FPAC

Foundation for Promotion of Academic Collaboration

The Rise of Electronic Media and the Post-9/11 Terrorism

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Prof. Dr. Ahsan Akhtar Naz, Institute of Communication Studies, University of the Punjab
 
Pakistan's is a curious case of the historical media-government differences due to internal instability, terrorism, and wars. A succession of governments has exercised strict controls over a media that it fought rigorously through violations and severe punishments during the martial law regimes. The democratic governments began negotiating ethics with the media, giving it freedom and protection under the 1973 constitution. However, their differences were never settled despite the introduction of free media policy by Musharraf's (semi)martial law government at the advent of the new millennium. The history of media regulations presents a never-ending story of ethical violations by media groups and professionals who have compromised truth and objectivity for vested interests. The magnitude of this lapse has increased tremendously due to heavy induction of immature journalists. Consequently, the media groups lack abilities for managing information with responsibility in the present post-9/11 War on Terror scenario, that parallels a rise of free electronic media in Pakistan. This situation reflects a demand by some sections of the Press and public to implement media ethics to avoid mass-mediated view of reality pertaining to terrorism and sectarianism. The media should change its attitude and frame and implement ethics to avoid any future regulations by the government. This paper examines the Pakistani media scene and the historical media-government differences in view of Pakistan's internal instability and terrorism that global media project, putting challenges to the local censors and the credibility of the government and media in Pakistan.

The Pakistani media scene At the time of Independence in 1947, the Pakistani media was limited to eight daily newspapers (“Pakistan,” Background, para. 2, n.d.) and only two radio stations. By the turn of the millennium, it expanded to 815 papers and periodicals, 24 radio stations, three private FM stations, and five terrestrial TV stations that were supplemented by PTV World, Shalimar Television Network (Orient & Carat, 2010; Ziauddin, 2000), and a mushroom growth of illegal cable television networks that had begun with the arrival of the satellite in Pakistan in the late 1980s. These networks gave access to foreign channels and pirated films into homes throughout Pakistan, lacking state sensitization for responding to the issues quickly. They also showed an opportunity to private media groups to beam into every home and increase clientele through the electronic publication of news (A. Islam, personal communication, 1991). However, these groups did not succeed due to government's control over electronic media till the beginning of the new millennium. The government, finally sensitized to the spread of cable, responded by establishing Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to control the illegal access of foreign channels after about a decade.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 11:08 AM, ,

Impact of Media Violance on Aggressive Behavior

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Maha Jamil, Kinnaird College for Women Lahore
 
While violence is not new to the human race, it is an increasing problem in modern society. With greater access to firearms and explosives, the scope and efficiency of violent behavior has had serious consequences. We need only look at the recent school shootings and the escalating rate of youth homicides among urban adolescents to appreciate the extent of this ominous trend. While the causes of youth violence are multi factorial and include such variables as poverty, family psychopathology, child abuse, exposure to domestic and community violence, substance abuse and other psychiatric disorders, the research literature is quite compelling that children's exposure to media violence plays an important role in the etiology of violent behavior. While it is difficult to determine which children who have experienced televised violence are at greatest risk, there appears to be a strong correlation between media violence and aggressive behavior within vulnerable "at risk" segments of youth. In this article, I will briefly review the impact of media violence on children and adolescents, and indicate the vital role physicians can play in helping to diminish this powerful cause of violent behavior.
 
Media violence poses a threat to public health in as much as it leads to an increase in real-world violence and aggression. Fictional television and film violence contribute to a short-term and along-term increase in aggression or anger in young audience. Television news violence also contributes to increased violence, principally in the form of copied suicides and acts of aggression.
 
The relationship between media violence and real-world violence and aggression is moderated by the nature of the media content and characteristics of and social influences on the individual, Viewer characteristics also play an important role. These characteristics are age and gender of the viewer, Media violence affects both males and females. Parents have the potential to be important moderators of the effects of media violence on children. Children and teenagers form attitudes and beliefs and take action as a result of their exposure to media content but they also may discuss what they see with others. Children's Access to Media in the home also play an important role in increasing acts of aggression. Violence, aggression or aggressive behavior is not new to the human race and it is a highly increasing problem in modern society.
 
If we look upon in our society then we came to know that more families have televisions than telephones and there is no parental supervision and the absence of parental supervision leads the children to bombard affects on children personality and unfortunately, violence is one of the most popular forms of entertainment now a day's Screen-based media violence (television, movies, the Internet, and video games) is the most common studied source for children as well as for adolescents. It is believed that repeated exposure to real-life and to entertainment violence may alter cognitive, affective, and behavioral processes.
 
And one more aspect is the “Culture Impact of Media: as we all know that man is a social animal so the need of communication with each other is most important part of a man's life. The urge of communication has become a necessity for survival and for the purpose of communication, man explore the several means, developed from time to time such as sending messages, letters, telephone these are the source of communication at far distant places and it is collectively called “Mass Media”.
However, communication among a large number of people or society is not as simple as with individuals, but it's far too complex. Information or news that is important to a mass of people may not be passed to them from individual to individual. This must reach many people at the same time and also effectively. Such as the forecast of a storm to warn one whole city to take immediate measures cannot be passed on individual to individual since time factor is important.
 
This may be done through newspapers or television or both news and television are the most common sources of complex communication. These are the technological resources of communication. Media violence and its impact on youth is the main topic of discussion in regard of the media effects on youth. Our youth is the future of our country so we should discuss the impacts of media on youth resulting in the form of aggression while discussing the different theories we also need of eliminating.

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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 10:49 AM, ,

Women in Pakistan Media

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Hyba Nawaz, Kinnaird College for Women Lahore
 
The importance of media is vital in the 21st century as media is playing the role of gatekeeper and watchdog. It is an age of globalization and media which influences thoughts, lives, emotions and actions. Males and females are waving together not only in media institutions in modern age but they are also participating in every walk of life including the police, army, business, law, medical, engineering, aeronautics, teaching, nursing etc. Women are a part of every field in developed societies, while their participation is limited in different spheres in the conservative societies, where they have to face problems and criticism. Pakistan is also among the underdeveloped nations having multifaceted cultural, religious and traditional taboos that restrict women in participating in some of the sectors purely meant for their male counterparts and journalism is also such a field in which women have to confront numerous hurdles and difficulties.
A number of girls in Pakistan are students of journalism, but they hesitate to join the media field upon the completion of education. The fact that women are missing from top positions in Pakistani media has a very negative impact and it keeps women out of media houses at any level. The world of media is male-dominated in Pakistan, discouraging women from joining and staying in media houses. Sexual harassment and unfair pay is another matter of grave concern for women in Pakistani media.
 
There is a certain mindset in our society regarding women who work in media organizations. Several families have the perception that women are not respected in media and, as a result, they do not allow their female family members to join the profession. A vicious cycle has been created where a change to the portrayal of women in media is required to change opinions about women in Pakistan. To achieve this, women need better training and skills to compete with men in mainstream media. The current study would examine the status of women in Pakistani media, their skills and expertise in the field of media and suggest ways and means for resolving their problems besides pointing out future prospects for this vital segment of the society. In this regard, suggestions would be put for consideration of the organizations and institutions working with or on women rights and development.
 
Although with the emergence of electronic media, the new millennium has opened the door for greater freedom of expression for media, providing increased opportunities for women in the industry. Threats and other obstacles remain but, despite the struggling path, Pakistani women journalists are moving forward with determination.

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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 10:42 AM, ,

Globalization of Media Culture in Developing Countries

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Madiha Munawar International Islamic University Islamabad

Globalization is generally stated as "more than expansion of activities beyond the boundaries of particular nation states. Globalization shortens the distance between people all over the world by the electronic communication .Whether we like it or not, the phenomenon of globalization is more concrete than ever, globalization has impacted enormously on the media and here we discusses globalization theory from the viewpoint of media. This paper addresses the unspecified functions of media in the background of cultural, economic, technological and new media spheres developed in the recent decades. This research also highlights some of the challenges that media has to face in a globalised world.

Globalization has several impacts on local culture worldwide. One of the optimistic aspect is that there is a spreading of information, there is cultural exchange and this can lead to a cultural growth globally. And youth are the subject of a massive cultural assault from the unending flow of television, magazines, books, films and music which bombard them daily. Here, the culture is 'a learned system of meaning and symbolizing which defines the individuality of a people.'

New media refers to on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community formation around the media content. The language of New Media is based on the assumption that, in fact, all cultural objects that rely on digital representation and computer-based delivery do share a number of common qualities. New media is reduced to digital data that can be manipulated by software as any other data. Now media operations can create several versions of the same object.

New media technology is rapidly growing the media industry and the practices of mass communications. New media technology is the application of digital technology to mass communications. In recent few years, two main factors associated with the technology have changed the media landscape. The Internet emerged as a communication medium. Even though the Internet is still in its infancy, its impact on society, commerce, and the government is already unusual. In addition,the interactivity and propinquity inherent in digital technology have changed the models of media production and business for all media. Traditional and new media incorporate characteristics of and influence each other; that is, media converge. As such, it is becoming increasingly important for young generation to understand new media technology and the changes it brings to the media industry.

The rise of new media has increased communication between people all over the world and the Internet. It has allowed people to express themselves through blogs, websites, pictures, and other user-generated media.

Considering the advantages and drawbacks of globalisation, there is the need for an appropriate response in a view to understanding the dynamics that will hopefully help to evolve measures that will reduce the destructive effects of globalization .However, perspectives on globalization differ sharply, and these differences have been well defined by numerous analysts. A consideration of the role of media is highly important for the whole concept of globalization, but in theoretical debates these fields are largely ignored. The blindingly obvious point that there is no globalization without media has not been articulated or analysed clearly enough. The role of media is often reduced either to an absolutely and self-evidently technological one or to individuals' experiences that are unconnected to the media industries.

Whatever facts may qualify it, the idea of a single interrelated world has become a necessary article of faith, an uplifting vision. Or, to put it another way, old dreams of a worldwide Utopia seem now to have meshed with opportunistic economic factors and to have been made fully realizable by the new technologies. However, the reality is that, there is little theoretical interaction between globalization and media scholars. On one side, most globalization theorists come outside media and communication studies and have not studied media per se. On the other side, most media scholars themselves have been occupied mainly with media economy and questions of power and inequality, as several books on international communication show globalization theorists have raised many issues which cannot be reduced solely to questions of economy and which most globally communication scholars have ignored.

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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 10:39 AM, ,

Effects of News Websites on Audience and Opinion Formation

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Anam Sairah Khan, Kinnaird College for Women Lahore
 
Online media have become a key part of social and cultural life of people in many ways. There is no way one can avoid technology now a days. When we talk about communication and media, internet is playing a vital role in everyone's life. Internet has become an integral part for news and information. With the rapid increase of convenient technology, young youth population is now more inclined towards timely news and convenient ways of getting information. For this purpose, online media is there to serve the need. Online media is an electronic media just like printed newspapers but in electronic format. For educated Pakistani population online media is considered as an easy source of information. From educational institutes to offices and even homes, Internet has become a vital need.
This study is based on four aspects related to the online media of Pakistan: readership of online news websites of Pakistan, credibility and trust of people on these websites, preferred media to get news by audience and the effects of online news website on the opinion formation of audience. Survey method of research was used to collect data from respondents. Theories like Uses and Gratification Theory and Media Dependency Theory were applied to this study.
 
It was concluded from the data collected that there is a high percentage of readership of online news websites in Pakistan and these websites are helping people in forming opinion about issues. Furthermore, it will find out how much people trust online news media for getting news. Moreover, hypothesis like “Readership of Pakistani news websites is increasing among people in Pakistan”, “Pakistani news websites are helping online readers for forming opinion” and “People trust online media more than other media to get news” were tested. Apart from revealing the facts and opinion of people related to the online news websites of Pakistan, this study has also suggest ways for making a news website more interesting to audience.

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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 10:30 AM, ,


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