During my recent trip to Pakistan, once again, I had the opportunity to travel across the country, meet and listen to people from all walks of life and I am terribly sad to the see that people in Pakistan have increasingly become negative and cynical about everything.
It is impossible to find anyone positive about the future of Pakistan.
Today, the entire world is experiencing horrendous economical crisis and governments across the globe are working to get ahead of the current financial problem which has the potential to become a global recession. However, despite difficult times, it would be very difficult to find any other nation express so much hopelessness as one sees in Pakistan. One reason, but certainly not the only reason, is the role that the electronic media has played in Pakistan for this loss of hope.
Media, generally responsible for accurately reporting realities in other countries, has not met the international standard of reporting. In Pakistan, print media, with few exceptions has shelved responsibility and accuracy for the sake of sensation and attention grabbing headlines. Urdu press especially is responsible for failing to protect the public from inaccurate information which sometimes reaches masses disguised as news. However, the biggest threat to country's collective confidence is the character of electronic media, which regretfully thrives on conspiracies and sensational "breaking news' banner day and night. With very exceptions, rest of the media refuses to rise above overly dramatic and completely overblown coverage of everything that goes wrong in the county, even if it is not relevant or worse, important.
True, it is the responsibility of the media to report whatever is going on in the society, no question about it. But, it is also the responsibility of the media to make sure that public is not misguided about issues that are important, or perhaps critical for the nation. Yet, it is very disappointing that majority of the so-called media experts, analysts, anchors and other T.V. personalities in Pakistan miserably fail every test of responsibility and objectivity day after day, night after night.
Perhaps, one reason for this lack of maturity is limited time that the current crop of TV personalities has spent in front of cameras and microphones. Perhaps, it is because people in Pakistan are always interested in politics. Or perhaps people generally gravitate towards sensationally charged, conspiracy laced news, but whatever the reason, the sense of insecurity, and doom and gloom that is being portrayed on national television in Pakistan is not only making people inside Pakistan insecure, but it is also spreading this notion that nothing in the country is working and everything is about to collapse.
This tragically awful impression is obviously wrong and regretful.
It should be remembered that every country, both rich and poor, in every continent is suffering from economic slow down and financial crisis. The housing market in the United States and England has been slowing down for couple of years. The failure of banking sector and the credit crisis in America has shaken economies across the board. However, if one hears the people on T.V. in Pakistan, it feels that the sky is about to fall and it is only happening in Pakistan.
The fact is that the current economic mess was neither started in Pakistan, nor would it end there and we should not forget that It is a global problem and every major economic power is working to make sure that the world comes out of this problem soon. Nonetheless, Pakistan has its own issue and problems and if anything good can come out of this vast network of private channels, it should be the road map that Pakistan as a country needs to overcome extremely challenging circumstances.
In an ideal world, the growth of private channels in Pakistan would focus on domestic problems and help people find answers within Pakistan for the difficult problems that the country is facing. People inside Pakistan must understand, and private channels can help the country comprehend this concept, that unless and until people of Pakistan don't come together to fix the broken systems in the country, no amount of foreign aid or help will save the future.
This is a very simple reality that should have been recognized decades ago.
Every country and every nation faces tough problems from time to time, but those who give up hope, like we are witnessing in Pakistan, end up multiplying their problems. If a black man with a name like Barack Husain Obama can win the American Presidential Election in a landside defeating America's former First Lady and later a decorated war hero in a country where Blacks are not even 14 percent of the population, Pakistan too can find answers for its problems and issues. In fact, despite terrible odds, it is still not impossible for Pakistan to become a democratic, prosperous, and peaceful country that can become an influential player on international stage. But this won't happen without efforts and sacrifices and this definitely won't happen in a vacuum. For this dream to come true, everyone in Pakistan will have to come together, understand the past mistakes and push, just like a vehicle stuck in a ditch needs to be pushed, and keep pushing unless the country is out of the danger zone.
Naturally, this is not responsibility of the private channels to pump patriotism or even sensibility in Pakistan, but these channels should also not spread fear and anger by perpetually being negative about every aspect of the society. There are, and there have been very important individual and collective achievements in Pakistan, which must be highlighted and the country must learn to celebrate as well. It is worth repeating that by being positive, working hard, and being honest about ground realities is the way to move forward. If not, the country will continue to blame the Jews, and the Hindus or Christians for all the evil in Pakistan. The choice is simple and it is up to the people Pakistan to decide whether they are interested in blaming everyone for their problems, or they are going to take responsibility for their own mistakes.
Whatever the choice, Pakistan's future depends on this critical choice today.
Bilal Qureshi
Washington, DC
