- Courting the media
The Peoples Party usually has its line pretty straight about democratic governments completing their terms. And that was precisely its position about the present PTI dispensation. However irrelevant it might have become to big-boy politics of the centre, especially if you ask PTI, PPP did maintain for the record that it was in favour of this government, like all others, completing all five years in office. Lately though, perhaps because of the fake accounts case and everything it implies, the Peoples Party has decided to play its part in uprooting the present setup.
But why bring the media into the slugfest? Should popular media help the opposition in its crusade against the PTI government, Asif Zardari implied at the APC, struggling journalists and media houses would in turn get help in sorting out the mess they are in. That’s not all. Bilawal Bhutto, too, tried to drag the media in his implied fight of parliament versus a super charged judiciary. As a gesture of appreciation PPP would help the media with ensuring freedom of expression and all that. It seems the media’s travails have become so obvious that the opposition parties are now looking to throw it into the mix as well.
There’s no doubt that both print and electronic media are having a tough time under this administration. It’s not just about government advertisements. The economic crunch, which has not been helped by the government groping in the dark instead of formulating a concrete policy, has squeesed the corporate sector, which too has rolled back its marketing expenses. And the government’s controversial regulatory authority is rubbing everybody the wrong way for reasons that have already been explained aplenty. But that does not mean that the media does not consider freedom of expression as its right as well as responsibility. While the opposition is advised against making the press a party in an already unpleasant situation, the government is also reminded that it is its own unhealthy approach to the media that is leading to such a situation.
