Not the path government should tread
The media being as dynamic as it is, it is only getting to be the fourth pillar in Pakistan. Though occasionally it oversteps, yet it is social responsibility in action. Aside from serving its basic functions, which are of crucial importance in this information-rich age, media does what most others can’t: it keeps a check on the government’s transgressions, rightfully assuming the role of a watchdog on government’s attempts at consolidating power through draconian methods. As good as this may sound, the governments around the world find this media intrusion quite frustrating, and so they try to put restrictions on it one way or the other.
The recent statements by some government functionaries hint at what is nothing but a death sentence for free media. They have suggested some curbs on live coverage of events, like that lone gunman standoff in Islamabad on August 15 that didn’t really paint the government in flying colours. The Supreme Court had also earlier reprimanded PEMRA for allowing hours-at-a-stretch blanket coverage of such events. Statements like these are likely to be considered as an attack on the freedom of the media. While the government might hide behind the concocted rationale of media ‘irresponsibility’ because perhaps the media was hitting the right chords in denuding its inefficiencies, what is indeed frustrating is that the judiciary has followed suit. It is indeed disheartening to note that the champions of struggle for independence of judiciary strangling the same fourth pillar of the state that had come to its rescue. There are fears that PEMRA might be given the powers to pull the plug on TV networks whenever it sees it fit in its wisdom. Any such power in the hands of a regulator will make it an arbiter, an adjudicator, an appellate forum and an executive authority all at the same time, which in itself is nothing short of handing it draconian powers. The move is sure to be resisted by all the media houses in the country, as can be noted from the resolutions passed by the Karachi Union of Journalists and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists.
This is sure to cause friction between the government and the media. Any code of ethics imposed on the media from outside will not make it more efficient, or even compliant. Pliant maybe, but pliant media is no media at all. However, a code that evolves out of the particular necessities of social responsibility and mature reporting and coverage would not only be acceptable to all the media houses, but will also help the media maintain its freedom. That would really be a win-win for every pillar of the state – and particularly for the people at large and thus the country itself. That is something all stakeholders should be aiming at, and not muzzling the media through an arbitrary regulator.
