Theologising social issues on TV dangerous: Khaled
KARACHI, June 19 2006: Eminent writer Khaled Ahmed has said theologising social issues on television is a dangerous development and the clerics in Pakistan have enough power to overrule all laws. “The clergy wants the removal of everything that is not Islamic and everything else that stands for lack of joy,” Ahmed said as key speaker at the final session of the South Asia Free Media Association’s (SAFMA) national conference on electronic media, on June 18.
Respected for his rational and thought provoking articles and reviews appearing in Daily Times and The Friday Times, Ahmed said a growing sense of rejection prevailed in Pakistan where seminaries, tough they were not producing Al-Qaeda recruits, were still imbibing rejection of the outside world. “We are destabilizing ourselves by undermining our laws,” he said pointing to the religious programmes on TV, which have become the order of the day now in Pakistan. Adding to the discussion, Indian journalist Burkha Dutt of NDTV said that TV journalists usually tend to pay attention to the extremes to bring dramatic elements in their talk shows.
She pinpointed a stark difference between newspapers and television. Dutt said newspapers could always be revisited to understand the point whereas complex views on television was simply told to viewers. “Television runs in the background of whatever you do but its primary aim remains to communicate,” she said. Dutt said there was nothing wrong with television as it provided potential to break the stereotypical.
“The rest is what you make of it (TV),” she added. “TV talk shows can push the conventionally accepted positions, but lacks the capacity to reach a conclusion,” she added. TV journalist Talat Hussain, said TV talk shows, which are very much like the opinion pages of newspapers, serve a very opinionated dose, having an inherent bias. He acknowledged that the opinion in television talk shows was determined by the chosen speakers.
Hussain said TV shows on Indo-Pak issues could be described twisted and time-robbed. He defined somewhat, a category of political and social experts appearing on TV talk shows as part of the solution, which he deemed contrary to the fact. “They have been part of the problem.” Hussain pointed out a deficit for genuine debate on the fast emerging private television channels of Pakistan. He said ex-generals and bureaucrats masquerading as independent experts have actually hijacked the debate. “Different faces are but rancour the same debate in different packages,” he said.
TV anchorperson Mujahid Barelvi said Pakistan’s electronic media for decades remained completely under crude establishment control. He said Pak-India relations not by government but intelligentsia and majority media tycoons, promoting a one sided view, were seen through the spectacles of prejudice. “But now during my five years with talk shows, neither I nor my channel chief received any shut-up call from GHQ, at least on Pak-India issues,” he said. “If we view documentaries and talk shows on Pak-India relations on the electronic media, it is pleasant to see unbounded reporting,” he said. “The present improved attitude towards Pak-India relations is simply possible because it suits the establishments on both sides of the border,” he said.
Source: Daily Times
Date:6/19/2006
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