The youth and media: sensationalism and ratings | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

The youth and media: sensationalism and ratings

Ali Moeen Nawazish

The media has become a power broker in the past eight years in an unprecedented way in Pakistan. It has in a way become the fourth pillar of the state. With this increased role and influence the youth looks up to the media in the same way as it looks up to politicians, the executive and the judiciary. In general the youth appreciates the role the media has played for the country. They appreciate that the media has made the more informed. They appreciate that the media has exposed corruption and informed them of their rights. They appreciate the stand the media has taken at a great loss to itself, for the Pakistani state, such as the restoration of the judiciary. But at times and now increasingly the youth is becoming somewhat critical of some roles the media has started playing. While the topic requires an at length discussion, but two themes I would focus on today is the sensationalism and programming quality, and how ratings play into both.

One of the biggest criticisms that one now increasingly finds in almost all youth circles is exaggeration and sensationalization. The packages using songs to add funny effects to serious news are seldom appreciated. There is obviously a place for satire in the media, but that goes well in programs like Khabar Naak or Hum Sub Umeed Say Hain, not in the main news bulletins. Some serious issues need to be dealt with in a serious way. Exaggeration and targeting of the government in every single situation is also not seen well. It has become a trend to lay fault on the government and demand everything from the Prime Minister and Chief Minister, which isn’t exactly their full time job. What does lose focus is policy and implementation which is actually the job description of these posts. Another criticism on this sensationalist attitude is apparently making news out of nothing. For instance, a few days ago there was a report that a rather bulky politician slipped from the stairs and almost fell over. This was being run on most channels with the slipping foot being a highlighted with a red circle, and a rather cheesy song at the back. The youth wonders shouldn’t the same airtime of the national news bulletin be given to issues of the youth such as education! When has education been last featured in the 9 o’ clock news bulletin, when has there been a show highlighting the ghost school epidemic? The youth is given the impression that a politician’s slipping foot is more important then the educational crisis in the country, when it is clearly not. Similarly even in print media, reading the columns some seem as press releases from certain political parties, and others are columns about other people. It is not uncommon for columns to play out feuds between two rival columnists. Again the youth does ask, are our issues so irrelevant that personal feud gets more importance and space in the national newspapers?

Perhaps most of this is driven from the competition to attract viewers and readers, and this race to make and deliver content which sells. This race to make something sellable has started effecting the quality of the content that is being produced. After having joined the media recently, one thing that has been a recurring theme specifically for electronic media is ratings. These eventually end up determining the type of content which goes on air, and stays or doesn’t stay on air. Will this get ratings is a question often asked, while not wrong it often ends us being the only question being asked. An anchor was recently telling me that he had been instructed to have more fights in his program between politicians to get the ratings up.

For those of you who don’t know ratings are a way which measure how many people are watching a particular tv show. They are gathered in two ways, one is the self reporting diary method in which people report their viewing habits and which programs they watch. The other is the tv meter which uses meters to check what is being seen or not. This in turn is used as a gauge by advertisers. So more ratings in some ways means more advertisers.

The first method is not considered to be accurate due to the self reporting nature which leads to response bias and the second even internationally is always preferred, the bigger companies tend to use a combination of both. Now, the biggest problem that always appears when gauging viewing habits is the sample. The ratings that are derived from meters are only representative of about 4000 people as the information states on one of the bigger rating companies website.

The meters are placed in the metropolitan areas of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi. Two whole provinces are not even represented. Secondly, the ratings should only be used a guide to determine programming and not be the ultimate goal of programming.

Apart from the sample size in ratings, There is also a lack of critic’s ratings in Pakistan. Internationally the ratings which are referred to as popular ratings are used in conjunction with critic’s ratings. Popular ratings show how much a show is being watched or not watched, and critic’s ratings are a judgement on the quality of the program by industry experts and peers. If obscene content is being show on tv of course it will be popular, however it would not be good quality programming. Some say that we need to give the people what they want, following that logic the government should then abolish all taxes and start giving state funds to people who sit at home and do nothing. That is what people may want but isn’t right. There is much need for a critic’s rating in the country, critic’s ratings which are both respected and accepted across the board.

Apart from sensationalism ratings at times discourage good programming. Currently youth programming has been more or less limited to music videos, apart from a one or two good programs. Children programming also seems non existent. There are not many programs which are designed to teach children as one would find on CBeebies which in the UK is aimed for kids from 0 to 6 and aims at teaching them basic skills and entertaining them at the same time. While these may not get ratings in the traditional sense due to sample constraints, but are none the less important.

The conclusion becomes that popular ratings(those too with a limited sample) are encouraging sensationalism and a lack of good programming, both of which are leading the youth to alienate itself from and criticize the media. It is important to aim for viewers, but one can sell good quality content too. In the golden age of Pakistan television there seemed to be an emphasis on this type of quality, and most of us know how much we loved that golden age. I think the same is now to be asked of our new and independent media.

But what is ever encouraging is that the youth believes that more than anyone else that they look up to, the media is the only one that would actually listen to them, and take their opinion into account. I think the youth is absolutely right on that account, and we have a great media in the country which has a potential to do a lot more if it listens to those who care for it.

The writer is Youth Ambassador of Geo and Jang Group. Email:[email protected] Facebook: facebook.com/ali.moeen.nawazish

Source: The News