Obscenity: What we can’t watch with the family

The participants of a consultative meeting to deliberate upon parameters of obscenity for electronic media unanimously suggested to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to invoke its laws across the board and show zero tolerance for violation of PEMRA laws, particularly illegal channels and illegal content.
The participants took serious view of non-representation from owners of TV channels or cable operators, which was viewed non-seriousness on their part as they are the direct stakeholder to implement the viewers’ aspirations.
PEMRA Chairman Dr Abdul Jabbar briefed the participants about various terminologies, connotations and expressions used to define obscenity in different countries. Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Muhammad Hussain Mehanti, Lt-Gen (r) Qayyum and Ansar Abbasi opined that Pakistan was created in the name of Islam and its Constitution clearly envisages that there can be nothing against the Quran, Sunnah and Shariah. They specifically criticised news channels for spreading vulgarity in the guise of entertainment news. The re-enactment and dramatisation of crimes was also severely criticized by the participants as they said that this form of disgust in the garb of investigative journalism should not be tolerated by PEMRA. However, they also appreciated the work done by PEMRA in this regard and demanded immediate closure of all illegal channels. They said, “Any content which is unacceptable while viewing with the family transpires obscenity.” They also recommended formulating a committee to screen out unwanted content from TV advertisements as well as regulating the rating of TV channels.
Javed Jabbar and Dr Mehdi Hassan, on the other hand, defended the media by saying that it was not all about vulgarity. There might be 10 percent of total content objectionable but rest of the media in Pakistan was doing fine. They said that technological advancements and cultural dynamism can’t be enslaved in a rigid canvas. Dr Mehdi Hassan further said that obscenity cannot be confined only to ill-dressed models on TV channels, but to him child labour, injustice to minorities, social imbalance, poverty, hunger and disloyal politicians were also obscene. He questioned why the custodians of morality do not account for these issues.
Ziauddin, the veteran journalist, strongly endorsed viewpoint of Javed Jabbar and Dr Mehdi Hassan. He, however, proposed appointment of an ombudsman for every media institution to ensure accountability. TV artist and producer Sameena Ahmed from United Producers Association and Aly Mustansir from Pakistan Advertisers Society said that vulgarity is relative term and can’t be invoked by a select group of people. They proposed taking input from entire society on the issue. They were of the view that they reflect public aspirations in their programs/advertisements and a thorough research is conducted before launching any content. They denied that the advertisements and dramas produced by them contravenes to the Islamic values. They however, agreed to comply with the Code if it is unanimously accepted and adopted. Veteran journalist Mazhar Abbas disagreed with the hardcore and rigid opinions of censoring media by blaming it vulgar. He suggested an independent commission with no involvement of stakeholders in order to deal with the media violation issues.