Dawn of a new era in Pakistan

Vested intrests may be there from many quarters in any sphere of national life, including mass media. But, the journalist, when enjoys freedom of expression, may serve as a watchdog by showing mirror to the society. From that prespective Free Media in Pakistan, while serving corporate interests of global players, may still be a blessing for the liberal and democratic forces in the country.

I don`t know...I`m a bit perturbed by the overzealous praise towards Pak electronic media. It seems to me that the activism of journalists and the quality of journalism has always been there - its just that it is easy to notice them now because of the power of mass electronic media. Aren`t most of these media corporate owned and/or have to compete for attention from the corporate world for revenue?

In the U.S. there has been a huge debate and criticism against corporate media and its role in creating a lesser democratic society (e.g. Rich Media Poor Democracy by a renowned scholar of journalism, Robert McChesney). It seems to me that most of the South-Asian media has followed in the same direction as the U.S. model.

If Media ``really`` emerges as the ``fourth pillar`` of our state, that would be great; as then no person like Gen. Yahya, Gen Zia, Gen. Musharraf, Asif Zardari, Nawaz Sharif or Altaf Hussain would be able to do what they have been doing with this nation with immunity during last many decades!