Pakistan's media must stop pandering to extremists

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In the post-Peshawar scenario, the Pakistani media can ill-afford the mildest of slip ups; it has to honour its influence and connection with the populace more than ever before. 

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Daily Mail | India
By Reema Abbasi | January 1, 2015

This is stating the obvious, but sadly it cannot be underlined enough - Pakistan is driven by brutal, wild inequalities.

And once again, its media is on the back-foot for failing to tackle hate-filled, biased televangelists.
In these times of war, tears and blood, Geo Television, the top channel in the country, faced serious flak for a breakfast show where the notoriously bigoted cleric, Amir Liaquat, allowed other members of his community to voice repellent allegations against the already tormented and targeted sect of Ahmadis.

The programme ignited mass protests by human rights groups, civil society, the press corps and the social media, forcing the media regulatory body to issue a show cause notice to the channel.

A hasty apology ensued, which stated that opinions cannot be controlled in live programming.
First, this is a ridiculously feeble excuse from a media conglomerate that has just emerged from state-inflicted censorship on allegations of blasphemy.

Second, anything is controllable through techniques such as time lags, commercial interventions, the stringent selection of guests, and most importantly, policy guidelines.

In the post-Peshawar scenario, the Pakistani media can ill-afford the mildest of slip ups; it has to honour its influence and connection with the populace more than ever before.

Especially when the killing of an Ahmadi five days after the said show is being linked to the divisive views relayed and endorsed in it.

At present, the media would do well to both cash in on and sustain the current deluge of fury and structure a counter-narrative that silences all ideological prejudice to embolden an otherwise tolerant citizenry.

For this reason, the public demand for a black-out of discordant voices, extremist views and faces must be honoured.

Reema Abbasi is a Karachi-based journalist and author


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