CHALLENGES TO MASS MEDIA

Edmund Burke claimed press as ‘fourth estate’ because of its considerable importance. Raison d’etre of
media is not just to update the masses about the latest occurrences; it has to work as a watchdog for national
interest and formulate a vigilant public opinion. In the 21st century Pakistan has witnessed a tremendous
growth and development in media sphere.
The mushroom growth of television channels and FM radios is influencing attitudes and behaviors of
general public. This significant increase drew attention towards media regulation, defining objectives and
role of media for the development of Pakistan.
Wilbur Schramm (1964) maintains that mass media should perform at least three functions in developing
countries; media should serve as ‘watchdogs’, ‘policymakers’, and ‘teachers’ for change and
modernization.
As ‘watchdogs’ media should keep an eye on the activities of public institutions and report any anomalies
and irregularities that impede the development.
As ‘policymakers’ media should not only highlight the wrongs but also suggest how to correct it. It should
help governments in making and implementing policies. Agenda-Setting theory explains how media agenda
shifts agenda into public agenda and ultimately becomes policy agenda.
As ‘teachers’ media should teach people how to contribute actively in the community for change,
modernization and development. Knowledge and skills should be imparted through media so that people
can play their new roles and responsibilities.
European Commission report on media policy suggests that “a modern democratic society cannot exist
without communications media that;
(1) are widely available and accessible;
(2) reflect the pluralistic nature of such society and are not dominated by any one viewpoint or controlled
by one interest group;
(3) make available the information necessary for citizens to make informed choices about their lives and
their communities;
(4) provide the means whereby the public debate which underpins free and democratic societies can take
place, means that the market will not necessarily deliver its own” (Report from the high level group on
audiovisual policy, 1998; p. 9).
If we have a bird’s eye view of media landscape in Pakistan, there is a tremendous growth in electronic
media while a decline is observed in the case of print media (Eijaz, 2011).
There are more than 85 television channels, 155 radio stations, 286 newspapers and 68 weeklies and
monthlies in Pakistan. With this broad media landscape, challenges are also escalating. Among the
challenges security issues, financial constraints, lack of professionalism and educational standards of
journalists, lack of professional training, commercialization, mediated democracy, lack of accountability,
ethical standards, media regulations and implementation are a few.
 ➢ Freedom of press:

Government of Pakistan, history reveals, always used a strong hand to control the voice of
journalist on different occasions. The history of Pakistan is full of incidents when dictators (civil
and military) put the press under its control. The purpose was always hiding of the facts from
public. Freedom of expression in democratic countries is vital. But every democratic government
in Pakistan imposed restrictions on media. We know that press should be given freedom but this
freedom shall not be misused.

Press advice:

• This is the advice which is received from govt. side by the newspapers. With the help of
press advice newspapers are asked to do or not to do any certain action by govt. In this
way, freedom of expression and news objectivity gets in danger. Obviously when media is
not allowed to print what is newsworthy, the overall credibility of newspapers would be at
stake. So, press advice is also a weapon in the hand of govt.

➢ Challenges to print media

Economic Conditions of Newspapers:

Distribution of advertisement (By Govt.):

• Advertisement is considered as blood of any newspaper.

• Approximately, 60 percent of the whole advertisement in newspaper comes from govt. side
and 40 percent from private sector.
• Govt. uses advertisement as weapon and makes its distribution unjustified whenever
required.
• PML N govt. can be remembered in this regard which was so much popular in giving ads
to the media and media, in return, was very happy with this practice as it was generating
revenue at maximum.
• Now we can see a clear downfall and downsizing in media just because it has minimum
margin of ads.
Advertising Agency (Private):

• The biggest challenge is most people with cell phones are addicted to the phone, which in
turn makes advertisers believe that digital advertising is the way to get their product out.

➢ Supply of newsprint paper:

One of the types of financial hardships on the part of media can be seen as taxes. Govt. imports
newsprint paper and imposes heavy taxes on it. In results, media suffers a lot. Govt. use this
monopoly as weapon against press.

Press machine parts, paper, ink, plate colors and other material are getting expensive day by day.
The per capita income of reader is decreasing on the other hand. The sales of newspapers as a
result remain low and newspaper face financial constraints.

Buying capacity of public in Pakistan is less. Ordinary day’s Urdu newspaper is of rupees 18.
People are not able to buy newspaper every day

Illiteracy:

In this era of technology, even people with no education are quite familiar with technological
devices i.e. cell phones, tabs and computers etc. but when it comes to have reading of the
newspapers or magazines etc. they show least interest towards it. Illiteracy becomes an excuse
then.

Social Habits:

People read newspapers at libraries, barbershop, hotels and bookstall for the reason that the wont
have to buy it. Due to this social behavior newspapers are not purchased and newspaper owner
faces financial problems.

➢ Lack of Professionalism
The sensationalism that accompanied the advent of TV journalism in Pakistan is fast becoming the
bedrock of media professionals here.

This feature is the natural outcome of a missing investigative spirit, and the absence of
accountability. What were once regarded as journalistic ethics have been replaced by an insensitive
media culture where information is spiced up and then fed to the audience?

In societies like Pakistan, News is measured less by how objective and credible it is and more in
terms of the potential devastation it can bring.

Because of interest in ratings, media outlets need to develop stories that engage audience fairly
quickly. This race is promoting the trends of commercialization, sensationalism, unethical content,
yellow journalism, and substandard infotainment on the part of media organization and cultivating
bad tastes, and desensitizing audience on the other hand.

➢ Mainstream Media vs. Social Media

The media seems to have lost its missionary zeal to report a changing Pakistan. Just like the rise
of multi-channel current affairs television sidelined print media about 20 years ago, the rise of the
internet and the ubiquity of social media — popular among a largely adult but mostly young
population in Pakistan — has overtaken TV as one of the key sources of news and information.
This is upending traditional media markets and threatening jobs in mainstream media enterprises
and shaking up existing media business models. More and more mainstream media journalists or
anchors are moving towards social media for their financial resources and independence reporting.

➢ Safety and Security

It is worth recalling that at least 33 journalists have been murdered in Pakistan in just six years
since 2013. According to the Freedom Network’s reported data, 131 journalists have been killed
in the past 20 years in Pakistan. Just from Nov 2018 to October 2019, seven journalists were killed;
none of their families received justice. The number of journalists killed in Sindh since 2002 has
reached 16. The worst part is that absolutely no culprit has been found or punished for these crimes
If we go into the details, a total of 32 FIRs were registered for the murder of 33 journalists in six
years, but the police filed the charge sheet in only 20 cases, that is a dismal ratio of just 60 percent.

Challenges For Female Journalists in Pakistan

Less than 5 percent of journalists in Pakistan are women, which raises serious questions about how
the media can reflect and inform public opinion when the sector is so unrepresentative of the
society it serves.

A 2017 survey highlighted that almost one in two female journalists in Pakistan have experienced
gender-based violence in the course of their work and only 24 percent have not reported facing
any form of harassment.

➢ Media rights under pressure

▪ An immediate consequence of greater authoritarian rule is the obstruction of freedom of

expression and the freedom to access information.
▪ Media regulations become tougher and journalists who are not in line with mainstream
elites become more and more endangered and face possible censorship and intimidation –
and even arbitrary arrest and torture.
▪ In these situations, the protection of reporters, editors and journalists becomes an important
task for media support organizations and the close monitoring of the development of media
freedom becomes more relevant.
▪ A lot of work has been done, and new creative initiatives have started, but so far it has not
been reflected upon systematically.

➢ The educational system of media employees

Systems and structures in Pakistan proved a legacy of colonialism. We have a polarized educational system
and still not clear about content, syllabus, objectives, skills, medium and exam system from primary to
higher level of education. Media related education is though being offered but there are certain lacunas in
it. Teaching methods, contents, techniques, and system of English medium educational institutions
‘encourage and facilitate analytical thinking as compared to the Urdu medium institutions that usually
promote cramming and rote learning’ (Eijaz, 2010. p. 68). That is why the attribute, style and characteristics
of Urdu and English media organizations is contrary to each other. Banner headlines of Urdu dailies are
usually based on statements and carry propagandistic style. Investigative reporting is almost absent in Urdu
media. Even contents of advertisements are substandard and unethical. The two parallel trends are
continually perpetuating and appear as a challenge. Journalists working in Urdu newspapers are not as
qualified as of English newspapers. Since they are less qualified, they are low paid and in some cases they
are denied of any salary. Kalansooriya (2010, p.2) quotes the interview of Adnan Rehmat, country head of
Internews, regarding educational standards and its impact of vernacular journalism in Pakistan. He says,
“More than 80% of present print news desks are with youngsters who have less than three-year experience
and they are between the ages of 20 to 22 years. Their academic and exposure background is in a pathetic
condition in understanding complex issues. Thus, their own perception or bias creeps into their own
stories.” Other than the regular degree programs in media education, there is a need of in-service refresher
courses, training programs and workshops for working journalists. A liaison between media practitioners
and academicians is the need of the hour that can improve standards of media education and can initiate
need-based academic programs.

➢ Financial constraints and job security

Financial constraints at individual level may lead a journalist to practice brown envelope syndrome and
other malpractices. Reporters of the same beat do not bother to collect first hand information rather they
make deals with other reports that ultimately results in the circulation of planted content. A committed,
honest and upright journalist is also sometimes forced to compromise due to financial constraints. It is also
observed that some media organization appoint journalists without any salary package. Journalists are asked
to make money through brown envelope syndrome, blackmailing, exploitation and other malpractices. Fear
of unemployment, trends of downsizing and increased competition adds to the fear of job insecurity. Since
majority media organizations are working in private sectors which have their own terms and conditions.
Employment is usually contractual or on ad hoc basis therefore, job insecurity hovers on the minds of
journalists all the time. In the given circumstances it seems quite difficult to accept the challenges posed by
financial constraints and job insecurities.

Conclusion
A free and informed debate in society through mass media and the dissemination of objective information
is necessary in order for citizens to make informed decisions. However, there are certain times when media
has to leave the neutral grounds. According to Schudson (1991) there are three moments when the American
newspersons willingly abandon the neutral ground. These happen when: tragedy strikes; public life is
endangered and national security is threatened. Democratic media is a challenge while media democracy is
an option.
Information management has become a large-scale industry which seems at times to threaten some of the
basic rights of a democratic society. Media democracy rests on the idea that there must be a check and
confinement on concentration of media ownership; normal and sensible media regulation; promotion of
citizen journalism; and provision of micro-level/alternative media to government and public like Ghana,
Tanzania, Kenya, and Nigeria Electronic Colonialism is a challenge while grassroots/proletariat media is
an option. Increased concentration of media ownership and emergence of media giants control the
information traffic and determine what realities are accessible to the general public. According to Thussu
(2000, p. 66), "Developing countries know virtually nothing about events in neighboring countries that has
not been filtered through the lenses of the developed media systems." Decentralized, alternative and
community media can facilitate general public to voice their opinion and participate at various levels.
However, disparities on the basis of education and economic status may hamper certain segments of society
to participate on equal or realistic grounds.
Internet has created another sphere, based on virtual realities. In the last decade of 20th century, internet
and mobile phone was considered as a luxury and a symbol of rich class in Pakistan. The dominant virtual
communities hijacked cyber sphere because of their socio-economic dispositions which emerged as a
challenge. Since the ideology of the ruling elite becomes the ruling ideology, the ruling elite are freely using
virtual space. Media has been serving as the means of ruling power to produce and maintain the dominant
ideology. Trans-border information exchange is now so blurred that it is becoming meaningless.
Media organizations are now multi-national and global and with the new technological development, global
journalism practices have been significantly changed both in information production and in information
consumption. However, the low cost technology produced by China to participate in the cyber sphere is
helping to initiate pluralist ideas thus cyber space is becoming an option. Media is like an industry which
is dependent on its supply of raw material. The sources of information can manipulate reality. The
willingness and ability of journalists to interrogate their sources and compare one source with another is
itself a critical variable and may be constrained by the organizational contexts in which they operate.
Sources themselves vary in scope, size, power and influence. Market-driven media has made the news as a
‘commodity’ that signify news as a cheap and readily available good. News can be purchased on demand
as well as free of cost news is also available on satellite and other channels which has certain
cultural/ideological leanings. Promotion of citizen journalism is a good option to cope up this challenge.
Cultural imperialism and media imperialism is a challenge for the developing countries. The import of
Western and American media system and products by less developed countries resulted in the dominance
of news flow, entertainment, communication technology and English as universal language. Schiller (1992)
believed that further domination and dependency would come with further extension of the new information
technology. Such phenomena gave rise to the term "media imperialism". The imbalance of power resources
between the countries engaged and entangled with unidirectional cultural invasion through media contents
and systems created media imperialism (Boyd-Barrett, 1977). The challenge of media imperialism can only
be dealt with proper media policies. Development and growth of local and regional media systems to
promote pluralist media can be of some help.
Media has an important role in building institutions. In the developing countries where literacy level is very
poor, role of media in the development becomes more crucial. Romano (2005) divided development
journalism perspectives into the following five categories: (a) journalists as nation builders, (b) journalists
as government partners, (c) journalists as agents of empowerment, (d) journalists as watchdogs, and (e)
journalists as the guardians of transparency. Contribution of media in building institutions is a challenge
and resting upon any perspectives of development journalism is an option. Whatever perspective a Pakistani
Journalist/media holds, it will further development and strengthen democracy.