Morning madness with the irresponsible

Morning show host Sana Tariq commended the man who allegedly threw a shoe at President Zardari while Nadia Khan encouraged her viewers not to vote. Thats morning shows for you.

Aroosa Masroor August 14, 2010
I have often thought about the relevance of morning shows in our lives.

Why, despite their mindless talk, are these hosts on every other channel so popular?

Why have I never heard them say anything intelligent?

But no matter how much their chattering gets to me and no matter how I wish PEMRA could control their script and content, I make it a point to listen to them (Nadia Khan on Geo, Sana Tariq on Hum TV and Shaista Wahidi on ARY) for just a few minutes every day - sometimes hoping to hear them say something constructive or just to see their attempts at making their viewers laugh.

The shows also help me understand how our so-called educated, urban women perceive issues. This week on Sana Tariq's show 'Morning with Hum' the host talked about how "she was able to enjoy her weekend after receiving news of a man throwing a shoe at the president in Birmingham, UK."

Needless to say, I switched the channel but it got me thinking about all those viewers, those housewives who worship these hosts and look up to them. What message was being sent across? Is this the way to challenge our government and hold them accountable?

Not that I'm trying to justify the treatment meted out to former US President George W. Bush, but President Zardari is nowhere even close to being a war criminal. I don't want to get started on the sms messages and jokes about the president that followed minutes after the news flashed our television screens, but seriously, do we have no shame as a nation? It's disturbing to see how we refuse to understand that every person has some self-respect and there is a less hostile way to deal with our leaders and hold them accountable - using our power to vote.

This brings yet another popular morning show host, Nadia Khan into the discussion, who last week discouraged her audience from voting because none of the political parties, in her opinion, are competent enough to run the country.

It is sad that such big, sweeping statements come from people who are unable to even run decent morning shows.

Update 16th August 2010: This blog post was reedited in accordance with policy guidelines.
WRITTEN BY:
Aroosa Masroor A Karachi based reporter at The Express Tribune who focuses on human rights and social issues.
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (45)

manu1111 | 13 years ago | Reply emm.... reading ur article from top to bottom, there are few statements to get agree with but one of them is quite enough to contradict. I agree that sana tariq on hum shouldnt have said that she 'enjoyed' the weekend for the news about throwing of the shoe at our dearest president, but at the same time, our very dearest president shouldnt have visited france and uk in-spite of the deadliest floods within the country and after the statement of prime minister of uk... I agree that every person should have a self respect, but its every one owns responsibility to keep it... Our president is answerable to the nation, and against the nations will, he went to uk on government expenses on party meeting!!!!??? President must have maintained his self respect when pm uk gave objectionable statements against pakistan... But he went their for leisure trip... And u talk about self respect?!?!?!!!.... Why we should get ashamed of us a nation? When even we are stopping him and he neglecting all the wishes and problems of the nation, he went there... We should be proud that even after all these happenings within the country, one after another, nation keep on saying what is wrong and what is right. We are sleeping, but atleast not dead yet... :)
maha kamal | 13 years ago | Reply ur show is just awsum sana aapi l0ve ur smile always keep smiling m jst a fan ov urs me n ma mom use to watch ur show daily !! love u!
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