Bhoja Air crash: Tragedy for the professional cynic
Here’s what an ordinary day in the newsroom is like: Stories come in, at regular intervals. People edit them, casually, in the knowledge that our paper will reach our readers tomorrow. People take cigarette breaks. Someone reminds someone else to turn the television on in case of breaking news, which usually turns out to be something insipid (at least for a journalist), like tyre burning at XYZ roundabout. Here is what today, the day that over a hundred lost their lives in the Bhoja Air crash, was like: At close to 7 pm, breaking news turned out to be far more than ...
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Breaking News: Afridi can slap
The breaking news logo in red flashed across the screen and the news anchor continued to exaggerate the half-baked story for a good 10 minutes in a shrill, breathless manner. Autograph mangnay walay paristaron per chokkon, chakkon, dhakkon aur thapparon ki baarish (Fours, sixes, pushes and slaps raining on autograph-seeking fans) Shahid Afridi ki Karachi airport per maar dhaar se bharpur century. (Shahid Afridi whacks a fan completing a century with a bang) Shahid Afridi jazbaat per qabu na rakh sakay, maddahon ki dhunayi kardi! (Shahid Afridi loses control over emotions, bashes fans) Shahid Afridi kay shaeqeen ko dhakkay aur thappar! (Shahid Afridi’s pushes and slaps for his fans) As usual, all our ...
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Why comments and likes matter in the (new) media world
The number of comments or likes or tweets on an online news article or Op-ed do not determine its real worth, just its popularity. What is popular on news sites is ‘common’, ‘low-brow’ perhaps ‘sensational’ maybe even ‘gripping’ but it is rarely what is ‘good journalism’ or ‘valuable opinion’. Therefore, clicks, hits, comments and likes are definitely not a measure of success for a ‘real’ writer or journalist. This is what the old vanguard of journalists, columnists, bloggers and writers of all-sorts would have you believe. Being an editor for an online news desk has left me open to frequent attacks ...
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Journalism and sensationalism
The Express Tribune poll result published on this page on December 18 said that 91% of the respondents believed journalism in Pakistan was more about sensationalism than reporting facts. I partly agree. But this should lead to the question as to why journalism in Pakistan is sensationalist. I believe that’s because people are more receptive to sensational news than facts-based reporting. Just go to the website of this newspaper and look closely at the sidebar that shows the most viewed, most commented and most emailed news stories. These days, such stories will most likely be about Memogate, Imran Khan, Zardari, judiciary, ISI ...
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Stop portraying Pakistan as the Meera of the world!
“What do you do?” “I’m a PR consultant.” “Personal relationships?” “No, public relations.” “Oh, you organise events?” Unfortunately, that is what I get from most people when I travel to Pakistan – either this, or I just have to settle for telling them that I work in marketing; which is a socially acceptable and easily understandable term. PR is not a well known field in Pakistan and is still in stages of infancy; despite the presence of a few PR agencies, the field still remains remarkably untapped. Media and its teething problems One of the obstacles in the development of this field, as I see it, is ...
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Media sensationalism trumped by online insensitivity
When the Airblue flight ED 202 crashed into the Margalla hills, there was a barrage of criticism against the media reportage of the incident. Sensationalist, unethical and downright insensitive were the allegations against the Pakistani media, and to be honest, they were not misplaced. From boasting to be the first ones to have broken the news to showing gory footage of blood and body parts, running after families of the victims for juicy soundbytes depicting their pain and giving false hope by airing incorrect reports of survivors, the media certainly had a chargesheet of complaints against it, and justifiably so. Bloggers ...
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In defence of the army: The question of prisoners of war
Militants usually do not comply with customs of war. They strike civilians and thus render themselves undeserving of traditional reprieve. In the war on terror, the US government promptly refused to regard captured al Qaeda and Taliban militants as Prisoners of War and instead labelled them as ‘unlawful combatants’ at the very onset of the long-winding war on terror. Historic precedent hints that ruthless terrorists are like pirates captured on the high-seas. David Neuendorf of the Indiana Journal-Press once contended that: “Such people were subjected to military justice, administered by military commanders on the scene. That usually meant hanging from a yardarm. Today it could ...
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Corporate greed, sensationalism and an irresponsible media
“Exaggeration is truth that has lost its temper.” Khalil Gibran. We live in a world of exaggeration. A world blinded by megalomania. We are getting blinder every passing day. We are a case of collective schizophrenia. It is one of the most dangerous ailments of all, but are we the only ones that are blind. We are surely the damned ones. A sensationalist press, not an adversarial one Whenever something goes wrong in the world, we become the scapegoats. The international media paints Pakistanis as a people devoid of moral standards. The Pakistani media borrows this portrayal to strengthen the bias, giving ...
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‘Look beta, that’s where the plane crashed’
As the clouds finally gave way to the sun, dozens of families from the twin cities decided to make a day out of it and rushed to Daman-e-Koh, to look at the debris of fallen flight ED 202. I didn’t exactly hear what these mothers were telling their children, but from their expressions and their hard-contained excitement I’m pretty sure it was something along these lines. ‘Look beta, that’s where the plane crashed,’ ‘Dekho, dekho, not many people get to see air crash sites in their lifetime!’ Sensing the mob’s interest, a lone entrepreneur hooked up his binoculars and started charging Rs10 for ...
Read Full PostDon’t blame Ali Azmat, blame marketing
If you’ve worked in broadcast media, chances are high that you have been part of the manic decision making process which goes into determining what story or issue should run as headline news or lead in a program. The journalistic credo to cover issues in a timely, responsible manner is the driving force behind this high-tension coordination, but the marketing aim to gather the maximum number of eyeballs and maintain their interest is always at the back of every broadcast journalist’s mind. Which story will sell? What would the audience buy? The ‘business’ of reporting the news is built into ...
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