Occupational hazards
Not an easy job, the reporter’s. For, amongst the hordes of hacks trying to make their way in the fourth estate, what could have set you apart in the past used to be that little bit extra; now, in this tired and jaded age, this elusive little bit borders on the obscene. Areas previously thought sacrosanct on grounds of privacy – not to say decency – are now thoroughfare, intimate details stripped-to-the-bones in newsrooms. Anything to catch the editor’s eye, anything to get a byline that readers would remember. It’s the same story the world over, be in Fleet Street, Manhattan or the starry eyed youngsters that mass comm departments (among others) throw up every year here in Pakistan.
Then there is the plight of the editors and publishers. Amidst the glut of outfits angling for the attentions of the readers in this age of information, news media managers are constantly pushing the envelope in terms of how they get the information that the people want. There are no moral scruples; it’s a living. Well, it shouldn’t be.
Rebekah Brooks, erstwhile editor of the erstwhile News of The World has been taken into custody. On her watch, the flagship of the British gutterpress is said to have hacked into thousands of cell-phones, recording personal phone calls and data. Following public backlash, proprietor Rupert Murdoch thought it best to close down the 168-year-old publication in an attempt to shield the rest of his media empire from this cancerous negative brand equity. Apparently, even that is not a foregone conclusion. The bigger they are – and there is no publisher/media owner bigger than Murdoch and, amongst the journalists/editors, no star brighter than Brooks – the harder they fall.
Are there lessons here for the Pakistani media? Would the media barons here, if someone throws the book at them, take it lying down because, since they have undeniable egg on their face, it would be the right thing to do? Or would due process be presented as some sort of government suppression?
How would Big Media in Pakistan respond to the proposed British checks on media ownership? The ones that’ll ensure no one gets too large a share of the industry, even if it is through organic, natural growth?
How would the media (owners and journalists alike) respond to a government mechanism that regulates content, a practice not unheard of even in countries that have the freest press in the world?
