted the she-males and ask them various type of questions,
totally irrational , nonsense and full of stupidity. Some of the questions
went, when did u realize that you are neither male nor female?? And many other. Making them on air, what
message is tried to transmit to the viewers?
The she-males deserve pity, and must be supported and respected by every
sensible man. But people cannot tolerate this creation of the Almighty and make
them leave their homes, they take shelter in the dense cities and adopt various
profession for their survival ,among them dancing in the functions of the
“perfect creatures” is a common means, but it was never tolerated by the
journalist as it was against the ethic
to dance….
Other segments of the show are to
visit the people who have lost their dear ones in explosions and other
incidents of the kind years ago. They are reminded of their lost ones and made
to weep and then the show ends. Now what does it mean? If the aim is making the
terrorist realize the folly of their acts and refrain from the same, is out of
question. They have been indoctrinated and cannot be modified this way, however
it serves two other functions. First, the terrorist get encouraged and their
morale is boosted as they see the impacts of their acts, given a special
coverage by the media. They get their acts gloried and see public pressure over
government to term with them. Secondly the victim families who have somewhat
allayed their grief, is resurfaced.
Mubbashir lukman, whose profession is
yet not clear, whether he was worker of
a particular political party, an arch enemy of PML N, or was tasked to distort image of another
private channel, Geo. The contents of his program used to be a mixture of the
abovementioned elements. But sometimes it would be extremely difficult to
classify his role into any of these categories. For example once he had invited
Pakistani film actress Mera along with her soul mate/husband ( as the case may
be) to account for their act having sex with each other. All this discussion
went on air, and Mubbahsir would tell them that he had the video with him in
the laptop,( which he would look it at after brief intervals), if the couple does not make confession, he may show
it.
The interesting part comes when they
face the law( which they usually suggest
for other) and sometimes get arrested, they try to make a heroic figure with handcuffs with an
impression that they are the national heroes ,and are suffering for the interest
of public….
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