Some months ago, readers, we had profiled a particular programme in this column. One featuring the PTI’s Shaukat Yousafzai.
A terribly rude man, Yousafzai, was perhaps the only information minister (which he used to be for KP’s PTI-led government) whose entry was banned in the Peshawar Press Club.
In the aforementioned programme, he hurled some very crude slurs to the PML-N’s Danial Aziz. Anchor Fareeha Idrees tried to stop him, but was unable to prevent Yousafzai from repeating the invective. When she finally managed to ask him to tone down, he faux apologised and replaced his earlier slur with another one.
All this was aired on live TV.
Well, after the usual governmental backlog, PEMRA finally caught up with its paperwork and has gone ahead and fined Ab Takk, the television channel in question.
Fareeha Idrees has taken to Twitter on the matter protesting this “unjust fine”. She asked why she is being punished when she had stopped the abusive guest in question and had even kicked him out of her show.
PEMRA’s version: the fine of one hundred thousand rupees slapped on the channel is due to the channel’s failure to use the “time-lag” function in broadcasting. That refers to the time-lag, usually a couple of seconds, between instance recording the broadcasting. In any talk show control room, a producer, or one of their associates is supposed to be constantly monitoring each and everything that is being said and is expected to push a button to bleep out any word deemed too offensive to be broadcast.
Strictly speaking (talking about the letter of the law here) the fine is justified. Not-so-strictly speaking (talking about the spirit of the law here) the fine is still justified. The words did make their way to the airwaves, after all.
PEMRA’s had to officially state that the fine was on the channel and not her, but the lady still doesn’t seem to get it.
Ms Idrees seems to want to say that her stopping Yousafzai – that was your job, lady! — should even get the channel off the hook. The sense of self-entitlement is amazing.
*****
Day in and day out, the Pakistani commentariat runs the sleaziest of campaigns against political governments, looking at things in black-and-white and not listening to any nuance that governmental spokespersons might be offering.
Though they do have their favourites. Ms Idrees, in an attempt to do her bit for her favourite political party, had said in a previous programme, that the PTI’s government had raised the KP education budget from Rs8 billion to Rs97 billion, a figure that even someone who has no idea of public finance would find absolutely ridiculous.
On the other side, the pro-League and pro-PPP anchors also grease the wheels whenever the need be.
Chatting with four politicians and another anchor every evening isn’t work. But as if an abject inability to do any actual work wasn’t bad enough, our anchors now also don’t want to be held accountable for any lapses of conduct in their programmes. And in the omerta that is found amongst the anchors, it seems all her kin are rallying behind her.
Being an anchor is the cushiest job in the world. No accountability (or work) whatsoever. So simple that even Fareeha Idrees could do it.
she is an anchor, really ??? People like her ability only finds job in Pakistan. That's a dilemma.
Comments are closed.