yar i am in express news. and in electronic media since past 2 years. My observation so far is that
1. Un qualified people are sitting at high posts, who dont know any thing about stratgy, IR and effect of media on public. these people dont know the importance of propoganda and info warfare
2. I was in Dunya TV when the most impressive Directer News Amir Ghori was sacked. He is one professional great man. I have yet to see a great patriotic man who opted media and Left Civil services for journalism. He was sacked because he had guts to say No to wrongs and was not indulgeing in channels politics. I saw some of the Pakistans worst losers who are in high places due to black mailing and politics
3. Media in pakistan is mostly controlled by busniss men and politicans who use it to promote their own propoganda and intrests. So far only express, dawn and samaa are following standerds rest all are following ideology of intrest. Take example of GEO , it has intrests in India , and you can see how it promotes indian culture without realizing that its anti thesis of our own culture and ideology.
4. In race for breaking news channels dont bother to confirm reports.
5. Pakistani media is in its initial stages. many channels which initially came are now either bankrupt or losing viewer ship.
6. Media people want to earn the place in good books of owners and hence forget for what their profession stands for.
7. Most channels Pay very less and that too after months to their workers , and thats why their workers dont work with full intrest.
So FAR ONLY EXPRESS NEWS, EXPRESS 24/7 and DAWN News and SAMA can be Said to be following the national intrests
I was a big fan of Musharraf, till he broke his nationally televised promise of donning his uniform (17th amendment), which lead to a bloody new era for our country. Many people credit him with the explosion of media channels and rightly so. But IMO, like so many other steps he took, this was also short sighted and without keeping in mind the long-term repercussions by allowing dozens of news channels to setup the channel and start broadcasting bullshit without thinking that how would they be held accountable. PEMRA was of no use.
This is no secret that our media channels, barring few like DAWN, are a joke and an embarrassment for the nation. Just look at journos during the press conferences. They hold absolutely no regard for one speaker at one time rule, would often ask stupid questions, meaning they are not professionals.
Benefit of doubt here should be given, especially keeping in mind that this industry is still relatively new and hopefully would improve. But when these media ppl exploit their position and start broadcasting lies, blackmail by putting on unethical media, ending their every news headline with a sight of some Indian starts dancing then one starts thinking that they are rather a pain in the a$$ and a farce.
On top of all there is no accountability of these channels that are maligning individuals and entities. One wrong strip destroys the image of someone, but the clarification never appears. They are no less than blackmailers, and commercial organizations, whose sole purpose is to earn money and nothing more.
I remember when we only used to have PTV channel, the jung newspaper would often criticize and humiliate PTV for showing excessive advertisement during most watched programs and sports matches in their newspapers. Now they have their own channels and the amount of pathetic advertisement they show speaks about their hypocrisy. The news and jang would even sell their masks for a certain amount of money. DAWN is an n exception here, who strictly follows a policy.
Sorry for drifting from the topic, I think we should make a sticky thread where the bloopers of these channels should be discussed. There should be someone who would hold their necks for calling terrorists as sahab, baitullah sb, fazullah sb.