The media doesn’t need Political Parties as much as Political parties need media, in Pakistan. Media is used in the “dirty game called politics”. We have seen that whenever a new government comes in power, the opposition is given minimal to no representation in the media. Political rallies of the opposition are banned (like Imran Khan’s recent rally). Their faces are removed from anywhere that has a remote chance of being publicly accessible, the epitome of which is clean-sweep from the media in all forms.
As we study media in the Universities of Pakistan, we also get to see the various ways that media can use its power, without involving any political parties in its day-to-day affairs. Be it a natural crisis or a man-made crime, the first breeze of spring in March or the scorching heatwave in South Punjab, the media covers all these things. These issues have no political involvement whatsoever. Thus, the media can survive without politicians. In fact, I would go on to say that the 60% of the population of Pakistan, which will now be eligible to vote in the upcoming elections, are not at all interested in talk shows and discussion sessions of politicians on their Television. Most of these youth own mobile phones with internet access. They are more reliable on news (What is happening) rather than behind-the-news propaganda spread by different political parties for their personal gains (Why it’s happening).
We study how media is used by politicians to spread their own propaganda. We know how most of the political parties of Pakistan have media houses ‘affiliated’ with them or have an ‘affectionate relationship’ with these media houses. This fact is too much a common news now, so much so that people have their favourite channels to see the news on, based on their personal liking and disliking of the ruling party or the opposition. Some of my cousins hate the channels I watch that they call ‘state propaganda’ and I can’t watch the ‘lies-being-told-so-openly’ on their favourite channels either. Somehow, however, both channels are on the same page when it comes to non-political events. They all report in unison. This divide shows how media is used in the “dirty game of politics”.
Advertisers are the backbone of any media source. When any channel sways left or right of the code of conduct given to it by the then ruling party, advertisements are not given to such a channel as a punishment, the Pakistan Media Development Authority being one such golden nugget supervising authority made to tame channels and other media sources as recently as November 2021. This is a blatant reversal of the concept of Speech Freedom which is the right of every citizen of the state. In Pakistan, this is not common too for journalists. They have been killed because they said something unforgivable. Hamid Meer was taken off air in 2021 for voicing his support for a fellow journalist and vlogger Asad Toor and this shows how powerful Political influence is in Pakistan. ISI was repeatedly condemned to be involved in kidnapping cases but to call them to accountability will be just the same as putting one’s hand in the lion’s mouth and expecting it will come out unscathed. It will not! This is how political powers use media to forward their agenda. Politics need not come from just the political parties. The power groups in each political party, the civil and military establishment and opposers of the civil supremacy, all join hands when it comes to saving their bread and butter from being reported, repeatedly on the media.
To say that one (media or politicians) can survive without the other can be a reactionary statement but entirely wrong. However, to believe that one’s livelihood (media) is completely and solely dependent on the other (politicians), and to silence oneself in front of this necessity is also a crime. Let’s understand what should or ‘ought to be done in the system involving both media and politicians as important stakeholders of today.
A state’s role in the media industry is limited and goes very limited when it comes to what it is today in Pakistan. Media is a tool to collect news itself and then disseminate it to the public, using rational logic in the process of its argumentation/discussion on the said news. The state should use media to further human-friendly agenda and Public Service Messages like that of cleanliness, COVID19 precautions, the inclusion of transgenders in the community, fighting the ‘woke’ culture in the youngsters, spreading education and fighting the ‘taboo talk’ of menstruation etcetera. It is completely justifiable by the state to use media for such purposes. Programs should be designed to explain why the world’s foreign policy went from Bipolar to Unipolar power, how it is now moving to Regional Blocks and how are politicians playing a role in Pakistani Foreign Policy to change it accordingly. The war imposed in Ukraine (for whatever the reasons may be) and Protests in Sri Lanka should be the healthy talk of all evening talk shows and this should be done on all channels. Sure, there are crimes and people getting caught with heroin in their cars but this should not be used to push a ruling party’s political agenda. Usage of media is done by the Political Parties. It must stop.
The media certainly does not need any non-ideological, crony-capitalist, leeches-of-power, political party. But in the 75+ years of our past, we have never been able to establish a situation where the media was not in the need of these very parties. Politicians need media just like Oscars 2022 needed Will Smith: to gain attention. Our political system practices dummy democracy. The youth are intentionally forged to resist and repel any political education. People way past their prime years use PMDA and PEMRA to get these things done. Today, it is a common fact that most middle-class families have been middle class since at-least two generations (70+ years at the least). Similarly, the elite class of society has been rich for generations. This indicates stagnation in the system of flow of wealth. Part of this wealth is used by the cream class to make the Middle class and the poor believe that whatever agenda the cream class decides for them is good and for their benefit. Some of this money is used to brainwash them to believe that poverty and cruelty are their ‘fate’ and that they will be rewarded in the heavens for this. Politics was practised by Muhammad PBUH too. For the benefit of atheists and agnostics, I would mention here the names of Nelson Mandela, Ali Jinnah, Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln all of which were primarily politicians for their entire lives. Politicians needed media, and used it fully, to further the agenda which has now been planted in the minds of youth that ‘politics is a dirty game’. In the contrast, a university graduate after spending 20/30 lacs on his education will be very interested in seeing a non-biased media program that discusses why he still has no job security. When you get something, when you sell something, when you get paid or you pay someone, when you own property or you redecorate a house or you buy a new car, When you work overtime and get paid more, even when sheer luck is on your side and you win a lottery, the government is there, hands out, to demand taxes. When the same government, run by political parties in a dummy democracy refuse to ensure the basic needs and security of its citizens, the most controlled and mature reaction that comes to mind is that of questioning this system. Today, as we look around us, the people who do raise these questions are silenced. Literally the rule of the jungle as in “Survival of the fittest” has somehow been made acceptable in our younger generation. This was made possible only after millions and billions, or even trillions of money units, have been used to propagate this idea in the minds of youths through movies and TV Shows. Personally, I hope I am not coming off as paranoid, but fairy tales tell of individualistic heroes and heroines instead of collective communities' efforts. Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Rapunzel and so many others, Superman, Wonder Woman, Ant-man, Iron man, Aqua Man, and Batman all tell tales of one hero or heroine who saves the ENTIRE WORLD (which is a comic irony happens to be made of North America only).
Instead of going off the topic, we need to see how this concept of individualistic heroism explained in the previous paragraph has transferred from the movies to real life. The Bold Benazir Bhutto and now her son Bilawal Bhutto can save us. Shareef brothers are the shepherds that will lead Pakistanis to success. Or an individual Imran Khan can bring about Nya Pakistan. These concepts are, at different times under different rules, propagated to the Pakistani public by politicians using media as nothing but a tool, a very powerful one though. Before moving on I will just drop a small nugget here myself: Muhammad PBUH learnt and then tried to overthrow the system of Abu Jahal using the media of that time, individually, for 40 years. Apart from a few individuals, he failed in those 40 years, to bring about a revolution. This serves as a lesson to his followers. Similarly, Imran Khan tried to bring about a change in our foreign policy without a team (Electable members are not a team). He failed too.
While moving out of the office, the previous premiere, despite his staunch rivalry with India, mentioned how their foreign policy is free. India gave Sri Lanka aid opposing the desires of the USA. Afghanistan got rid of the USA last year and has been a staunch critic since. Our third neighbour, that is Iran, has a history of resistance, sometimes successful and other times futile, against the USA. The 2nd Superpower of the world, China, is a communist nation and poses a serious threat to the USA. Of these nations, Pakistan is the only one where the Pro-USA line is still being towed. We are not moving towards regional blocks and our media is needed by our politicians to show how oaths are being taken in hotels. Even if they succeed, all the current opposition party will do is underexpose of its opponent in media. To make it possible, politicians and the establishment of Pakistan are/were paid. They use media to resist anti-USA remarks. The media is fed this view, and politicians need media to further this view. We must then admit that the day the USA gets ousted from the motherland, despite media being used by the politicians to not let it happen, will be the last nail in the coffin of the American Supremacy specifically in Asia and generally in the world. In a state such as democracy as practised in the events/examples quoted above, media is a need of politicians and not vice-versa.
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