‘Censorship has never worked’ — Aslam Azhar
KARACHI, Nov 8: Aslam Azhar is something of a man for all seasons. Though he read law at Cambridge and dabbled in writing, radio broadcasting and documentary film-making, he is perhaps best known for his role in guiding Pakistan Television from a pilot set-up in Lahore in 1964 all the way to 1991, when he retired as chairman.
Mr Azhar was in Karachi recently to present a lecture at the Aga Khan University on cultural sensitivities in contemporary societies and spoke to Dawn about the current media milieu. Because this interview was conducted before the state of emergency was clamped on the nation, Mr Azhar could not be asked about his take on the government’s blanket ban on news channels. Regardless, his answers reflect a conventional wisdom that those at the helm of affairs of local channels and the powers that be in Islamabad should certainly pay heed to, ban or no ban. Here are excerpts from the interview:
Q: Is there too much sensationalism in the Pakistani electronic media?
A: Yes, but I won’t confine that sensationalism to the Pakistani electronic media only. I find that this sensationalism is now the fashion in the electronic media in both west and east.
Q: What do you think is the solution to the current state of affairs: self-regulation or a strong watchdog, ie Pemra?
A: The question is essentially not of regulation but of the cultural values which pervade a whole society. After all, the media are not sitting in isolation outside of the society in which they work. They share the same values and value systems. They share the same mindset. If the media are to ‘sell’ their product, that is to say if they want to attract viewers, then obviously they must reflect and articulate the dreams, aspirations, troubles and sorrows of the public which views their programmes. Now whether a regulatory body sits above them all or whether they set up a self-regulatory system, as you have suggested … neither, I think, is going to work. It never has. The only thing that works is a finger on the pulse of society so that the media know that we can go this far. If we go further, the public will reject us.
Q: How do we compare with the western electronic media?
A: Firstly, the western electronic media has much more money than us. Therefore, they are able to do things that we are not able to do. Expertise comes with opportunity. We haven’t got the expertise here of, for example, National Geographic. But if we had the time and the money [that they have], that expertise would develop. Compared to them, our Pakistani producers and directors work on a shoestring budget. So I don’t criticise on that basis and hence I don’t compare.
Q: Is there such a thing as being unbiased, especially in the context of broadcast journalism?
A: No. There is no such thing as being unbiased. There’s a myth that some of the western news channels — I won’t name them — are very ‘objective’ and ‘unbiased.’ But when I look at the coverage of the Falkland Islands war and Iraq and all the rest of it, where is the objectivity and where is the lack of bias? Every medium, any channel, serves its public, which includes the state. One difference must be pointed out, though. They [foreign channels] continue to serve the interests of the state, but they are not at the service of the government of the day.
It’s different with us, unfortunately, because we’re not yet experienced enough on the road to democracy, tolerance and what I call the culture of dialogue. Because we do not have that culture here, our media cannot distinguish between the interests of the state of Pakistan and the interests of the government of the day of Pakistan.
Q: Do you think PTV can compete, especially in news and current affairs, with the private channels?
A: It becomes a little difficult of course because again, satellite channels are not paid for by the government of the day. They are not hired and fired by the government and therefore the private channels are at liberty, while keeping the interests of the state in front of their minds, to be critical. The government has the right to hire and fire in PTV. The PTV producers and newsmen are, shall I say, more inhibited in exercising their journalistic judgements.
Q: Do you see things settling down on the electronic media front or is it going to get even more chaotic?
A: In what sense is it chaotic now?
Q: In the sense that hue and cry has been raised over the gory images telecast after some of the recent incidents in the nation.
A: That happens everywhere in the world. Gory images are everywhere. Sensation sells better than the truth. Everywhere, whether it’s CNN or anything else, sensation sells. The truth is often dull. Therefore chaos is not the word I would use. It’s sensation.
Q: What is your opinion of the local channels’ coverage of events in Karachi such as May 12 and October 18?
A: Well, there was a lot of sensationalism in it. But at the same time one also got a glimpse of what was actually happening. If I had been there personally I would also have seen people getting shot and blown up if I’d been close enough and hadn’t got blown up myself. So instead of being there I saw all this happening on camera. Now the makers of the programmes may have exaggerated and concentrated on the gory scenes. But as a sensible viewer I sift the sensation from the truth. You as the government censor can’t. It’s never succeeded. Censorship has never worked, especially in this age of satellite. How can the censorship of one channel stop the other hundred channels over which you have no control?
Q: Has the development of 24-hour news channels desensitised the viewer?
A: Yes. The public has become jaded. ItÂ’s had too much of a good thing. It is tired of that good thing. All over the world the television public is becoming more or less jaded with the current fare.
Q: How free is the Pakistani media?
A: As far as the private channels are concerned IÂ’d say they’re as free as can be. How much freer can you get without becoming licentious? There’s freedom and there’s license. There is an essence of freedom and then there’s a romantic, imagined freedom. Let’s distinguish between the two.
Source: Dawn
Date:11/9/2007
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