Recently Bilawal Bhutto visited flood affected areas; he visited victims’ homes and camps, he made speeches and was with victims in very informal way. Most of his activities had tremendous news value, it would make good TV footage but Pakistani TV channels ignored the activities of the leader of a very important political party. Negative news were reported about Bilawal Bhuttos visit but no context was provided about security issues/threats to Bilawal. Similarly, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, too, visited flood affected areas, gave speeches but he did not get much live coverage. Also only negative news about his visits made headlines. Mulana Fazaul-u-Rehman has millions of followers but he doesnt get the media coverage what should be his due share. The same is true for the Awami National Party. The media (TV) coverage of ANP gatherings is usually slim. Sindhi and Baluchi parties are ignored by TV channels. Stories about missing persons from Baluchistan are missing on our TV screens. Baluchistan issues are missing. Many other critical stories and issues are not covered. There are not many critical stories about the performance of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. Strangely, however, Pakistani TV channels give hours of air time to Imran Khan’s meetings and activities. Camera tricks and angles are used to show small crowds big. Imran is promoted as a savior and hero but the elected Prime Minister is demonized. Tahir-ul-Qadri gets undue coverage in the media. Altaf Hussain and the MQM use terror tactics to get live coverage on our TV channels. An overview of the past few months’ TV news coverage shows a pattern where the ISPR, the PTI and the PAT are presented in positive light while the rest of the parties are either condemned or ignored. The ISPR is transcending its boundaries but the media are uncritical. ISPR prepared PR footage is shown as exclusive news, the media are bashing everybody except Imran Khan. It is very disturbing revelation. This trend is bad for Pakistani journalism. As a student of psychological warfare and propaganda, I feel that some powerful elements of the Pakistani establishment and media are playing mind games with our public. Our public is not very media literate yet very sophisticated and settled propaganda techniques are used to influence the public opinion in favor of certain point of views, personalities and institutions. The public is treated as passive consumers of propaganda thanks to the media. Non-professional owners, editors, presenters and reporters are misleading the public. The military media alliance to deceive the people of Pakistan can further harm the health of our society.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 17:28:49 +0000
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