I am no longer with Geo but should that change my value system regarding media freedom? No sir not at all. I was then saddened to hear that the channel was blocked again in this democratic era in cities ruled by the MQM. I don’t know why but this is very bad. MQM always had this weird thing about intolerance towards media but unfortunately the party’s reign of terror is so absolute that there is absolutely no clue for anyone on a way out. Likewise MQM has not been able to grow out of its sorry attitude towards media as a coalition partner of Musharraf. Folks no matter who says what as long as he does not condone terrorism or resort to crude use of uncivilized means like threats or arms he should not be silenced. This is our inalienable right. Media freedom has been won by very tough struggle and neither Pakistani citizens nor its journalists can allow any kind of infringement on these freedoms. The political groups, radical pressure cells and the mighty should not forget the true might of the media. If any such episode is repeated, the ones perpetrating such crimes should be considered enemies of humanity and aptly be reminded of the cases of Pervez Musharraf and even the neocons in the west. Long live thriving media of the country.
Dear Pittafi, aslmwlkum, I agree with you, all of the above, but remember the media should be responsible too, compared to US media, our newly found media freedom, thanks to musshuruf sometimes crosses boundaries of respect and sell news for the sake of selling only. So I do not blame the government when they block them. As sometimes medias irresponsible comments hurts country’s image and national security. They should have fair reporting without bias and not just purely political motivation or become like an enquirer a gossip newspaper in US with just pure fantasy and personal speculations only, not one bit of logical input, otherwise it seems for sake of their selfish popularity, they are burying their patriotism. They need some sort of evidence to backup their news, just hurling negative comments and baseless speculations creates instability only. Everybody knows the good and bad guys, but cannot selectively ignore a certain group for their misgivings, media needs to be really fair in their reporting not just personal vendetta against a selective group. Either you or somebody should open a wide variety of Gallup polls in Pakistan so this way we have an idea how our masses react to the news really.
Thanks abdlsy for the comment.
I agree that unsubstantiated news stories should not be given leading position in the bulletins. I agree that gossip should be given space only in gossip section. I also concede that on a couple of places like the unsubstantiated news on Bank Alfalah’s closure damage was done to businesses. But my understanding stops there. I do not agree that the channels should be closed. For punishing irresponsibility there exist libel laws. Why use executive power to pressure media when you can control its negativities through courts. Also remember that if you allow the government to decide what is not in the interest of the country or state then you’ll have the confusion between the state’s interest and the government’s. Media has a responsibility to its consumers to. I hope you remember the role played by western media in Watergate and Lewinsky scandals. best