“People are sheep. TV is the shepherd.” Jess C Scott Whenever I visit Pakistan every morning I read as many newspapers as I can and watch news on television in the evening as much as possible with the sole purpose of comparing the press and electronic media of India and Pakistan and preparing their report card. In the past six decades or so both the countries have made significant progress in various spheres of life but after the economic liberalization of the nineties in both the countries the growth of media is enviable for the rest of the developing world and it can only be described as phenomenal. Currently they are more or less four hundred news channels in India churning out news and infotainment in Hindi, English and numerous regional languages. While on the other hand there are more or less two dozen news channels, mostly in Urdu, in Pakistan. However it needs to be remembered here that India is a country of one billion and two hundred million people while the population of Pakistan is less than 200 million. Moreover in India the ownership of TV channels is very diverse; from builders to corporate and from politicians and political parties to big media houses everyone owns a news channel. But in Pakistan most news channels are owned by the large media houses. This is the only difference I could find between the news channels of the two countries rest is all similar like the shared history, culture and cuisine of the two countries. I went to Karachi on 13 October and spent a whole week there. It was a time when the armies of both the countries were exchanging fire with each other on the LoC and the international border making life difficult for the people living in the border villages. When I left Delhi Indian news channels were endlessly cursing Pakistan for the ceasefire violation and after reaching Karachi I discovered that Pakistani channels were crying hoarse in the same way to hold India responsible for the loss of life and property on the Pakistani side of the border. I don’t exactly know which army took the lead in creating tension on the LoC and the international border but there is no denying of the fact that both the armies were exchanging fire with each other and killing innocent villagers and their live stock on either side of the fence. To my surprise not only the narrative but visuals used by the news channels of the two countries in their news packages were exactly the same because after partition the villages of India and Pakistan have not changed much and look the same except for the attire of their inhabitants and the religious places where they worship. It reminded me of Eli Pariser, a left wing political and internet activist who happens to be the Chief Executive of a website Upworthy dedicated to the “meaningful viral content “who had once said “More voices means less trust in any given voice.” It is there for all to see that in both the countries that media is more loyal than the king. In the words of American singer-song writer and poet Jim Morrison “Whoever controls the media controls the mind.” and the politicians of India and Pakistan have understood it well. In India it is now very difficult to tell which TV channel has maintained its independence in the past decade or so. There are few news channels which are owned by the political parties or the politicians closed to political parties. I am quite comfortable with such news channels because I don’t expect objectivity and neutrality from them. Such news channels are mainly watched by the supporters of political parties which owned them. These channels have apparently taken their cue from media practitioner Joss Whedon who is of the view that “the news is not there to tell you what happened. Its there to tell you what it wants you to hear or what it thinks you want to hear.” In this year’s general elections in India almost entire electronic media sided with the BJP which came to power with a thumping majority surprising everyone including BJP. (But it was not the only contributory factor in BJP’s victory at polls. It was only one factor but an important one). Similarly in Pakistan it is not too difficult to gauge which news channel is the supporter of which political party or political formation. Dan Brown, the author of the bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code sounds very prophetic when he describes the media as the “right arm of anarchy”. We the Indians saw how media could create anarchy some three years ago in 2011 during the anti corruption movement launched by so called social activist Anna Hazare at the behest of some political parties do discredit the UPA II government of Dr. Manmohan Singh and pave the way for BJP to come to power. Pakistan is witnessing a similar trend in the form of live coverage given to the rallies and dharnas organized by Imran Khan and Maulana Tahir-ul-Qadiri. During the Anna Hazare movement from morning till night news television had nothing to show except Ram Lila Maidan where Anna was sitting on fast with his cohorts. Now he has gone into hiding as if the problem of corruption is solved forever and his Man Friday Arvind Kejriwal is trying hard to realize his political dream of becoming the Prime Minster of India one day. Pakistani news channels are following the footsteps of their Indian counterparts. But both should be aware what happens when media is manipulated by the vested interest. In the words of author, film maker and screen writer Lance Morcan of New Zealand “manipulating the media is akin to poisoning a nation’s water supply – it affects all of our lives in unimaginable ways.”
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 08:40:58 +0000
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