The perfect mediocrity of Pakistani journalism
-Illustration by Abro
Young men and women who aspire to be journalists in today’s Pakistan, do so for two reasons. One, they studied mass communication because they couldn’t make the merit for more structured disciplines at university, and have figured, honestly, they are not good enough at anything in particular. And two, they have an overwhelming urge to save and serve the world.
The former is a straight forward and understandable reason. You pick a newspaper or watch a news bulletin, and you see mediocrity reigning supreme. Senior reporters can’t fit their five Ws and an H in a feature-length news report; those who do, more often than not get their facts wrong and their figures fudged; hardly anyone knows the language they report in or edit; and when they become seasoned enough, they either start wheeling dealing as media managers or take to writing and talking complete nonsense, with a lot more panache, authority, and freedom than they could muster as reporters.
Surely, I can do better than these jokers, the young job seeker enthuses. Today’s ‘well known journalists’ took the same route, didn’t they? One day they were just a pretty face or a sexy figure, or the son/daughter of a showbiz person, or a misfit civil servant, or a rude and belligerent angry-old-man, or a smooth and slippery charlatan … and the next day they are presenting news, hosting a current affairs programme or analysing a complex event or situation. That makes me qualified too – I can talk the talk and walk the walk. In fact, if I don’t stand a chance in journalism, I don’t stand a chance anywhere.
This line of thinking smacks of opportunism but is in fact as realistic as it gets. And the proof of its being real is in the fact that young people who don’t know any better do keep joining the circus, becoming the jokers, and in turn, attracting more wannabes to follow them. It’s the natural circle of life in Pakistani journalism. Those who are lucky and crafty enough, get a fat salary and fringe benefits that are restricted only by their own imagination, while the rest slog off on pittance, or no salary at all, waiting for their chance to strike gold.
The latter reason is more devious and therefore should be alarming for media consumers and media managers alike. Those who enter journalism to ‘reform’ the society in the image of this philosophy or that, are like the young lad who joins the army so that he can become a general, take over the government, and fix all the ills of his beloved homeland. They have the sincerity of purpose of a 16-year-old’s, and an intelligence level to match. These juvenile do-gooders come in handy as fodder for various ideologies grazing the landscape of this nation.
There are right-wing ideologues who see God and Satan in every conflict, left-wing whiners who are always on the side of the oppressed but are never quite sure who the oppressed are, nationalists who insist on reinventing the wheel as a Pakistani invention for it to roll in Pakistan, and liberals who reject everything without putting forward anything new. These journalists too attract their own kind and form the other circle of journalistic life.
Between the intellectually challenged and ideologically motivated journalists – who together define the Pakistani brand of journalism – there exist a few meticulous reporters who write for people, write well, make fewer factual mistakes and are very cautious in their editorial judgment; brilliant copy editors who turn a rag tag compilation of information into a juicy story; creative photo journalists who tell a complicated story simply through the selection of their angle, and sharp editors who guide their teams into doing stories others can’t see. They are a part of every news media organisation but they are few and they remain faceless. Their names will not come up even once when you ask a thousand, or ten thousand newspaper readers and news TV viewers, who in their opinion are professionally competent journalists. And therefore, no one aspires to be them.
Pakistani journalism, as unleashed by a military ruler, repackaged by semi-literate media owners, and meekly accepted by senior editors, is no more about informing, educating and entertaining the audience. It’s all about acquiring and expanding a power base and selling a particular point of view, which incidentally, are the two defining traits of politicians as well. And it’s no coincidence. Media owners and senior editors have always been a part of partisan politics and senior journalists who speak and write non-stop on political developments have little or no understanding of the issues that really matter for all Pakistanis, clean drinking water for instance. Every senior journalist is by default a political analyst and the more ambitious of them do turn into full time politicians. Hussain Haqqani, Maleeha Lodhi, Mushahid Hussain, Ayaz Amir, Nafeesa Shah, Shafqat Mahmood … stand out in the present crop of journalists-turned-politicians.
So mixed up is journalism with politics, especially in the mind of old school vernacular journalists, that a senior, presidential award winning columnist recently counted his professional achievements in these words: ‘I was writing columns for (dailies) Shahab and Musawat. Bhutto sahib deputed me to the election campaign of PPP candidates in and around Lyalpur. I used to attend all the public meetings, and people from those days may remember that nature used me as a speaker (at election rallies) too’. Any student of journalism today will be stunned by the fact that the admission is made with pride, not shame. That’s how twisted things are.
Are they getting better? No chance, not at least in the near future because there is no economic incentive for media owners to purge journalism of unprofessional and unethical practices. And not even the senior most editors have the capacity to train and mentor juniors, if they were asked to. The top layer of our contemporary journalists spent their working life, alternately accommodating and fighting the draconian provisions of censorship laws. And when this generation did get the freedom – ironically at the hands of a serving army general – they did not know what to do with freedom. They’d only fought for principles and ethics; they never got to practice them.
That confusion and inaction on the part of senior editors at the turn of the millennium, spelled death for the powerful office of the editor – practically in electronic media and theoretically in print. It is this powerless, directionless editor who became the role model of my generation, and who is now passing on professional mediocrity to the next generation.
You still want to break into journalism? By all means. But do get your preferences right. If your motivation is one or both mentioned above, you know the drill. If you want to do for-people and ethical journalism, learn the ropes in a professional environment before sending your resume to a mainstream Pakistani media house, because you’ll get a job, a salary if you are lucky, but you won’t get any learning.
Masud Alam is an Islamabad-based writer, columnist and journalism trainer. He can be reached at masudalam@yahoo.com
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
In our country, journalism/media is “BUSINESS” these days – just like education, politics, medicine, public service, defense, judiciary etc. ( professions considered ‘noble’ in developed countries ) ! Root cause of prevailing state of affairs in Pakistan !
Journalism and media have always been a business, everywhere. There just does not seem to be a lot of demand for thoughtful, well-researched, unbiased and objective journalism and hence the mediocrity being churned by the media
thought provoking… excellent article that actually tells the reality of Pakistani journalism…
Network television is entertainment for the mainstream, and media managers only want that TV set turned on. If is relatively cheap to produce the news shows and the talk shows. They justify this kind of journalism (if we may call it that) by confirming the educational level and interest of the average TV viewer.
Could not agree more. A great piece for the general audience’s information and good advice for the aspiring youngsters. Ideologies of the media owners/outlets (including Dawn) have not been grilled enough here but that deserves a separate discussion.
I feel that the article is overly pessimistic and cynical. One cannot look at anything in absolutes. When compared to other professions in Pakistan journalism is way ahead in quality. I am an engineer and I can say with certainty that the standard of engineering in Pakistan is much worse than journalism.
Secondly, there has been a recent proliferation in the media with a large number of TV channels and newspapers appearing on the scene. This means that it is difficult to get experienced professional in this field. I am sure that in a few years the quality and standard will go up.
Thirdly, while I agree that the quality of writing or moderating debates on the TV is quite un-even, it does have a serious impact on the country. It is becoming more and more difficult for the influential perpetrators of crimes to go scot-free.
My personal experience with writing for Dawn.com has been very positive. The young editors are courageous to print un-popular views. Yes, they do sometime make mistakes but they have a positive attitude and make the corrections promptly.
As for sixteen year olds, let’s give them more respect and credit. Many young people are very motivated and intelligent.
Lastly, I would not have left my very well paying job as an engineer in Canada and moved to Pakistan to become a part-time journalist if journalism and journalists were as rotten as the article makes them out to be.
LOL loved the way you described the industry
very accurate. But let’s not be too harsh, our media just got out of dictators’ hands (a decade is a short time, right?) let’s give it some time to mature. But there is a lack of professional and ethical editors and journalists and might make the maturity process longer. Anyway, this was a fun read 
Some really valid observations here, the crux of it is that when a child is handed a hammer, everything appears like a nail. This newly found freedom by the youth of Pakistan today has a come at an age when people prefer to ramble in disjointed thoughts, 140 characters at a time, and take extreme pride in being opinionated than analytic. I see them carrying the same approach over to print media where the article/blogs are a bunch of satirical one liners punctuated with one-word questions addressed to no one in particular (to highlight irony) and I am sure the authors look at their finished works with smug satisfaction for being sharp and witty. For good measure, they will end the article with a quote they came across on a Facebook status.
Pakistanis seem to value flair over structured training so the mass communication degrees do not add anything to their learning. Too bad a lot of things they pick from American sitcoms and TV series do not count as a flair for journalism.
Still find Dawn way ahead of other publications.
Absolutely spot on! many of these so called journalists are mere compares of a comedy cum talk show, where they provide perfect show ground for semi literate politicians to play mudd slinging game live on national Tv screens, no where in the world you would find such live entertainment.
They are so focused on politics, that seldom focus on social, research and any positive topics about Pakistan. Even if they do, they still bring politics into it!
Even BBC run such shows once a month or in a week may be! Media should do research on selected topics, in depth reporting with valid facts and figures that communicate to masses in short time.
Not oh we broken a news, Zardari taken a flight to karachi etc or we are the first one to air a CCTV from a blast!
Media in general also failed to provide anything for children of our nation. Documentaries on beautiful Pakistan places, analysis how property market is going across Pakistan. How to build houses that are eco friendly and sustain earth quake, How to get more produce from your crops etc etc. What kind of new cars, gadgets are around and real not interview from a shop keeper, capability of such devices. How a vote effect a normal person – creating reports on such topics.
But looking at standards, it looks like reporters are really un educated about the subject they report. So called talk show journalists just throw a controvertial question to fuel the fight between opponents.
Like leaders, you get journalists you deserve.
I am not trying to curry favor,yet in all this journalistic mess you can get “diamonds” Dawn is an example.concise,politically and religiously correct it’s contributors give interesting and thought provoking articles.One thing I like about the moderators is that they keep foul and derogatory comments out unlike one Indian paper online that loves to do Pakistan and Islam bashing. Good job Dawn
Agree with you 100% about the “particular Indian newspaper”! It’s all crass stuff and I seldom purchase it, unless of course I have some packing to do and I need some very cheap papers!
Kudos “Dawn”, you are one of my favorite papers alongside “The Hindu” .
More power to the truth!
You are sucking up to the moderator…you and that Howell guy are Dawn’s special pets…all over every column bashing Islam and Pakistan.
You comments have a thumbs down rate of 54. So at least 54 ranker out of 64 were Indians. Amazing.
Excellent piece about current state of Journalism in Pakistan
A very grave issue and a serious misunderstanding amply highlighted by the writer. realization by the PEMRA, concerned ministry and above all by our so called higher education institutions (naming them educational business complexes would be more appropriate). I would request the writer to reccomend the way forward as well, like can the mediocricity be moulded in a better way toward improvement of journalis, avoiding exploitation of information vs non-biased opinion based on some in-depth analysis or research work is the need of the hour for betterment and healthy journalism.
Some principles.
a. “Healthy journalism” and state-controlled censorship are incompatible.
b. State-controlled censorship and state-defined blasphemy law are intertwined.
Put ‘a’ and ‘b’ together. What kind of journalism health would you get?
Enjoyed this.
That such an article can come from a Pakistani Journalist is a breath of fresh air.Pakistan Journalists,both newspapers and TV are very biased and politically motivated serving their own party than analysing the subject critically.\as most of them are allied to political parties and do not forget that many of these political parties have muscle and munitions to quieten down the opposition we get accounts of distorted great achievements and important ommissions to placate their Masters.You only hear somebody who is really nobody braying on telephone from London and all Karachi media have to stop everything for hours to hear incoherent babbling of the idiotic nature.It is time that journalists gave honest and authentic opinion and ask such questions to the panel.Some panalists abuse the journalists on live TV if anything is mentioned which is untoward to their masters.Journalists should ride above these unethical means used by some and at the same time it is States responsibility to protect their lives and property against these Mafiosi’s.