Problems don’t disappear by delaying decisions
When the Pandora’s Box opened the best way was for the prime minister to intervene to get the eight-hour long tirade against the ISI chief stopped. He could have then arbitrated between the two sides. Things were however left to take their own course. They eventually took an ugly turn when mobs incited in the name of religion started calling for the blood of not only those who conducted or participated in the morning show but also some of the government leaders. The more recent events indicate that the government continues to remain a prisoner of indecision. Whether it is out of sheer habit or part of a plan remains a subject of debate. The PML-N’s critics maintain that it wants the ISI and the media channel to fight it out among themselves while reserving for itself the role of a referee. Whatever the government’s motives, the situation is continuing to deteriorate. When the cable operators started to block the TV networks at someone’s behest in violation of law, it declined to intervene. The government did pretty little to stop the ongoing incitement in the name of religion with groups threatening to impose street justice on those accused of ‘blasphemy’ or associated with the targeted TV channels. It looked the other way as media channels continued to spew poison.
The announcement by five members of the PEMRA to suspend the licenses of Geo News, Geo Entertainment and Geo Tez was greeted by several TV talk shows as a victory for Islam and Pakistan. The orders to close down their offices were carried out while cable operators hurriedly acted in localities where the channels were not yet blocked. By the time the spokesman of the media regulatory authority repudiated the announcement as illegal, enough confusion had been created. Why didn’t the seven government officials who are members of PEMRA attend the meeting to decide the issue by majority vote? The fact that none subsequently tried to stop what was later billed as an illegal press conference indicates that those who should mind the store are not doing so.
Problems don’t disappear by delaying decisions. They are likely to aggravate. It is an irony that while everyone speaks about the media as fourth pillar of the state, no satisfactory arrangement has been made to regulate it. What is needed is to formulate clear cut and unambiguous rules which spell out precisely when and how the regulatory authority is to intervene. Canceling licenses can hit the livelihood of hundreds of media workers. Other forms of punishment have therefore to be suggested. The federal government needs to move ahead apace after seeking inputs from the stakeholders.
Canceling licenses can hit the livelihoods of hundreds? What sort of argument is that. On that basis dacoits should be allowed to carry on unhindered because catching them and putting them out of business could "hit the livelihoods of hundreds"!!
When The News of the World closed down in the UK hundreds lost their livelihoods. Are Pakistanis, where no one even knows the real unemployment figure, more concerned about this aspect than the British, where elections are won and lost on the issue of jobs?
What a load of sanctimonious rubbish.
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