ISLAMABAD - For media persons covering the 43-day long sit-in outside the Parliament House, the repetitive speeches of Imran Khan and Dr Tahirul Qadri have become boring and less newsworthy.
Journalists having nose for news are in search of 'breaking news' that are no more given by the protesting leaders.
Reporters and photojournalists take much interest in covering the social side of the prolonged sit-in in order to come up with something new in the anti-government protest demonstration.
With Imran Khan and Dr Qadri hell bent on seeking resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif since August 14, the media persons covering the anti-government agitation are of the view that the speeches of protesting leaders have lost news value by sticking to one demand -resignation of Premier Sharif.
"For us it is a big and interesting news to report incident of marriages in the sit-in or cover the social aspect of the participants. The speeches of Imran and Qadri are almost monotonous and repetition," Javed Somro, a reporter who has been covering the protest since August 14, told The Nation on Friday.
The anti-government agitation, according to political observers, has lost the intensity after the joint session of Parliament reposed confidence in Premier Sharif rendering Imran and Qadri politically isolated.
"I think something is cooking up for a face-saving deal which may also help improve the electoral laws and that's why the sit-in continues on. Socio-politically it carries an important message which can become a watershed in Pakistan's politics," Imtiaz Gul, a political analyst, said.
Even the workers of PTI and PAT who had been promised by their respective leaders to oust Premier Sharif within few days, seem to be losing energy for being on road for the last 43 days without any outcome of their protests.
"Even if we remain here for two years more, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will not tender resignation. I don't know why are we here? I think we have been trapped in our own net," a PTI lawmaker from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa told this reporter wishing not to be named.
With the government giving no heed to the demands of PTI and PAT as major political parties term the demands illegitimate, reporters have started reaching out to the participants living in shabby tents that give the journalists more worthy news than filing the speeches of Khan and Qadri.
The toddlers, children and elders brought to the protest venue and have to brave the harsh weather make good news for journalists and photographers. "I always focus on something new in the sit-in. Recently I came across participants of PAT who had tied the wild boar with cables and his skin was inscribed with anti-government slogans," Syed Mehdi, a photographer with this newspaper said.
However, a PTI supporter Khan Younis was of the view that the agitation would soon reach its logical end and will force Premier Sharif to resign. "We are on the nerves of government and this struggle will bear the fruit soon," he added.