Media Watch
And why Mubasher Lucman owes an apology to linesmen everywhere
According to a study at the Indiana University, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are primary news sources for a proportion of young Americans. For those reading this in Pakistan who might not know, these two are comedy show hosts.
Stewart and Colbert, on their respective shows, skewer both American politics and mainstream media. Their material is the news of the day but their spin on the events and their coverage is what keeps audiences coming back for more. But the aforementioned study complicates things a bit. You see, it was one thing for people to watch the news on regular shows and then see the funnymen’s take on them. But for them to bypass the serious news programmes to begin with, is quite another.
Is the same happening in Pakistan? How are Khabarnaak, Hasb-e-Haal, Mazaaq Raat, Ham Sab Umeed Se Hayn or BNN on this front?
But before we bemoan this lack of viewership of proper news shows for these ones, it would do us good to realize that even if the numbers of these shows do not quite compete with those of hard news shows, the political talk shows sure do pull in huge numbers. It is these talk shows that determine the public’s understanding of the issues, not the news shows. This is a greater cause for concern than if it had actually only been the comedy shows that were the threat.
Political talk shows, with their adversarial gunning ’em down model trivialize news far more than the comedy shows. The former caricature political viewpoints far more idiotically than the latter. Give me a good show of BNN or HSUSH any day of the week over the best the Mubasher Lucman has to offer.
Points to ponder for media academics, not media owners. For them, nothing succeeds like success.
……….
Mubasher Lucman, in his programme (Khara Sach, January 27, ARY) with Imran Khan, started discussing the peculiarities of electric power distribution. The issue had been making the rounds of late after the rather public spat between the League’s Abid Sher Ali and KP information minister Shah Farmaan on the issue.
Agreeing with Imran Khan on the issue, Lucman said of Abid Sher Ali “woh toh shakal hee say line man lagta hay!”
There is political correctness and then there is political-correctness-gone-nuts. I despise the latter; they stifle open debate and discussions. But the former keep us civilised.
Mubasher Lucman owes an apology to linesmen everywhere. And, no, this is not saying that it is an insult to be compared to Abid Sher Ali (though it is). This is a crassly classist thing to say, much like Imran Khan once saying about Sheikh Rasheed (oh, how times change!) that he wouldn’t like to hire the man even as a chaprasi. Mr Khan might never have worked in an office in his life but it would do him well to know that our peons run our offices.
It has been said in this column before and it will be said again: scratch the surface of the populist veneer that the talking heads on the TV shows have carefully crafted, and you will see a genuine distaste for the poor to begin with.