The Ground Beneath Pakistan’s Feet

All shook up!
Ever since the devastating earthquake hit Pakistan on the 8th of October this year, the country plunged into a state of unprecedented confusion, shock and horror.

Not far behind in this respect were the country’s many newspapers and television channels.

In other words, at least for the first three days, not only did the government seem all at sea in trying to determine how exactly to react to a calamity of such a frightening magnitude, the media too looked to be suffering from similar bouts of chaos, unable to fully understand how is one to “objectively” report on such a tragedy.

More used to whipping up storms around heated talk shows and turning trivial drawing room political gossip into grand “debates,” all private and official television channels seemed to have little clue how to comment on the earth shattering event.

Because after all, this is Pakistani media, in which so-called “objective analysis” are commonly punctuated with words like “Inshallah,” “mahashallah” and “shaheed” that are then conveniently paralleled by blunt bollywoodised pop kitsch and maddeningly loud commercials.

So one just had to keep going back to foreign channels like the CNN and the BBC to actually gage the news side of it all without being derailed by the soap operatic style of the local media.

However, one must praise the efforts of certain Pakistani channels in generating the awareness and emotion required to at once mobilize masses of people to come out and offer whatever material and emotional help they could put forward in this dire hour of need.


My god is bigger than yours…

The electronic media’s impact is huge these days, especially in countries like
India and Pakistan. It’s huge in influencing the now fluent (if not exactly dynamic), political and social mindset of the so-called masses. And the way this earthquake is being covered shall go a long way in determining how most Pakistanis would now start to think about matters such as Islam, the Army and the country’s perceptions about the “non-believing” west.

Two things can happen: Either the fall-out will actually end up aiding Musharraf’s plodding ways to supposedly secularize certain vital sections of the country’s politics and society, or they will face a severe backlash. It is still too vague to correctly predict any such outcome.

And I say this because even though on a general level (and so far), varied opposing political and ideological sections and parties have shown an unprecedented approach towards unity by avoiding the usual blame game, however, interestingly on the airwaves a creeping battle of ideologies has already begun.

It all began with one group of analysts calling the tragedy “God’s azaab” (God’s wrath) on a sinful populace, while the other set ridiculed this whip-lashing verdict and pleaded to understand the calamity on a more scientific and human level.

This has also bought out into the open the political and ideological leanings of various large television channels.

Let me explain this by commenting on the observations made while surfing across these channels during the first three days of the earthquake. And I shall do so by commenting on each channel individually.


Medium is the madness.

ARY

Owned by a millionaire Pakistani jeweler from Dubai (who incidentally is also an absconder for some corruption case registered against him in the late ‘90s), ARY has grown to become a popular private Pakistani television channel, perhaps second only to GEO TV. And not surprisingly, GEO is its biggest competitor as well.

Like GEO, ARY squarely caters to mass taste, mixing politics, kitsch pop and religion in a bizarre potpourri that doesn’t always taste all that great.
One can actually call ARY the FOX TV of Pakistan. But with a twist. Because where FOX blatantly forwards a pro-government stance, this is left to good old PTV in Pakistan.

ARY actually is largely anti-government, or to put it a bit more directly, anti-Musharraf. It is with the nature of the loud and emotional abandon it does this that makes it so much like FOX, plus the fact, that quite like FOX, ARY more often than not takes a rather obvious right-wing stance on most political and social issues.

Some observers have also called ARY a “jihadi channel.”

But all this is done in a cleverly evangelistic manner, when the viewers are drawn in with a number of rather gory looking “fashion shows,” cringingly formulaic and Indianized soap operas and emotional political talk shows, all juxtaposed with equally loud religious programming, with regular azaan breaks, naats and impassioned lectures.

This blatant tilt towards what is called the religious right in Pakistan have actually turned talk show hosts like ARY’s Dr. Shahid Mhamood, media celebrities in the country.

The conservative sections of the masses find him to be bold and heroic, as
he liberally laces his “news analysis” with drawing room conspiracy theories (the sort usually found on a million or so blog sites!).

All this may seem rather funny to some, almost like watching a channel that welcomes news commentaries by quacks, but when one turns and starts hearing loads of people echoing the glorious “insights” offered by such characters, you start to wonder.

Now, this is not to suggest that other Pakistani channels like GEO are immune to such political quackery. Far from it, but ARY certainly takes the cake.
And while doing this, ARY also has shows that pretend to offer a lighter side to all this passionate rabblerousing.

But the sum of such shows usually ends up with one watching Imran Khan as a guest over and again, almost as if ARY was consciously pushing the great Khan as the next Pakistani PM, as he rambles on and on sounding like a blurred cross between General (rtd.) Hamid Gul’s careless militarist fanaticism and a fiftysomething member of the British Conservative Party!
(Or for that matter, the “New Labor!”).


And then the earth shook …

Interestingly, whereas both GEO and ARY usually outshine most of its competition when it comes to covering bombings and related political upheavals, both were humbled (if not actually beaten all ends up), by a relative new comer in the realm of Urdu news channels, AAJ TV.
ARY seemed to have no clue how to go about covering an event that required a portrayal of unity among all sections of the local political set-up. Or, in other words, ARY fumbled over an event that gave little opportunity to the rabblerousing channel to pitch its passionate “jihadi” analysts against “secular” parties like General Pervez Musharraf, Shaukat Aziz, the Pakistan Peoples Party, the NGO’s, etc.

Not that they didn’t try. For example, Dr. Shahid Mhamood did rant and rave in his usual style and continue calling this earthquake “azzab-e-ilahi” (God’s wrath), so much so, for a while I thought he was about to blame NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan for this tragedy. Because after all, he was perhaps the only man who was actually allowed to go on mainstream television and point-blank talk about that “Zionist conspiracy” behind the 9/11 attacks in New York!

Really, I did wonder even then that how come the same man allows breaks in his program punctuated with exhibitions of the most crudest forms of capitalism in the shape of ugly TV commercials, most of them of brands run by large Jew owned companies on the other side of the globe.
Little news and much chest beating was the order of the day on ARY. And poor P.J Mir too had little to offer through his show because his favorite guest Imran Khan is more akin to talk about the “terrible sufferings” being faced by the people of his constituency in Mianwalli and about Hamid Gul’s version of the ubiqutious Kashmir problem.

For the first time I actually saw a large number of Pakistanis actually repulsed by ARY and switching to various other channels. The only “azaab” they saw was ARY’s earthquake transmission.


GEO TV

In aura and outlook, very little separates GEO from ARY. However, if one
puts ARY on the right sides of the local ideological spectrum, GEO can be seen taking a “center-right” position in its views and ways, even though it does have the habit of every now and then coming up with sudden bursts of “progressive-ism,” some of it actually being a central plank in its overall policy, i.e.: socio-economic and political peace with India.
In fact, GEO TV right from the beginning (some five years ago), and long before the recent CBMs between the governments of India and Pakistan, has been quite vocal in airing the “importance of peace with India.” Not surprisingly, GEO TV was also one of the first Pakistani channels to air select Indian television programs and films.

Owned by the largest group of newspapers in Pakistan, (The Jang Group), GEO, very much like Pakistan’s largest selling Urdu newspaper, Daily Jang, is a queer mixture of Jamat-e-Islami sympathizers, old progressive war horses, young liberals, MQM supporters, “agency men,” and the usual lota lot who move wherever the wind blows.

Much of the programming is done to echo mass taste and sentiment and to bag as much advertising for as many purposes as possible, with occasional stabs at “experimental” programming that is not scared to tackle issues like sex, drugs, rape, etc.

Though most of GEO’s political programming is usually left to the whims of former print journalists who more often than not have been accused in the past of being on the payroll of the intelligence agencies, or those who got a sudden shot at fame by claiming to have interviewed Islamist rascals like Osama bin Laden, GEO’s political talk shows remain to be a little less sensationalist or populist compared to those run by ARY. Even though, the producers do keep in mind the common sentiment and beliefs of the “masses.”
But since GEO most certainly has the biggest viewership in the religiously volatile society of Pakistan, it is important to keep track of its religious programming too.

And though much of GEO’s religious programs are a far cry from ARY’s unabashed tilt towards a bizarre form of cosmopolitan Deobandist/Tableeghi school of Islam, it is GEO that has landed with the most controversy in this respect.

It usually plunges into the field claiming to give voice and opinion to all sects of Islam, but the truth is, it has thus far only managed to brew even more confusion while attempting to or claiming to bring important religious issues and matters out into the open. The attempts do so do look admiringly brave, but the results at times have been rather catastrophic! Quite the opposite of what was initially desired.

And then the earth shook …

For the first time in its short but dynamic history, GEO looked beat as the leading Pakistani news channel covering a headlining national event. Hampered by its desperate competition with ARY (and vice versa), both channels simply failed to recognize the potential of AAJ TV to actually challenge their proven supremacy in the field of reporting and coverage.
The truth is, both ARY and GEO got trapped by their own programming formulas and tone, being pathetically unable to define the scientific sides of the calamity or fully capturing the human side of it without some “Islamic scholar” or the other calling in to confidently and sweepingly declare the earthquake to be “Allah ka azaab!” Is this what a victim of such a tragedy or someone who lost his children, would like to hear in this desperate hour of need? That he or she was sinful and that’s why his child, father, wife and whomsoever died under tons and tons of rugged concrete?

It was interesting to note many hosts at GEO trying hard to diplomatically push the “azaab” theory under the carpet, but the truth is, apart from dramatized chest beating, they had very little to offer as a more sensible and intelligent alternative.
In fact such a state of numb confusion GEO was in during the initial hours of the event, that one actually had to switch to insignificant news channels like Indus News to find out (in Urdu), exactly what was going on. GEO were then busy showing its usually large numbers of bad TV commercials and formulaic Ramadan programs. All of a sudden, a giant now seemed like a confused mouse squeaking shrieking little nothings.

PTV

What can be said about PTV that has not already been said? It is still one of those old fashioned state-owned channels that used to rule the airwaves across numerous countries during the Cold War, even though much has changed in the ways of PTV especially regarding its non-political programming because no more does one see government propaganda being weaved into plays and other programs of entertainment, a cringing habit and act that became a norm during the Zia dictatorship.


And then the earth shook …

Till recently PTV was seen trying hard to break its staunch pro-government image by actually inviting and interviewing (live!), a number of opposition leaders and outspoken human rights activists like Asma Jehangir. And it is also a fact that more often than not every now and then, when a person after being hammered to utter numbness or severe headache by the loud ways of the private channels, usually switched to PTV for some calm and peace. However, PTV’s coverage of the earthquake sent it back to what it was many years ago. Simply put, had we only PTV at our disposal, very few Pakistanis would have been able to gage the actual magnitude and seriousness of the event. And after realizing that such can never be the case in this day and age, PTV shifted gears and started reporting blatant lies about the government’s relief efforts, almost sounding as if the Army jawans had not only arrived on time at the affected areas, but they had already been there
three days before the quake hit!

Even till this day, now more than a week after the initial confusion, PTV goes on claiming heaven. It is pretty clear that in the face of the government now feeling nervous at the criticism that has been building up against the Army and the senior ministers, PTV has been advised to devote much time in eulogizing and praising Army and government efforts. Sad.

AAJ TV
The recent explosion seen in Pakistan in the number of TV channels that are popping up across millions of screens in the country has been a rather disorienting experience. Quantity is not being complemented by quality, so much so, that almost all of these channels are looking and sounding quite the same.

But alas, there are exceptions. Few and in-between, ironically it took a tragedy like the earthquake that finally and clearly set them apart from the ubiquitous standards set by the likes of GEO and ARY.

AAJ TV is one such exception. Owned and run by the publishers of Pakistan’s premiere business newspaper, Business Recorder, AAJ TV in spite of catering to the same mass market being chased by GEO and ARY, have done so without flaunting the flashy, glimmering frills with which its competitors try to make an impression on the now pretty jaded masses. AAJ TV is proving that maybe the reverse is true. Meaning that “speaking the language of the people” in a more constrained, understated and bland manner can get you more attention than shouting and sensationalizing.

And then the earth shook …
Without doubt, AAJ TV’s coverage of the earthquake has run past all other local channels. Not only did this transmission and coverage of theirs been the most informative, level minded and (most importantly), without having any allusions (or delusions) about the event being (or not being) “Allah ka azaab,” it was AAJ TV’s initial pleas that also set things up for the eventual mammoth civilian relief efforts that followed.


TV One
Started by “media guru” and well known advertising boss, Tahir Khan, TV One is a new face but with an ambitious streak, the sort usually associated with whatever Mr. Khan sets out to do (but not always achieve).
Khan is not exactly a novice in the field. In fact he was one of the main men behind Pakistan’s first ever private television network (NTM) in the early and mid 90s.

NTM though brought down by inner strife and charges of corruption in the late ‘90s, was a massive success with the people. But it was coming in as a channel in a country, which till then only had one TV channel (the state-owned and one-sided, PTV). This made NTM’s job a lot easier, giving the people the sort of glamour and entertainment it never got beyond the VCR.

However, the past in this respect is certainly a different country. TV One has arrived in an environment now clogged with various television channels (including foreign). And even though it aggressively advertised itself as a “different channel,” so far it has been unable to define its style and position that is any different from most other channels out there. It has come out to be a channel that is nothing more than a hybrid between Indus TV’s hip yuppie/preppie musings and GEO’s and ARY’s fetish of cocktailing loud populist kitsch with louder religious chanting.

It should be noted that when it comes to religion, TV One (along with entertainment channels like Indus TV and Hum TV), is also a vivid representation of a growing group of liberal evangelists.

These are rich, highly educated young men and women who at some (recent) point in time “flipped (!)” Not all of them go around (like Juniad Jamshed, Najam Shiraz or Farhan Ali Agha), preaching the meaning of being a good Muslim, but words like “mashallah” and “inshallah” have become frequent, twisted so lovingly in their everyday (mostly English) speak.

Many TV channels like HUM, INDUS and TV One have devised a plan to combat the religious celebrities designed by GEO and ARY, by putting famous former-stars-turned-born-again-Muslims in charge of its religious programming. Now one can see Najam Shiraz, Farhan Ali Agha, Juniad Jamshed and even famous ‘80s supermodel, Atiya Khan, conducting various Islamic programs on these channels. It just doesn’t matter to these channels that much of their young upwardly mobile preachers talk nothing more than utter nonsense, as long as they look good or better than a typical fat molvi shouting about fahasi and azaab. I do wonder which one’s scarier.


And then the earth shook …

The less said about TV One’s coverage of the earthquake, the better. I’d rather listen to Junaid Jamshed talking about the dearth of brand new Tariq bin Walids and Mohammad bin Qasims (Osamas too?) in Pakistan as a lesser evil, than what TV One had to offer in way of information and reportage on the dreadful earthquake.

And yes, that’s what JJ was actually asking for, instead of hospitals, schools, medicines (et al), required by the victims. TV One was proud to run his lecture. Not once, but twice.