Media Content partiality

Media in its simplest form has been around for a very long time now. Media plays a vital
role in our life and constitutes a major part of our society. It is a primary source of
information regarding anything that one is looking for. Media also has a strong influence on
the belief and opinions of the general public. Mass media that is available to us has shaped
our minds the way that we react too easily. More the horrific news more chances it has to
be highlighted publicly due to the attention it gets.

Sensationalism has been around since the inception of media. People use media as a
platform not to inform or to educate others but to create an environment of chaos and
unrest in the society so the people are used to like living on the edge. You never know what
kind of news might pop up the next second and completely change your thought process of
how things work around us. Sensationalism has also caused the news that needed attention
in exchange for the news that is more TRP worthy. There are many disadvantages of this if
we discuss, these type of news shapes our mind in thinking that everybody around us is bad
in a way. This has also caused an insane amount of trust issues among the ones that are the
closest to each other and ruined our lives.

Media has the power to alter the thought process of a person and mold it in the way they
want it to. This has also created a biased environment among the media person who'll do
anything necessary to bring out that one thought that the person does not want to express
while sitting on national television in the prime time spot. Talk shows in this sense give out
the biggest examples of this biasness. Discussing the most common examples would be the
alliances of Geo News and ARY news with PMLN and PTI respectively. These two channels
have been running a simple agenda for almost 10 years now in which they have selected
one side and keep on defending them with unknown facts and baseless allegations towards
each other and the political parties they are supporting. This sense of competition and
grudge has created an environment in which the general viewer is forced to pick a side of
the fight to completely understand what is going on. In these past 10 years, there are many
instances where Geo news have aired programs that have the content to directly insult and
degrade the works done by the authorities of PTI and our Prime Minister himself and have
rambled on for hours and hours of baseless accusations and creating an environment of
chaos among the general public in a sense that people have to choose a side in this conflict,
and same goes for ARY news and its programs that directly insults and highlights the
wrongdoings on PMLN during their time as the leading political party in Pakistan.

Mr. Adnan Rehmat quoted in his article in Dawn news stating

“Some of the largest political parties are finding it  hard to do politics  and some of the finest media is
also  finding it hard to conduct journalism  at a time when both the constitutionally guaranteed
freedoms are needed the most.”

This statement gives an overview of the hostile working environment this clash has created
and affected a large number of people who are not even directly related to this conflict and
causing them to rethink their decisions. Considering that media perceptions are critical in
influencing public opinion, an intimidated media cannot help the electorate navigate the
minefield of competing narratives amidst rising political temperatures by snipping away
misinformation and conspiracy theories and providing the necessary information and
analysis that helps people form informed opinions to make meaningful electoral choices.

Geo News and ARY news have been in a public spat for a long time now. This issue started
after Hamid Mir, a well-known and premier anchor of Geo news was shot several times
while he was traveling in his car. The news quickly blew up and the blame game quickly
started. Mr. Hamid survived the shooting and blamed this act on ISI, the secret security
agency of Pakistan, and accused them of this shooting because he has reported several
times on them in the past. There many other examples like this too where a journalist starts
to do a story on security agencies of Pakistan and then suddenly disappears for a few days
and then show up dead in some random place in the north of Pakistan. This shooting
suddenly created chaos among the journalist community of Pakistan and the blame game
was on. Geo news started airing programs and directly accused ISI of the shooting and
openly expressed their distress upon them. ARY news on the other hand came out with a
different perspective and defended ISI and degraded Geo news for targeting the honorable
security agency that has been around for a long time looking out for any security threats on
Pakistan. This was basically the war between establishment and government and they were
and still using these media houses in their favor for a very long time now. In the meantime,
the owner of JUNG/Geo group Mir Shakil fled to Dubai and ARY news aired the programs
that directly accused the Pakistani government of aiding Mir Shakeel to escape the country
and also accused Mir Shakeel of getting money from the government to give them air time
to clear their image among the general public. Mir Shakeel sued ARY for slander and
defamation in a UK court and won the case and ARY had to give 3 million pounds in
repressions. After this, the war was really on and both sides held on to one political party
and have been speaking in favor of them and defaming each other ever since.

This public spat between two of the biggest media houses in Pakistan has affected the
thought process of our general public in many forms. People have chosen a side and haven't
shut up since. The Geo ARY debacle is also known as the proxy war between the
government and the establishment of Pakistan. The credibility of the news medium is one of
the significant variables that determine the overall image of the source among the audience.
But by the looks of it, both sides were not being rational and just were and still are throwing
baseless accusations on each other.

Political affiliation is another thing that is highly mentionable in this case. Both sides have
clear alliances with two of the major political parties of Pakistan (Geo news and PMLN, ARY,
and PTI). This also brings in biased opinions for the favorable parties. They defend these
parties in good and bad. The editorial stances of these parties are different of course every
story has its different angles and elements, the job of a journalist is to report every fact to
the public without any biasness. However, if you work at the behest of any government and
ally yourself with the government then your journalism is flawed! The kind of accusations
thrown particularly blasphemy in a country like Pakistan that can get you killed shows us
how much both of these media groups were on each other's necks.

Ofcom, the media regularity authority of the United Kingdom liquefied all 6 licenses of the
ARY network in the UK. They also stated that in 2 years, the ARY group has targeted Mir
Shakeel around 398 times accusing him of blasphemy and various other allegations. Mir
Shakeel won the defamation case and the ARY group had to give him 3 million pounds in
repressions.

Pakistani media has come a long way from a single state-owned channel to At least 30
private TV channels, prominent among them Geo News, Dawn News, Aaj TV, ARY News,
Capital TV, Samaa, Dunya News, Waqt News, and Express-News, exclusively broadcast news
and current affairs programs. The government should promote the formation of territorial
and surprisingly sub-local radio and TV slots modeled on institutions like Al Jazeera to
introduce the genuine essence of Pakistan to the world. It will likewise assist with
countering outrageous analysis to which Islam is oppressed as a religion. Media have an
extraordinary obligation to reflect Islam in the genuine point of view that should be finished
with knowledge, shrewdness, and assurance. The helpful exchange between religions must
be started by Pakistani media.

“All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that
society. We can brutalize it. Or We can help lift it onto a higher level.” William Bernb

Reference:

https://bdex.eb.mil.br/jspui/bitstream/123456789/4936/1/MO%200039_Cel%20Muhammad
%20Yaqoob%20Awan.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ew7bXr6wyI

Group Members:

Farina

Nouman Tanzeel

Yahya Javed