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A synopsis of political talk shows in Pakistan

caylu

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Political Talk shows have become quite popular in Pakistan. They have given rise to awareness and although it has not helped much in changing the political scanario of the country but its too early to judge its impact on political scene also. More over the contribution of the Talk shows on many important issues cannot be ignored. But these talk shows themselves are becoming "mafias" although its a hard word to use, but its the reality. They have huge a impact in creating a noise on the scene about any issue or diverting the public's attention from any critical issue. So its very important to know the biases of the political anchor so we do not accept everything they say but apply our own common sense and understanding to the issues and the host from which background he is coming.

Every person has some affiliation and bias-ness in him/her. But the best person is the one who keep his bias-ness out of argument & discussion and talks on merit with logic and facts & figures and listen without pre-judging and pre-labeling anyone and any argument. I hope and wish we can increase our level of harmony and acceptability in discussions and then only we can move forward and progress. There is a saying of Prophet (SAW) that "Knowledge-Intellect is the lost inheritance of a Believer, Wherever he get it he should acquire it"

I dont watch lot of TV talk shows but the few i watch i will give you my brief biased opinion on them.

News Night with Talat Hussain:

This is my favorite talk show. Although Mr. Talat himself is leftist but he is the only unbiased anchor in the talk shows. More over before being leftist he is nationalist. So his biasness is mostly for the country and national interest. Some of his outstanding programs were on Raymond Davis case. Although recently i do feel he is a bit irritated and frustrated by the blatant lies and insincerity of the current crop of the politicians. I do appreciate when he does his own analysis on any critical issues.

Summary:

+ Nationalist touch always present in his programs.

+ Personal biases are well contained

+ manages the show well

+ Give full chance to the guest to answer

+ Quite sharp and quick witted.

+ sometime does non-political shows also which are quite interesting like the one over Arfa Karim

Capital Talk with Hamid Mir

This is one of the more informative shows. Mr. Hamid Mir is quite well connected and have lot of inside information. His shows are always political and i dont remember seeing any non-political shows. Although he look like to side with right wing but i feel he from the heart he is a left wing anchor. He does shows his biases time and again. Secondly i feel sometime he just cant really help not to force his opinion on people. Like once he started writing in favor of Quid e Azam asking a Hindu poet to write the national anthem for the Pakistan but he didnt research the story completely. Neither that hindu poet nor the facts from Pakistan Radio backed his story but his personal biases wanted it to be true.

Summary

+ Quite sharp and quick witted.

+ Lot of Information in his program

+ get some of the most important people in his program

- Biases are not well contained (Supporting leftist views are quite apparent at times).

- Fuel the fights at times, but i wont say it too wrong as the public should need to be shown the true faces of the politicians

Shahid Nama with Dr. Shahid Masood

He is one of the oldest anchor of the political talk shows. It wont be wrong to call him the father of taking the initiative of the true political talk shows culture in Pakistan. But he is not journalist, so he maybe well connected but he lacks lot of information. Sometime he repeats a thing or two too many times in his programs. Questions are also not very well formed and to the point. He himself holds rightest views. but more on the center right. As he is one of the oldest and one of the most renowned anchor so he does get lot of good people on his shows.

Summary

+ Mostly have important guests in his program

- Takes too much time in his own analysis and talk

- Questions are not well formed and not very clear.

Hasb e Haal

Although its not a proper political talk shows but the first two segments of the programs are on the news of the day. Mostly the humourous analysis on the news is the way to highlight the corruption and try to put a stop on these activities. Although it has not provided any, what so ever, hurdle to the corruption but it has definitely helped in awareness and also provided a bit of humour to a very depressed and tense public. The views expressed are mostly nationalist and shows a sense of concern for the country.

Summary

+ balanced and nationalist views

+ No political guest are in the show.. (tired of hearing the lies, insincerity, dishonesty and total bakwas of all the politicians)

+ Good awareness for the people.

+/- nice touch of humor although i m starting to feel a bit annoyed by couple of characterization played by Azizi. (Hint: two character he plays most)

- Too much time is wasted on personal fights which i know are shown as a humor but i feel it should be spent on some other segment or script better.

Other talk shows i dont watch that regularly.. but i will give my broken analysis on all the talk shows i have seen or i feel worth talking about. :)

A synopsis of political talk shows in Pakistan « Caylu's Blog
 
let me sum up Pakistani political talk shows
Host: blah blah blah, BEGIN!
*3 guests yell at each other for 1 hour, at the same time*
Host: ok thats all the time we have today, join us tomorrow when we do the exact same thing

even more annoying are the one on one interviews
Host: tell us about your policies
guest: well, you see it is a very complex situation, we have to tackle a lot of proble.....
Host: *interupts* I hear from my chachi's cousins uncle that you once said you didn't like kittens!!!!
guest: well.....ammm....no I didn't say that, I said we need too.....
Host: * interrupts again* So I hear you really like chocolate cake, tell me about that
Guest:......ammm....

and this goes on for like an hour or more

they should take lessons form Aljazeera or even CNN on how to do interviews.
Here is a hint, if the host is talking more than the guest, you are doing it wrong.
 
let me sum up Pakistani political talk shows
Host: blah blah blah, BEGIN!
*3 guests yell at each other for 1 hour, at the same time*
Host: ok thats all the time we have today, join us tomorrow when we do the exact same thing

even more annoying are the one on one interviews
Host: tell us about your policies
guest: well, you see it is a very complex situation, we have to tackle a lot of proble.....
Host: *interupts* I hear from my chachi's cousins uncle that you once said you didn't like kittens!!!!
guest: well.....ammm....no I didn't say that, I said we need too.....
Host: * interrupts again* So I hear you really like chocolate cake, tell me about that
Guest:......ammm....

and this goes on for like an hour or more

they should take lessons form Aljazeera or even CNN on how to do interviews.
Here is a hint, if the host is talking more than the guest, you are doing it wrong.


...and not to miss the classic question by host:"Who do you think is involved or did this"?....and the classic answer by the guest:"Foreign hand is involved in this"!!!!
for the love of GOD just tell us who this foreign hand is b4 i pull out my hair :hitwall: :hitwall:
 
...and not to miss the classic question by host:"Who do you think is involved or did this"?....and the classic answer by the guest:"Foreign hand is involved in this"!!!!
for the love of GOD just tell us who this foreign hand is b4 i pull out my hair :hitwall: :hitwall:

:lol:
Plus another classic answer, i will reveal the information at the right time
and that right time never comes.
Most infuriating one is that They say that they know the killers of BB but will never tell. and then they will give money to UN to investigate and then they will hide the report..

Anyway but this synopsis is not for the guests. Its for the host or the anchor of these talk shows.
 

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