The message has been received. Media, you can incite violence, regularly air hate speech, malign democratic institutions including the judiciary, invade people’s privacy and play the morality police, but don’t dare name those who must not be named. That will get you in trouble. Heads will roll. Competitors will pounce as soon as the green light goes on. Banned outfits will take to the streets and demand justice on behalf of the easily aggrieved. You will be accused of blasphemy. Religious groups will issue fatwas against you. You will be awarded with titles such as anti-state, traitor and foreign agent. Cable operators will no longer be able to ignore their nagging ‘conscience’ and boycott you. Journalists and hawkers will be intimidated. Vehicles carrying newspapers will be torched. The orchestrated madness will not stop simply if you apologise. You must pay with your freedom. The regulators will finally take you off air and impose a financial penalty.
Who is responsible for the current situation? The Government, the military or the media? Everyone. The elected government is weak and unable to exercise its constitutionally-mandated authority. While all hell was breaking lose, it could only watch and ask everyone to pray for the best. Its stance on the entire Geo-ISI controversy has remained ambiguous. It wishes to stand by the media, as its own survival depends on it, but it doesn’t want to be viewed as biased. There is only one kind of blatant prejudice that is acceptable, even condoned and rewarded, in Pakistan. Information Minister Pervez Rasheed’s assurances that no channel will be taken off air during a democratic rule have proven empty. Its inaction and lack of clarity directly contributed to the deterioration of affairs.
The media is highly irresponsible and unprofessional. Geo experienced a complete editorial policy breakdown on the fateful day. Editorial control must remain in the hands of professionals, and owners cannot be allowed to intervene and dictate. The rising wave of sensationalism and corporate interests threaten to destroy all that has been achieved after much struggle. It abuses freedom of speech, allows rubbish to be aired every day, and uses its power to undermine regulatory authorities. It is partially responsible for PEMRA’s pitiful state. Weak regulatory authorities can benefit you, but they can just as easily cause serious harm when someone with a bigger stick comes along. The media will have to mend its ways, not for the sake of anyone else, but for its own preservation and integrity.
The military is of course still the most powerful entity in the country, and it doesn’t mind showing it every now and then. It expects everyone to play by the rules while refusing to follow them. It remains insistent on maintaining a monopoly over defining national interest and views dissenters with unwarranted suspicion. It believes it stands on a moral high ground since it used ‘legal channels’ for redress, which is simply untrue. If it doesn’t wish to be treated unfairly, then it must play fair too.