The Rise of Electronic Media and the Post-9/11 Terrorism
Friday, April 12, 2013
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.
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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.
Labels: ICT 2013
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 11:08 AM,
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The International Journalism Conference 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
The FPAC supports all sorts of academic and research based dialogue of social, economic and technical nature between local and foreign institutions. It holds conferences, workshops and seminars and makes published as well as unpublished works accessible to interested spheres in order to promote intellectual discussion. The International Journalism Conference 2013 has been scheduled on February 7-8, 2013 at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Lahore.The there os the Conference is: The conference focuses on the impact of social, economic, political, technological and educational changes on the practice of journalism. Technological revolution, growth in academic offerings as well as strong cultural, economic and political changes during the last decades has transformed this profession leading to a reconfiguration of communication methods and strategies. In a globalized world, where comparative studies and international perspectives are more and more relevant for understanding social processes, this conference aims to analyze the state of journalistic profession by addressing problem areas and evaluating future possibilities. Details are here.
Related: Call for papers
Labels: ICT 2013
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 2:19 PM,
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