What is ethics like in Australian media?

What is the role of media in the situation of Pakistan and its relation to media ethics?

• Answer:

  This case study is based on personal and real life experiences and is broken down into following sections: Brief History MEDIA: Movers and Shakers Commentary Perspective Conspiracy Experiment and Some Final Words BRIEF HISTORY: Pakistan, a country of very vibrant and dynamic history emerged on August 14th 1947 after separating from Anglo Occupied India. Based on two-nation theory and its separation from India, its existence and ideology has constantly been challenged and questioned by some of its own people and definitely the neighbours. After its birth, Pakistan inherited great deal of internal problems in the areas of politics, geographical boundaries, inclusion of several Princely States and the North Western Tribal Areas. The top and foremost issue that still remains is of the Muslim state of Kashmir. Fought three major wars with India on this issue, not to mention numerous proxy ones with the help of Kashmiri fighters and other groups. Due to its vital strategic location, Pakistan fell prey to established powers since its birth. Former Soviet Union in the North West, China in the North, Eastern Indian border, Kashmir in the North East, Iran and Afghanistan on the West side and a long coast line with Arabian Sea serves as a sea route to gulf and other vital oil rich Muslim states authenticates its strategic importance. Pakistan serves as a buffer zone and International Trade Route between Central Asian States, India, China and rest of the South Eastern Asian countries. The whole landmass of Pakistan and its shores can be primed as an important international trade hub but unfortunately due to geopolitical and its internal affairs it has never performed to its full capacity and potential. A country that comprises of world's tallest mountains, plains, five rivers, coast line, desert and five major nations distributed all over and not to mention abundantly available human resource has all the elements and tools for a dynamic and economically successful country. There is no excuse for Pakistan to not to succeed, but the ground reality is very grim and in a sad state. This is partially attributed to the absence of political stability within the country's own boundaries and negative influences by foreign elements - as evident throughout its history. Detailed history of regional politics and influences by foreign powers is beyond the scope of this case study but shall be discussed at some other time. The current path that Pakistan has taken is very progressive in nature and is already showing signs in the areas of manufacturing industry, trade, exports, stock market (best performer in the world since 2002), and most notably the media explosion! Country under the rule of President Musharraf, an Army General, makes it look like a totalitarian and non-democratic by definition, but the ground reality is however very different. This is evident by the presence of free press and free media that prevails and originates from this country. Due to the current political setup of Pakistan, it is considered to be a country being ruled under iron fist, this is what one would expect, but the mix of these two important elements makes it a very interesting and unheard off case. In order to fully understand what really is going on I will start with discussing the media itself and its role. MEDIA: Movers and Shakers: PTV, ARY and GEO TV are the main players in Pakistan, at least for now. The news is that the Government of Pakistan has issued licenses to 22 new private TV channels, an evident explosion about to occur. PTV is state run, while ARY and GEO are privately owned and are based out of Dubai, UAE. Why they are based out of Dubai is another interesting aspect. General consent is that they are utilizing Dubai's Media City facilities likes of which are not yet available in Pakistan for now. Also it allows them as being non-biased and out of Pakistani Governments reach and influence. At the same time they are allowed to broadcast within Pakistan and worldwide without any censorship. ARY and GEO do have a physical presence within Pakistan in the form of procurement offices and news studios. Lets discuss these stations one by one: PTV Prime: [http://www.ptvprime.com/] Beams all over the world and was the first internationally available Pakistani TV Channel. Inherently is a State's mouthpiece but generally is open and free to a degree. Does give more time to State's affairs and its policies. PTV Prime is a spin off of its parent company Pakistan Television Corporation - available all over Pakistan via cable and broadcast antennas/boasters. Content wise it's a class of its own. Follows the established formula and appears to be fond of status quo. Its soaps are written predominantly by seasoned writers and acted out by seasoned actors and actresses coming from the times when there was only one broadcast channel in Pakistan known as PTV. Their soaps (AKA: Dramas as commonly know in Pakistan) are better in production quality in relation to ARY and GEO. Their stories are still based on love, marriage, sad romance and all those low significance issues. Although they lack international standard but at the same time are keeping the production bar up atleast in Pakistani arena. Their efforts are relatively better in story telling and production but their news deliverance and programming regarding current affairs are primitive in nature and can use a revolutionary improvement. At the same time they do serve the old-school Pakistani expatriates who are perfectly fine with it, since this is what they grew up with and are used to. They have nothing much to compare it to and are overly critical to new ideas and changes as depicted in their social setup. In essence PTV Prime serves this section of the masses very well and keeps them content. Their management is of the same caliber and lacks experience in new media advancements; they are hesitant to bring about change in pretext to job security and rejection fears. Younger progressive Pakistani youth have nothing in common with PTV Prime and have rejected its viewership. Most visible flaw in their broadcast is when they announce Azaan (Call for prayers) based on UK time over this satellite channel beaming all over the world. Its practically irrelevant since you can not favor one region over the other, and also if you choose not too then all you will be broadcasting is call for prayers 24 hours a day. To say your prayers in a Muslim society is a personal responsibility and should not come from the media as a reminder. ARY (Currently has 4 channels): ARY Family of channels emerged around the year 2000 by some very motivated entrepreneurs based out of Dubai, UAE but of Pakistani Origin. Their lineup is such: ARY Digital (Family Channel), ARY One World (24 Hours News Channel), ARY The Musik (MTV Formula), and ARY QTV (Religious Channel). In addition they have ARY USA, ARY Pakistan, ARY India, ARY Middle East and ARY UK versions also. As of this writing they are launching ARY Radio also. These Pakistani jewelers in Dubai took the task of enhancing and promoting Pakistani image and came up with this successful plan in the form of ARY. They fronted their personal assets, time and energy and grew this channel based out from a garage to a worldwide respected channel available via satellites and cable. They achieved huge success in a very short time. Their success was attributed to a much-needed alternative Pakistani Media outlet. They hit the nerve at the right time and were accepted as a new standard by Pakistani audience. ARY Digital [http://www.arydigital.tv] serves as a family channel based on PTV Prime format of hourly news and soaps. They are a mixture of everything and provide something for everyone. Flaming political talk shows, edgy topics, news, views, soaps (dramas), music and many more varieties of programming. Their general presentation is top notch, especially in the area of News deliverance and talk shows, but again they failed immensely in delivering the social message in form of dramas and films. They have resorted to PTV style tear jerking soaps, love, marriage, glorifying social ills, and exposing other taboos of Pakistani lifestyle and culture. It's all about glamour and the majority of the poor people there are left to witness the decadence of Pakistani elite and their fascism. On top of that the production quality is horrible. Some of the good actors and actresses are probably stuck in those low budget cheap storylines and are probably looking around for something different, new or fresh but to no avail. Most of their programming is acquired through private production houses within Pakistan. Producers and Directors from these production houses are self-taught and have looked upon their senior peers within their own country. Hence they are not exposed to many newer techniques and equipments being used worldwide in the developed or developing nations. This leaves them with short of experience at hand and hence below standard productions pop up all across the board. Some of them are so poor in quality that in any other given situation will be rendered "NOT FOR BROADCAST" but yet end up on ARY Digital. Stories are pretty much the same run of the mill tearjerkers, Pakistani version of fascism, wannabies of the sort and some confusing worthless and meaningless issues of no significant nature. News, talk shows, political comedies are an exception though. Experienced people are producing them in-house and the quality is fairly obvious. ARY One World [http://www.aryoneworld.tv/] does a good job with continuous news feed from Pakistan and around the world with thought provoking talk shows. This channel has truly brought and depicted the media democracy of Pakistani origin where "everything goes" is the name of the game. Face to face hearty debates, sharing views and opinions openly, exposing issues of political nature, cleverly created political parody and comedy are the crux of this channel. Give it two thumbs up! GEO TV: [http://www.geo.tv/] Started around May 2002 and expanded many folds over the months following its launch. It's a textbook example of media success as far as its reach and expansion is concerned. Its format is a mixture of ARY Digital and ARY One World - hourly news and soaps and rest of the programming in between. Its owned by Jang Group, the largest English and Urdu newspaper publication group in Pakistan [http://www.jang.com.pk/]. Their news and political shows tend to be non-biased, which is a good sign but general thought is that they cater to pro-government views but at the same time are critical of them as well. Being a hybrid channel; meaning hourly news and family shows makes it a favorite channel among Pakistanis. Again their procurement methods and style are the same like ARY where cheap and below standard productions are one too many with no real underlying messages. [NOTE: We are in the process of putting together some AIRED BLUNDERS by PTV, GEO and ARY here soon. We have plenty of footage for that and just deciding on which ones to use. Please check back for the video. Thanks.] COMMENTARY: All in all the media explosion and revolutionary progress in this area is very encouraging, but at the same time a lot of work needs to be done in improving its role. Their manifesto for local public and Pakistanis living abroad is not clear as far as social reform is concerned. Staying up-to-date is one thing, but being in a reform mode is another and the later one is missing or not very apparent. These channels are beaming Pakistani culture around the world and are catering to Pakistanis, maybe a few Indians for the time being and keeping the viewers blissful. Here we are dealing with two parts of the equation, awareness and reform. Awareness part is well taken care of but the efforts to create reform are feeble and out of sync. For example most of the views are originating from Pakistan itself, but the Pakistani expatriates and their views and opinions are truly being overlooked. Their input and experience in helping and contributing in Pakistan's progress and strength are nowhere in sight via these outlets - not to mention that they have the means and the ability in place. Very important part of their infrastructure as in presence around the world is not being fully utilized. Latest news and intellectual talk shows for the most part are in English and in Urdu as well serve the educated elite of Pakistan who is capable of deciphering the information and views based on raw dialogue among differing parties. That in a sense is not a dreadful thing but a huge percentage of population that is not so capable of such perception is probably not benefiting from these valuable programming. Acknowledging the fact that they ultimately are the true beneficiaries of such information is being ignored in basic terms. Is this being done by design or by pure ignorance is yet to be determined? We understand that knowing issues on top levels leads the way to change but at the same time we cannot ignore the drivers of the economy and progress. The masses need to understand them so they can act as learned and educated voters for the next elections. They have to understand issues at hand so that they can make a better judgment when it's really time for a true change. These masses are used to accepting soaps (dramas). As evident by content, these soaps aren't really contributing to progress their awareness, thought development or creating any excitement in their daily lives. Rather it's brewing more discontent among poor people and is enhancing social gap between statuses and the fascism that already prevails. Media being a potent tool can help address these issues by creating intelligent and clever programming with messages to promote these peoples hopes in the from of realistic solutions and direction. At the same time it is also frustrating to expatriates viewing these soaps with an understanding that nothing is being changed in Pakistan as far as social ills and any progress in that course. At the least it discourages them to look back at their own country where judiciary and social setup has become a gag and offers no reason to return back and deal with it. They rather stay in the comfort of developed countries and not look back or even try to lend a hand since they now recognize that their efforts will be worthless and not gratifying as no one is there to accept or welcome it. Also the established figures in Pakistan do not want better skilled people returning and challenging their status quo. They fear that the returning skill will become a threat to them and their business will shut down as a result. Instead of learning from them and improving in a competitive environment, they choose the easy path - pulling their competition's leg and making life hard for them. Eventually the expatriates turn back to their "new" so-called homes where life is worthwhile and not as inconsiderate as their own homeland. As a result it becomes a loosing situation. PERSPECTIVE: Majority of the expatriates living in developed and economically influential countries get to have hands on experience with real breakthroughs, honest hard work, its rewards and most importantly the work ethics with a visionary mind-set. These are the most important elements that any Pakistani experiences in developed countries and this is exactly what needs to be introduced back home if an honest progress and poverty eradication is the desired objective. The ideal situation should be to produce at least half of the programming abroad like in the US, UK etc for Pakistani consumption. These soaps (dramas) or such programs should address and stress on honesty, hard work, its rewards and progressive attitude rather than glamour or risqué dress. The need is there. As expatriates have to put up with what's being happening in Pakistan, I think people back home should also see what's happening with their people living abroad. What kind of sacrifices they are making and why? What can they bring back to the table and how can that be accommodated? All this needs to be shown through foreign based productions addressing just that. This is a better alternative to showing male chauvinistic dramas with cheap and overly empowering ways to win over women and their lives in the name of romance and other clever tricks, ripping people off, vengeance based on lost love! All this is really not helping Pakistan much. Life is not just about love, romance and marriage yet that's the only message being sent out by our media - this has to end now. Pakistan is not in a position where it can afford to waste time on such insignificant issues. We have lots of work to do and have a lot at stake - build credibility, modernize our infrastructure, improve our judiciary, stabilize our political process, re-evaluate our thought process, set some goals, and clearly layout a manifesto as a nation. Being the most powerful Muslim country in the world military wise, we have lots of responsibility to sustain as a nation and grow to be a credible leader of the Muslim world. CONSPIRACY: It almost appears that the Pakistani's have purposely been allowed to be consumed into such phony theatrical life to keep them from thinking straight. It appears to be a crying and self pitying nation, throw some tear jerking dramas and people are happy to shed them openly since they have an excuse now. Thats's not to say that romance is wrong, it's to say that it shouldn't be priority # 1. If we wish to build Taj Mahals and fancy romancing in Mughal Style, then we need to be able to afford it - for now this is not the case. Our national glory and pride is at an arm's reach, it's a matter of extending it and achieving it. EXPERIMENT AND SOME FINAL WORDS: This case study is based on personal and collective experiences of numerous people from Pakistan. In order to put this to a test, as we believe in actions, rationality and logic - a plan was devised. This plan was to authenticate our doubts, legitimize our concerns and demonstrate it to us that the state of affairs is the same as we fear. The plan was executed in the form of a telefilm called "Sargoshi'an". This film is based around Pakistani youth living in the US who are bright, are aware of the geopolitics, love their country and want to help out. Romance and love issues were intentionally excluded from the storyline. The crux of the issue was science and technology, alternative fuel for energy based on new developments in the horizon, its global impacts and critical contributions by young motivated Pakistani youth living in the US with clear goals and their action plan. A Utopian Pakistan was assumed as far as its involvement. Storyline, science, and all the issues are based on facts and a lot of study and effort has gone into this. Also at the same time the production excellence has been the crucial point. It was completed with professional talent and advanced media technology utilizing Hollywood style special effects that yet have to be seen in any Pakistani film or drama. Generous actors and actresses from Pakistan and the US stepped forward and played out their roles at their finest. They made the story telling very painless and as anticipated. It addressed the hurdles and how to get ahead of them in moving forward. Realistic approach was taken in storyline and production. After the entire production concluded and this movie screened to the educated people within US and Pakistan, they had nothing but absolute admiration and awe. Realizing its success in this area, it was sent and screened for mainstream Pakistani media namely PTV, ARY and GEO for their observations, interpretations and possible airing. Well, to say the least every theory and assumption put forward in this case study proved to be entirely true. These theories and doubts that we had about Pakistan's state of affairs, especially media unfortunately turned out to be accurate. The procurement teams from PTV, ARY and GEO resonated the sense of ignorance and lack of perception as far as the concept of Sargoshi'an goes. All of them made almost the same exact following comments: There is no story here. (Meaning no love, hate, breakups or divorce) Actors are not "famous". (Meaning change is not desired) This is beyond people's understanding - including theirs. (Ignorance) Story is mellow and there are no emotional ups and downs. (Melodrama absent?) Photography is different. (Meaning they are not used to proper stuff) Is this technology for real? (Meaning Ignorance prevails) This never happens and will not happen in Pakistan. (Skeptics?) People don't like this sort of stories. (As if they have any other choice!) This is risky; we don't know what time slot to play at. (Meaning: Go away) We may not have sponsors for this. (Have you tried?) Also worth mentioning is some known personalities like Abdur Rauf, host of GEO TV's "50 Minutes" talk show which is based on various social and other issues; deviated and didn't live by his words. In one of his shows regarding Pakistan and it's Film Industry, he was very adamant about young blood's involvement in film and various productions that do not follow crappy and cheap stories and productions. He highlighted the fact that such talent and production value within Pakistan does not exist. When he was provided with one [Sargoshi'an], his views changed and he forgot about what he had said on camera and on the record. To him this was not good enough and did not even have the common courtesy or admiration for this effort. People like him and others in this field have made this industry a joke by itself. Also another personality, Mr. Agha Masood, a well known journalist and a former minister took up the same task and failed to live by his words and conviction. Salman Iqbal CEO of ARY and belonging to jewelry business originally based out of Dubai seems to have been promoting neputism. Same goes with GEO's Sarmat and the clan. This list won't be complete without mentioning "Dr." Shahid Masood, host of ARY's "News and Views" and a notorious plagiarist. This particular person has been taking other peoples research works and analysis on issues and is presenting them as his own after translating them into Urdu. His only effort is probably translation only. Classic example is he took Harun Yahya's [Great living Muslim Scholar from Turkey] work on "THE END TIMES AND THE MAHDI" and presented it in two part series on his show, just like Harun Yahya's. What is pathetic is that he even used the same music and footage from Harun Yahya's documentary. No credits were given to the original author and producer. He thinks people are dumb. Here is a living example: Harun Yahya's "THE END TIMES AND THE MAHDI", Check out the links below: Part I: http://www.harunyahya.com/m_video_detail.php?api_id=1578 Part II: http://www.harunyahya.com/m_video_detail.php?api_id=1930 Also watch Hollywood movie "Deep Impact" [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120647/]. Now compare it to "Dr." Sahid Masood's DVD http://www.emarkaz.com/shop/store/items_b.php?product_id=1691 Watch both of them and figure it out. Enough said. At the time of this writing Harun Yahya and his organization has been notified about this plagiarist's DVD for sale. Expect a court order soon for sueing Dr. Shahid Masood, ARY DIGITAL and the Distributor [Sadaf]. A third party action group has been mobilized with a plan to protect the copyrighted productions of all types from plagiarists mentioned above. Such characters in Pakistani Media Business stick to cheap and below standard productions, stupid and irrelevant storylines and regrettably represent Pakistani Media and the sewer that flows out of it. They have shown and proven to belong to "all talk and no action" club of Pakistani mentality. As a conclusion this case study was put to test and the unfortunate results were proven as much as it was not desired. At this point we have made this study available to public and the telefilm Sargoshi'an is being offered for private screening to the interested parties so that they can come up with their own conclusion(s).