Honest aims or ratings? What drives Ramadan transmission

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The month of Ramzan is sacred for Muslims across the globe. In this month most of the Muslims actually become “practicing muslims”. Not only do they offer their prayers and observe fasts but also try to acquire some basic Islamic knowledge, particularly through the media. Now the media could avail this opportunity to spread the knowledge about Islamic values, morals and heritage, the TV channels could serve the people but alas, they choose to serve themselves. The media does not let any opportunity of earning some cash slip away, even in this month the Iftar and Sehri transmission is focused upon, particularly as it is that time of the day when the entire nation is glued to the TV screens to wait for the Azan. The transmission that should have been in accordance with the teachings of Islam and should have focused upon preserving the sanctity of Ramzan is solely focused on earning some cash.
Last year a new channel offered, the very controversial Veena Malik to host their Ramzan transmission. After a public outcry, the idea was dropped. This year another channel offered the well known actress/model/host Noor Bukhari to host it’s Ramzan transmission, again there were complaints from the public as Noor was married to a Hindu Businessman for eight years and was settled in Dubai. She only came back to Pakistan after her marriage was on rocks.
Whether it is through hiring widely controversial hosts, distributing cell phones, a free meal or parading around the families of victims of bomb blasts or target killings, nothing is off limits, there is nothing these people won’t do to win the race for higher TRPs.
Now my question is this, if Face Book is full of people complaining about these shows, if the news papers are receiving complaints then obviously a considerable number of people are finding these shows to be inappropriate. Then how come they are not being banned ??? Why are they still on-air ??? Simple, the ratings are still high. We first watch the show then express our outrage and the next day again go back to watch the same show. If all those people complaining would boy-cot these shows, I am sure our BANYAY channel owners would be forced to take notice as they do not care for anything other than their profits.
If the people quit watching, then changes would have to be made. But the problem is,” jo jitna controversial hai wo utna he bikta hai “.
An important point that encourages the inappropriate behavior of celebrity hosts ( who are racing for ratings ) is the blind hero worship from their fans. They know, they can get away with anything, there is no accountability for their actions. As soon as someone points out the absurdity of their behavior, the fans lash out. They won’t listen to reason, they will absolutely ignore logic and will show a complete disregard for the obvious facts that are in-front of them. This is what doesn’t make any sense to me, the most annoying sentences in such cases are ” Paihlay apnay giray-baan main jhankoo, phir kisay doosray kay baray main baat karna “, ” Khud to kuch ker nahi saktay, jo ker rahay hain un ko kham-kha critisize ker rahay hain “. I am so sick of this senseless defensive attitude. It’s ok to appreciate someone but the other person also has a right to express his/her opinion, you don’t have to like it or agree to it but you can and should at least tolerate it. If someone points out a sin being committed, nobody cares about the sin or it’s consequences rather, their only concern is the speaker’s character assassination ? That person ends up being judged, no one bothers to listen to what he/she has to say.
We are all only human and we can and do make mistakes, celebrities are no exemption in this regard. If they know that they are accountable for their behavior, if the producers and channel owners know that they will have to answer for their actions, then hopefully, we will see a positive change very soon.
Lastly, in every case, its not just the media related people who should be held responsible for all this controversial stuff we are all protesting against, the masses should also accept some responsibility. If we stop watching, then they will have no one to cater this kind of shows to and will, hopefully stop producing this kind of controversial ramzan transmission.

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