Social media isn’t the panacea to the ills of the mainstream media
But it does serve one very important purpose. Earlier, the sub-editors of the letters to the editor pages acted as the guardians to ensure obnoxious views didn’t see their way into print. And producers in charge of control rooms at TV stations ensured that the same views are kept off the airwaves, ready to be bleeped out and, in the worst of cases, having a particularly errant audience member or panellist escorted out of the studios.
But now, anyone with a keyboard can say their piece. And you finally get a better sight of the iceberg rather than just the bit that was above the water. You will see, say, accountant fathers of young girls themselves, spewing out the most vulgar of invective against Malala Yousafzai. You will see, say, well-educated people doing character assassination of rape victims.
Despite what you might have been led to believe by the overeager cheerleaders of social media, it does not lead to substantive content. Citizen journalism might be free from the pressures of advertisers and governments but it is also pretty bad journalism, devoid of research and standards; brimming with gut feelings rather than facts. In fact, the more corporations and government agencies come to master the medium, the more we will see citizen journalism becoming a far more effective tool in their hands than mainstream media ever was.
All that might be, but due to the proliferation of video recording technology, one positive effect that social media has had is the availability of footage that would have been impossible for mainstream media to manage.
Consider the assassination of Salmaan Taseer.
In the aftermath of his murder, liberal political parties that were supporters of the man were quiet because the abyss that stared back was larger than was thought of before, what with even well-educated, seemingly progressive people cheering on Mumtaz Qadri.
Conservatives like, say, the PML-N were quiet because even though they weren’t endeared to the man, they hardly thought he should have been killed. But more so, because in this day and age, only the hard right fringe of the political spectrum could openly support premeditated murder.
It is impossible for the PML-N, whose leader, the prime minister, has been going about talking about his desire to see a “liberal” Pakistan, to have any of its leaders openly support the actions of Mumtaz Qadri. As an international statesman, it would be nigh impossible.
Well, that is where the social media comes in.
Speaking at a local religious function, the head of the party’s youth wing and, more importantly, the prime minister’s son-in-law, Capt (retd) Safdar was filmed recently extolling the virtues of the jailed Mumtaz Qadri.
This is, no doubt, embarrassing. This isn’t some lowly party member in one of the boondocks, but the First Son-in-Law that we are talking about.
Perhaps this follows the profile of all political parties. Of official party lines, sanitised and packaged for TV shows, juxtaposed with stark, grating footage of party members somewhere contradicting those very same positions.
Declared liberal values are to be undercut by exposed footage like this of someone lower down the line. Or parties with an obsession with declaring piety having other risqué footage slipping out.