In theory, those viewers dismayed by the Pakistani commentariat’s lack of substance would find the Geo programme Report Card a refreshing change. Why? Well, in the rest of the programmes that we see on air, if a question were to be asked from a pundit about, say, the privatisation of PIA, you can expect a sprawling, meandering answer containing everything and the kitchen sink; a piece de resistance only slightly peppered with mentions of PIA.
On the look of it, it seems that Report Card was designed to stop the pundits’ answers getting out of hand. There are very specific questions and the host Ayesha Bakhsh does a good job of trying to get her guests to fit their answers in very specific parameters, usually either a spectrum of approval or a binary yes-or-no.
Good concept and good host. What could go wrong?
Well, Hassan Nisar is what could go wrong. Refusing to accept that the rules apply to him, he insists on giving different answers. Don’t get me wrong here; a dissenting note is much welcome. But a dissenting note would be his giving a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10 while the others have given 7s and 8s. What Hassan Nisar does when others give 7s and 8s is give the answer “haleem.”
Consider the following video (online audiences only) where the host Ayesha Bakhsh, who seems to have had it with his style and is trying to eke a coherent, solid answer out of him. Are you for or against the Orange Line and such other projects? He insists on talking about bonded labour in brick kilns and how there is so much poverty in the country.
He does concede that he doesn’t have the figures at hand. Fair enough, but he could at least stay on topic. The problem with development — any type of development — in a poor country is whatabout-ery. Start a programme encouraging sports and critics will start asking you about health. Splurge on a programme about health and you will be taken to task about education. Public policy isn’t an either-or; all things can go together, but such nuances don’t make for good potshots.
Trying another strategy to get him, Ms Bakhsh remarked how the PTI (of which Nisar is an admirer) is also constructing flyovers and trying to construct metros, he gave a reply that was only coherent enough to translate into “if the League does it, it isn’t right; if the PTI does it, things are all good”.
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So the others give coherent replies whereas Hassan Nisar rambles on? Why not get rid of him? Or at least get him to appear only on his Merey Mutabiq? Because ask around, from seemingly rational viewers, about Report Card and they will say they only watch it for Hassan Nisar’s bits.
As much as we decry the media’s lack of investment in rational debate on public policy, the channels are, afterall, giving the public what they want.
