(Person) Percentage - Sabanci University Research Database

The Asian Media & Mass Communication Conference 2010 Osaka, Japan
The rise of electronic media and the post-9/11 terrorism
Ahsan Akhtar Naz, Wajiha Raza Rizvi
Institute of Communication Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
Pakistan’s is a curious case of the historical media-government differences due to internal
instability, terrorism, and wars. A succession of governments has exercised strict controls over
media that it fought rigorously through violations and severe punishments during the martial law
regimes. The democratic governments began negotiating ethics with the media, giving it freedom
and protection under the constitution (1973). However, the differences were never settled despite
the introduction of free media policy by Musharraf’s (semi)martial law government at the advent
of the new millennium. The media and the history of media regulations present a never ending
story of ethical violations by media groups and professionals who have compromised truth and
objectivity for vested interests. The magnitude of this lapse has increased tremendously due to
heavy induction of immature journalists. Consequently, the media groups lack abilities for
managing information with responsibility in the present scenario of the post-9/11 War on Terror
that parallel a rise of free electronic media in Pakistan. This situation reflects a demand by some
sections of the Press and public to implement media ethics to avoid mass-mediated view of reality
pertaining to terrorism and sectarianism. The media shall change its attitude and frame and
implement ethics to avoid any future regulations by the government. This paper examines the
Pakistani media scene and the historical media-government differences in view of Pakistan’s
internal instability and terrorism that global media project, putting challenges to the local censors
and the credibility of the government and media in Pakistan.
The Pakistani Media Scene
At the time of Independence in 1947, the Pakistani media was limited to 08 daily newspapers
(“Pakistan,” Background, para. 2, n.d.) and only two radio stations. By the turn of the millennium,
it expanded to 815 papers and periodicals, 24 radio stations, 03 private FM stations, and 05
terrestrial TV stations that were supplemented by PTV World, Shalimar Television Network
(Orient & Carat, 2010; Ziauddin, 2000), and a mushroom growth of illegal cable television
networks that had begun with the arrival of the satellite in Pakistan in the late 1980s. These
networks gave access to foreign channels and pirated films into homes throughout Pakistan,
lacking state sensitization for responding to the issues quickly. They also showed an opportunity
to private media groups to beam into every home and increase clientele through the electronic
publication of news (A. Islam, personal communication, 1991). However, these groups did not
succeed due to government’s control over electronic media till the beginning of the new
millennium. The government, finally sensitized to the spread of cable, responded by establishing
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to control the illegal access of foreign
channels after about a decade. Presently, the legal and illegal networks are beaming three state
owned, and eighty two licensed (PEMRA, 2010) and a few unlicensed channels in urban areas. As
opposed to the year 2000 when the press, radio, and TV were catering to about 20% to 30%, 95%,
and 70% population respectively, the Pakistani press, radio, and TV now cater to 39%, 97%, and
80% population through over 700 accredited and 2,700 non-accredited newspapers (1,199 in
2008), 160 accredited and 800 non-accredited periodicals till July 2010, 167 radio & FM stations,
22 TV stations, and 116 TV channels including the 14 in process (Gallup, 2009; “TV
Viewership,” 2009; Orient & Carat, 2010; Radio, 2010; Jabbar, A., personal communication,
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