Being the writer, editor and owner of two highly circulated newspapers The Comrade and Zameendar, Muhammad Ali Johar was asked several times how he managed to run these papers with such a high quality of content, as well as the printing and paper eminence. The reply was simple I am not in this field of journalism to make money, but only to make my people aware of the dangers and ills around them and this effort of mine will lead them to their destiny. In other words, Mr Johar had the vision and intent of modern media sciences which speaks of a delicate balance between commercial and professional journalism. This has changed in the modern media world. Due to the competitive pressure for profits, the media gives the people what they want so the only policy option is to follow the dictates of the market. Hence, if there is a problem with the media, they have an easy explanation; it is not due to the system or the policies that put the system in place but to the people who demand the content that the commercial media firms obediently provide them. So there is a conflict of interest between the hard core professional and modern commercial journalism.
Muhammad Ali Johar is an icon of honest hard core journalism because he was not giving what people wanted at that time; rather what he was propagating stuff that would be good for the community even though it went against the tide of the majority opinion. The resistance to him made him more passionate to do his job for his community in particular and the Indian nation in general.
This brings us to an important conclusion and that media literacy is increasingly important for a professional journalist in Pakistan. In the backdrop of insurgencies in FATA, the issue of Balochistan and the recent killing of Governor Punjab, the stakes are even higher.
JAWAD RAZA KHAN
Lahore
