After independence in 1947, Pakistani electronic media was dominated by the state-run Pakistan Television (PTV) and Pakistan broadcasting corporation. PTV was launched in November 1964, which 12 years later, switched over to colour television. In the beginning, there were only two channels, PTV and STN dependent upon the clarity of antenna signals with very few entertainment programs, mainly drama serials, in which, the strict rule of covering the head with dupatta or scarf was followed by female actors and newscasters. It was Zia’s regime. PTV used to start its transmission with Quranic verses and religious programs and end its transmission around 11pm. And only on Thursday night, we use to have a chance to see any Pakistani feature film.
Slowly and gradually media trends started changing because access to information was limited so it was decided by the government that electronic media should be opened up to the private sector .A few channels were launched right after the decision, followed by many others later on. So it was decided by the government in March 2002, to establish a media regulatory authority (PEMRA) to give license, regulate and facilitate the growth of electronic media in the private sector. PEMRA was set up under an ordinance and its mandate is to monitor slandering of information, education and entertainment, to widen the choice available to people for news, current affairs and other programs, and to ensure transparency by optimising the free flow of information. PEMRA gives license to satellite TV channels, FM radio, cable TV, mobile TV, IPTV and MMD. The rules and regulations and code of conduct have been formulated in consultation with all the stakeholders, with the aim of safeguarding our national ideology, national heritage, religious harmony, socio-cultural norms and ensuring a level playing field for the stakeholders.
Now we have around 90 satellite TV channels, some of them do have a license and very few are running illegally. Most of them are religious channels, there are 18 illegal religious channels working without a license.
PEMRA has been trying to play its role and perform its duties but there were always different sort of hurdles, commonly political pressures. There are more than 2000 cable TV networks located in all rural and urban areas, which play a vital role in opinion making, especially during the election days and throughout the year they campaign for their candidates on in-house channels. On TV channels, different anchor persons play this role due to their political affiliations; the channels have always been blamed for being biased. Since the establishment of PEMRA, it has faced many challenges, like unstable administration, recruitment issues, litigation, political pressures, etc. So for many years it just served as a revenue generating organisation for the government. TV channels eventually became so powerful that they have become media houses with an objective to just earn more and more money, but the real journalism was left somewhere behind. Pakistan has a vibrant media landscape and enjoys independence to a large extent. After becoming liberalised in 2002, the television sector experienced a media boom. In the fiercely competitive environment that followed, commercial interests became a priority and quality journalism gave way to sensationalism.
PEMRA generates revenue through licensing, annual renewal/revalidation of license, in-house channel fee, advertisement fee; the fee collected in the head of fines and penalties is given to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
TV channels, in the name of freedom of speech, have become more and more aggressive in talk shows. In order to get more ads, they invite representatives from different political parties who are notorious for their abusive language and for being short tempered. They start debating on sensitive issues and sometimes they invite religious scholars who are known for their extreme views along with a participant from some liberal think tank to discuss religious issues like blasphemy, women rights and other such issues that mostly ends up with participants walking out or other extreme reaction because they cannot tolerate each other’s views.
Sometimes they make issues out of non-issues, imposing their channel’s policy as public opinion on viewers. On the other hand, entertainment channels had also started showing programs which clearly violate PEMRA’s code of conduct, by showing violence, pornographic content, dead bodies, rape, and sex re-enactment. The situation started deteriorating as there was no check and balance because there was no permanent chairman of the authority, therefore, an advantage was taken by media and violations increased. In December 2015, the government finally appointed a permanent chairman of PEMRA who had a journalistic background himself and had served in different media houses as a senior journalist. He was aware of the strengths and weaknesses of both the media and the regulators. Firstly, he took all the management into full confidence and turned PEMRA into an organisation with a proper team. From meeting and taking all stakeholders on board , the chairman revolutionised the organisation by training PEMRA officials for better performances, making new policies, revamping Pakistan’s media trends by introducing DTH technology and starting its licensing system, ensuring strict compliance with code of conduct, suspension of transmissions of various channels that were habitual violators and defaulters of PEMRA ,imposing ban on criminal re-enactment programmes ,imposing heavy fines on violators, and taking prompt action on complaints received at PEMRA’s complaint cell ,call centres and social media accounts by immediately sending show cause notices to channels.
In Pakistan, there are four major media houses which are famous for influencing public opinion to such an extent that it was once said that one of these media houses has the power to appoint the prime minister of Pakistan. Electronic media is very powerful and no one can deny that, especially when the majority of the viewers are uneducated or under-educated and are unaware of their rights, as well as their duties as citizens.
Since three-four years, entertainment channels have started their special ‘Ramzan transmissions’ in the holy month of Ramzan. Instead of focusing on Ramzan, spiritual and health advantages of fasting, they play game shows and quiz competitions with the participants. The previous year, one channel even gave away new born babies to participating parents as prizes. This year, they took a step further by using abusive language and dancing on live television. They have totally forgotten the sanity and decorum of the holy month. PEMRA suspended their transmission for three days; they challenged PEMRA’s decision in Sindh High Court (SHC) and surprisingly, got a stay order from SHC. PEMRA once again challenged the decision in Supreme Court but SC asked PEMRA to decide the matter.
On the other hand, Hum TV showed a drama that was funded by the Canadian government and an NGO partnership based on the sensitive topic of child abuse. PEMRA directed them to abstain from showing vulgar scenes and repetitive scenes of child molestation in every episode. PEMRA has faced a strong resistance and negative reaction for taking this step from both the electronic and social media because of the negative propaganda. It was wrongly assumed that PEMRA had directed the channel to stop airing that drama serial which had simply no basis in truth.
What option are you left with, except banning a person or a programme from airing on TV when they are becoming a source of violence, unrest, religious disharmony among different sects and society?
But still, it’s a long way to go. PEMRA is still facing challenges in implementing its rules and code of conduct because of litigation, corruption and political hurdles. Whenever PEMRA tries to take an action, a negative paid campaign on social media is initiated against the management. PEMRA faces criticism for the sake of criticism sometimes from religious extremists and sometimes from liberal extremists. But the organisation is headed in the right direction and we are hopeful that one day, electronic media will definitely learn some ethics.
A society or nation with no ethics, morals, respect or fear of law, no belief in human virtues or values has inherent propensity to create and lurch from one crisis to another on daily basis. This is precisely what you have in Pakistan, but you have become immune to it, like fish loosing sight of water in which it is always immersed.
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