Ever since the privatization of media in 2002 countless TV channels have appeared. The race of “to be the number one” was begin ever since that day. Now the situation has arrived where we get to know news less on our channels and listen to the reporters and journalist shouting that “Our channel\newspaper has got this breaking news to you before any other” more. In between the race of ratings, Pakistani media have forgot its actual duty and have lagged behind in the ethics.

Now our media channels are only interested in what catches the audience attention. This practice of media has adversely affected the field of journalism. It will not be exaggeration if we say that Pakistani journalism is on its death bed. There are countless cases in which Pakistani media forgot all the ethics and cross all the boundaries weather it is the coverage of famous social media star “Qandeel Baloch” or the act made by the famous TV host “Maya Khan” in the name of investigative journalism.

After Qandeel Baloch’s popularity on social media the news channels, reporters and journalists start digging out her personal life which eventually ended up the reason of her murder. Pakistani media have been invading privacy in many cases for the sake of ratings for example the coverage of “Shoaib-Sania weeding ceremony” and the “Prime Minister Imran Khan’s martial life”. The most unethical act was done on the January, 2009 in the morning show of “Samma TV” by the host Maya Khan. She conducted a ‘raid’ on a public park in Karachi and question couples about whether their parents were aware of their whereabouts and going as far as asking them about their marital status. The act was highly against the values and was direct invasion of privacy.

Pakistani media is using the freedom as the license to do anything Sensationalism is also now the major part of our media content which results in creating panic in the masses. The frequently practiced regime of our media is “bad news is equal to good ratings” now whenever we switch on our TV we find popping headlines of any devastation or casuality. This practice often results in the false reporting. On 23 February,2017 sudden panic was noticed among the TV channels airing the news about a bomb blast heard in Gulberg, Lahore which was later found to be wrong.

This is the crucial time where our media has to recall its duty and responsibilities. Though PEMRA (Pakistan Media Regulating Authority) is regulating the media but still media is doing unethical practices. Our media has to build strong morals and media persons should play their role with the responsibility because they are the one who are shaping the society and should promote peace and harmony rather than sensationalism and should needs to play a positive role in ending the situation of threats of religious extremism, growing violence and terrorism in Pakistan. Peace building should be the motive rather then to be the toper in ratings. The criteria of judging the TV station also should not be the rating instead it should be their role in uplifting the society.

Fatima Zahra

Case after the case of sexual abuse, yes this is the prevailing situation of our country. The first case which got the hype was Zainab’s murder case. At that time all the media cover the issue and government officials promised to take a stance to solve the issues like harassment and abuse but does it stop?? Obviously, the answer is NO. Countless cases after Zainab have appeared and the harassment also haven’t stooped. Few days back another girl Farishta got raped and killed.

All the media and officials are discussing how to put the end on this but what is not being discussed is to treat the issue from roots. Why the “parents-child talk” is still not being emphasized and promoted. Why our child is still not being educated on the issue?

Almost every other girl in country start facing the street harassment from the childhood but cannot talk to parents about this because we have that communication gaps with the parents in our society where these issues are still taboo. Parents don’t use to address these issues and the girl since the childhood don’t get the confidence to tell her parents about the harassment she is facing. 

Do you know why the murder after the rape is the trend? Because according to research almost 85% child rapists are the relatives of the child and after abusing, use to murder them in order not to get exposed in front of family.  Now you can smell the intensity of the issue. If the child is being informed about the kinds of verbal touches he can be protected, moreover if the parents ask their child on regular basis about their surrounding, they can smell the upcoming danger.

Similarly, the girl in our society lacked the confidence to tell her parents about the harassment she is facing outside. She doesn’t get the confidence from their parents to talk about the stuff like this. Even when she wants to talk the fear of misinterpretation from the parent’s side and the fear of being limited to the home boundaries forbade her to do so.

Its high time to consider this issue seriously and the communication gap should be removed and parents should play their role in this regard. The parents should be aware about the happenings around their child that how someone touch them, treat them. Parents should know what their daughter is facing and what she is hesitating to tell. They should insure their support to them, there should be a friendly relation between the kids and parents where every issue gets discussed.

Fatima Zahra

Despite of the cyber revolution we can’t deny the importance of television in today’s society. Still television have more impact than any other medium. Mostly the audience use television for entertainment and most of the television entertainment came from the dramas.

Women are the main audience of television who use to watch dramas for entertainment, so dramas are made to attract them and particularly revolves around the women. The content women watch on dramas leaves a great impact on her attitude and personality. In other words, we can say that the dramas set the standards for women and have a huge impact on how she should behave and act in the society.

In 80 percent of the dramas in our industry we see the women lead in the week character. The most famous dramas that goes on higher ratings had suggest that women are supposed to bear pain, violence and the good girl is the one who is soft shy and not so competitive. Most of the dramas are scripted like this. In most scenes’ women are shown being slapped by man and men are shown dominant and the decision makers. The most common example in this scenario is the famous drama “Hum Safar” which goes on air on “HUM TV” on the prime time and was one of the dramas with highest ratings.  The female lead “Khirad” played by the Mahira Khan who was presented as shy, snowflake and bear all the troubles.

Furthermore, the presentation of working women usually goes on the negative side. In most cases the working women is described as having the least interest in the family and described as bad mothers. In Hum Safar the character of Fareeda also propagate the negative picture the society have for the NGO workers. Moreover, almost in every drama serial the girl in the jeans and high aims is described as negative character. Pakistani society is already conservative and by these kinds of content our industry is shrinking the lens more. Our industry should promote the strong character of the women and should emphasize on the point that women are not meant to be silent.

As compared to last 10 years now our drama industry is somewhere doing a job in promoting high standards of women and presetting the topics that needed to be discussed by breaking the stereotypes for example the character of “Kashaf” in “Zindagi Gulzar Hai” was strong, the girl with high aims who achieve her goal despite of the obstacles in her way. Similarly, the character of “Dr. Zobia” in “Yakeen ka Safar” was amazing portrayal of strong women character and brought the courage and the hope in the female class of society. The breaking of stereotypes and talking about the taboos like rape and child abuse is also a good step by the industry. The dramas like “Cheekh”, “Udari” and “Yakeen ka Safar” have successfully highlighted all the issues which were not lighten up since the years.

But still the need of hour is this that our dramas should stop getting influenced by the Indian style opras and stop tagging the good girl image with the softness, shyness and oppression. Likewise, should stop spreading the hate for the working class and outspoken girls by making them the villain.

Fatima Zahra

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