ISI and media infighting
IN the bizarre, whiplash-inducing fallout of the Hamid
Mir shooting, an alarming new twist has occurred: the Ministry of
Defence — really, the army/ISI leadership — has petitioned Pemra to
cancel the TV license of Geo News while also calling for action against
the Jang group’s flagship newspapers under the defamation and press laws
of the country. Cloaked in indignation, outrage and outright fury at
the allegedly scurrilous coverage of the ISI, the army’s move — and the
government’s acquiescence — is deeply troubling because it takes aim at
the existence of an independent and free media. Certain basic issues
need to be reiterated first. To begin with, Hamid Mir was shot in a
targeted attack because of his work as a prominent journalist — and
there seems to be little to no concern any longer about who may have
been behind the attack and why. Next, the wildly emotional, over-the-top
and accusatory coverage by Geo News after the attack on Mr Mir was
clearly misguided and far from the best practices of a responsible
media.
Yet, for all the missteps and violations of responsible
conduct by the Jang group, the army itself seeking to shut down the
country’s largest media house because of direct allegations against ISI
chief Gen Zahirul Islam is a step too far — and ought to unite the media
and the public against this step.
For decades, anti-democratic and authoritarian elements have kept the
public from choosing who it wants to lead the country and muzzled the
media from holding the state to account for its deeds and misdeeds. Now,
when a transition is under way and democratic continuity is on its way
to becoming irreversible, there is more of a need than ever to have an
independent and free media that can operate outside the still-present
shadow of anti-democratic forces. The ISI and the army leadership may be
rightly aggrieved, but seeking the cancellation of a media group’s TV license is also a hostile move that can have a chilling effect on the
media far beyond just the Jang group — even if Pemra in the end only
slaps the group with a fine.
There is though another sad spectacle
playing out in the midst of this clash between the state and media: the
media at war with itself. Fueled seemingly by ego, old and new
rivalries and, surely,
commercial interests, the electronic media has cannibalized itself in
recent days. It has been unseemly and worse. With several media groups
falling over themselves to denounce each other while simultaneously
swearing fealty to the ISI and the army, the core journalistic mission
of informing the public and holding the state to account has all but
been forgotten. It is time for representative bodies of print and
electronic media to come together to defuse tensions and lay down the
rules of ethical journalism.
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