PUBLIC INTEREST AND MEDIA: A CASE STUDY OF PAKISTAN

PUBLIC INTEREST AND MEDIA: A CASE STUDY OF PAKISTAN

Pakistan was created in 1947, as a homeland for Muslims in South Asia, and about 97 percent of Pakistanis are Muslim.The founders of Pakistan aimed that religion would provide a cognitive focus for national identity, a focus that would take over the country's ethnic and linguistic variations. Although this aspiration has not been completely fulfilled, Islam is the dominating religion in Pakistani society, and debate continues about its appropriate role in national civic life.

PAKISTAN AS A SOCIETY

Pakistani society is a diverse society with reference to birth, origins, or cultural background.Pakistan is an agriculture based country where almost 80% of its population lives in village. women consist of 52% of the population but It is a male-dominated society in which social development has lagged considerably behind economic change, Pakistani society is facing challenges like sanitation, access to health care, and literacy, especially among females. Increasing population pressure on limited resources, together with this pattern of social and economic inequity

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Pakistan’s social structure is extremely and extensively tribal, ultraconservative and thus anti-change. There is immense regional diversity in Pakistan. Pakhtuns, Baloch, Punjabis, and Sindhis are all Muslim, yet they have diverse cultural traditions and speak different languages. Ethnic, regional, and--above all--family loyalties figure far more prominently for the average individual than do national loyalties. Punjabis, the most numerous ethnic group, predominate in the central government and the military. Baloch, Pakhtuns, and Sindhis find the Punjabi preponderance at odds with their own aspirations for provincial autonomy. Ethnic mixing within each province further complicates social and political relations.

LINGUISTICS

Pakistani society is so diverse that even on every 2 km the accent of language changes even language changes its face ,but still due to governmental policies urdu is widely spoken throughout the country and is the only connecting language among the provinces. Mostly language is the basis of ethnicity in Pakistan. Punjabi is the predominant ethnic class which consists of 48% of Pakistan’s population. Sindhis form about 12%, Siriki (a variant of Punjabi) forms 10%, Urdu speaking (Urdu speaking population usually refers itself as Mohajirs as they migrated from India in 1947) 8%, Balochis 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1% and others 8%.

ETHNIC AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY

WOMEN’S ROLE :Women in rural areas are economically more active as compared to their urban counterparts. 16.5% rural women are economically active as compared to 7.3% of the urban womenfolk. Women almost entirely manage the dairy and livestock sector in the rural areas of Pakistan.

Punjab has historically been confronted with foreign invasions from North (Afghanistan and Central Asia) therefore they are quite open to foreigners and are very progressive in their cultural and social values.In rural Punjab the relations between men and women are more open as women play an important role in farming and without their help the farm productivity will drop significantly. Women go out of their homes to work as cotton pickers, fruit harvesters, and livestock farmers. Since men need women’s help in agriculture sector therefore they have a greater liberty of movement.

Sindhis are the second biggest ethnic group in Pakistan after Punjabis. In terms of proximity to Hinduism they are even closer than Punjabis. A large number of Pakistani Hindus live in Sind province.Sindi culture is quite similar to Punjabis where they have great respect towards fellow human beings. Sindh also is the land of great mystics such as Sachal Sarmast, Shah Abdul Latheef Bhitai and Lal Shahbaz Qalandar.

Mohajirs are the most liberal community in Pakistan. Their women folk are the most liberated women in Pakistan. They work in offices, hold executive positions in businesses and banks. Mohajir women are in front ranks of all walks of life including politics, senior management and community service. Mohajirs consider themselves culturally articulate and have business relations across the world. They are open, frank and friendly towards foreigners. Their social occasions such as marriages and deaths etc are similar to the practices followed elsewhere in Pakistan but are less ostentatious in showing their wealth.

Pushtoons and Balochis are kind of similar in being stubbornly following traditions and norms.They follow strictly their tribes all of their disputes settle by the consultative process known as Jirga. Influential people of the community sit in this jirga and decide on the disputes. Often people with wealth, education and experience are all represented in a jirga.Despite this fact both the Pushtoons and Balochis are totally different in their life styles,culture ,language and traditions.

PUBLIC INTETEREST WITH REFERENCE TO PAKISTANI SOCIETY

Public interest is a common concern among citizens in the management and affairs of local, state, and national government. It does not mean mere curiosity but is a broad term that refers to the body politic and the public weal.

Pakistani society is traditionally a conservative social setup in which freedom of expression is suppressed at almost every level. People are suppressed with their family,custom,traditions,sect,etc. In Pakistan with large-scale illiteracy and the standard of education quite low there has always been a problem of people knowing little about their rights. Social inequality and inequity have always been typical features of Pakistani society. In the Pakistani state and political structure, the civil elites have always had the final say with little role for the general masses to play. Apart from it economic opportunities has always been the domain of the rich families and classes. our whole country has a very large population of nearly 200 million people with state institutions always n crises to deliver social services enforce laws and govern appropriately. Resultantly, the maintenance of social order has always been a gigantic task. On the other hand, with the large-scale illiteracy and poverty the people cannot simply know the need for complete social order. In fact, they even if desirous of maintaining the social order are unable to do so. Here the media have a big role to play in capacity-building of the state institutions, keeping a strict vigil through its watch dog role on institutions for any abuse of power and malfunctioning on the other hand media also have to play a role in educating people by telling them the importance of social order in their overall development and wellbeing through which ultimately their lot can be improved.

Unless the concept of public interest is generally understood by the masses, media and policymakers in which the role of the media is central the society and its members would keep on suffering.

PAKISTANI MEDIA LANDSCAPE

Pakistan’s is a multi-linguistic media landscape with different audiences,but urdu language publications have greater reach than anyother language. Every local language media firm has its own audience.English media group exists but due to lack of audience they hardly survive in Pakistan. enerally tends to be more progressive. There are currently no Pakistani English-language TV channels or radio stations. Regional-language media boast varying level of influence confined largely to their specific regions.

Due to extreme changes in political senerio of Pakistan,Pakistani news and current affairs channel have a larger viewership than any entertainment channel.

when in early 2000 gen Pervaiz Musharaf allowed many Pakistani tv channels to contribute in mainstream media ,media channel licenses were given to the business class of Pakistan without any background of media ,lack of experience a lot of tv channels were established to just propagate things and make money from it.Pakistani media comprises a ownership structure. There are three dominating media moguls, or large media groups, which to some extent also have political affiliations. Also establishment have their direct influence on media .

Political reporting forms the bulk of the coverage of many print and TV news outlets. This has been most pronounced around elections and important judicial decisions with implications for political entities. Live and prolonged TV coverage of rallies benefits political parties. an inclination in the news media content to support one political party or another can sometimes be discerned, be it for ideological reasons, economic interests or other considerations.

At times, some TV talk show hosts have been well-known leaders of political parties and have used their programs to defend and promote the policies of their parties and censure those of other parties. Moreover we see retired generals in their panel list without having any political knowledge our media project them as a analyst and allow them to propagate.

Recently we see many analyst ,journalists like Irshad Bhatti,Hassan Nisar who use to propagates about the leadership of PTI are now apologizing for what they did in past.Its such a shameful act done by Pakistani analyst and journalists that they admitting they were biased.

So we can say that Pakistani media is not working as a watch dog but as a lap dog.

MEDIA AND PUBLIC INTEREST(PAKISTANI SOCIETY)

Pakistani media operates in a difficult environment as a routine.Media face a lot of regulations from government and establishment,media houses are threaten by the people ,any tv channel which try to share unbiased views ,or try to share the real senerio with masses faces a lot of restrictions from government.Public interest in such situation is definitely not the priority of Pakistani media.with lack of resources and strict bans from establishment Pakistani media is therefore struggling for survival. Media Giants with business background are totally focusing on making money instead of informing people while on the other hand whenever a channel try to think out of the boundry and try to share the unpopular opinion faces restrictions.

Now a days during the pandemic we see major reporting about corona virus.Mainstream media is primarily focusing on pandemic reporting and every government policy and steps taken by the institutions in order to control the virus is getting projection vividly on media.

MEDIA ORGANIZATION AND MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

HUM news is the project of hum tv network a well known entertainment agency. Few months back they have started their channel and put a lot of effort in promoting their new channel. Video clips of upcoming shows,unique background music, a lot of new faces coming on the screen made people interested in their content .The demand of the channel rose that almost every cable network added their channel in their list.but what a disappointment this channel was.From it very first transmission this channel failed to grab audience attention.

I figured out following flaws in this channel that lead this channel to a major disappointment

LACK OF TRAINING

As the channel setup is in Islamabad their anchors,newscasters are all Islamabad based.Islamabadian are known for their sweet accent but it seems their anchors training was not good enough.Their newscasters use unnecessarily English,I found many mistakes in urdu fonts displaying on the screen,sometime typo mistake sometimes blunder like wrong slide is showing while newsanchor was talking about something else..moreover I was watching a current affairs program and the host was a new young girl she was so loud and her accent was so cheap her tone was too harsh that I feel like I am getting frustrated on the other hand the guest was PMLN well known spokesperson Ahsan Iqbal who is known for his soft tone.That girl was literally shouting at him seems like she had a grudge over him while he was politely giving his point of view.This contrast and the battle field like stance of her made me switch the channel immediately.

PLAGARISED AND MONOTONOUS CONTENT

Almost all of the programs are copied concepts. investigative programs with unnecessary sensationalization,loud tones of anchors,sharing onesided pro establishment point of view on their programs are the main reason not even a single program got popularity among audience.They even copied the whole concept of popular geo tv program SCORE CARD In its program VIEW MAKER, AGENDA PAKISTAN is a copy of JIRGAH ,PAKISTAN TONITE is a copy of 11th hour by waseem badami etc..

SERVING PERSONAL AGENDA INSTEAD OF PUBLIC INTERESTS

This channel policy is quite identical to the ARy digital.They give less time to anti establishment point of view moreover priming and framing the content is also seemed to be a carbon copy of Ary Digital as the anchors usually take break when the counter opinion is establishing on screen.


Conclusion

Pakistani media is totally not free at all and is bound to be a puppet in the hand of establishment,without free media we cant say that it is serving the true soul of public interest but they are right now serving their God Fathers…


REFERENCES

https://medialandscapes.org/country/pakistan

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/pakistan/society.htm

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1347845/communicating-public-interest-pakistan/





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HOW TO DEVELOP A DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT CAMPAIGN

DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT CAMPAIGN FOR HEALTH UNIT IN VILLAGE

In the remote village of Chandiya at Dera Ghazi Khan district of Punjab a huge population is waiting for their turn to receive medical treatment.There is no health facility in this village in a radius of 6 kilometres. They have to take their women to far off villages.

Most of the time they have to rely on quacks or traditional healers, thus putting the lives of their children and women in danger.

Dera Ghazi Khan is one of eight districts sharing borders with polio high risk areas of Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa having active virus circulation and polio cases.

The district is notorious for low immunization coverage, poor health services and misconceptions permeating among parents about oral polio vaccine.

BASIC PROBLEMS OF THIS AREA

1:No medical facilitiation available

Due to lack of medical facilities the children don’t receive any vaccination resulting in poor immunity

2: No Basic hygiene awareness

There isn’t any culture of using toilet at home, people don’t use soaps and sanitary products. Diphtheria ,hepatitis ,ulcer etc is common among villagers

3: Poverty and Illiteracy

Almost 80 % of the people are poor and illiterate and this is the main reason behind superstitions and poor demand for health seeking behaviour.

4:Use of animals in household and transportation

we see kids playing with goats, men use buffaloes and donkeys for transportation ,they don’t care about the hygine of animals as well . women usw cow dump to make dunk cakes and as they don’t use soap so they are definitely at huge risk

5: means of communications are limited

Though electricity is available in this area but due to backwardness there is no concept of having a tv at home, hardly four and five families have some people literate enough to read and write so there is no option to use pamphlets or broachers

Primarily goals

1:we have to spread awareness about the personal health and hygiene

2:We will try to maximize the participation of less powerful.

3: we will communicate our whole program policies with the villegers thrugh interpersonal communication by using communication tools and community media.

4:we will try to maximize Participation of villagers in decision-making

We will utilize convinced people to initiate, discuss, conceptualize (form an idea) and plan activities they will all do as a community.

5: we will try our level best to get the confidence of people as due to illiteracy they are superstitious and think that disease are some kind of evil so they need spiritual healing to defeat a disease

6: we aimed that People should actively encourage and mobilized to take part in the actualization (to turn into reality) of projects while assigning them certain responsibilities and tasks.

7:Upon completion of a project, people should invite to critique the success or failure of it.


Planning DSC campaign:

Planning is supposed to be a prerequisite of any programme and in case of Development Support Communication (DSC) appropriate planning is the primary step for achieving the goals.

DSC campaign is an integrated manner that utilizes different educational and communication methods, aimed at focusing attention on a particular problem and its solution over a period of time.


Creating the DSC campaign plan:

There are four stages of our DSC Campaign plan:

Stage 1:

OBJECTIVES

1: our objective is to establish a health unit

2: We will deployed designated health staff working for them

3:spread awareness about the Health of mother and children

4: will convince people to establish toilets at home

5:critical thinking skill will developed in the backward society

6:Determine key development priorities through field surveys, community consensus, interviews with field specialists and subject matter specialists. Stage 2:

Analysis:

study and investigation of a problem.

As there isn’t any health unit available for the villagers most of the expecting mothers died while taking to nearest health unit available in district

Majority of the population is very poor and spend most of their time in feild work meanwhile kids play in the mud and garbage which lead them to fell ill more oftenly

As we have limited budget we need to motivate people so that they provide us land for Health Unit as well we need to create a mechanism so that we can pay for the salaries of doctor ,nurse and other staff

STAGE 3

FORMULATION OF PLAN

Audience segmentation

We will divide the audience or our prime targeted people into 3 basic catagories

1:Influential people of village like old people, noble people who have an influence on masses

2:youngsters as they are more adaptive and open minded to embrace any new change

3: women : as they are the foundation of families if we can convience a mother she can lead to spread our message to other women


STRATEGY /IMPELEMENTATION PLAN

1: we will use district counsellors, intellectuals, Influential people of the village and make them attend our workshop in which we will convience them about our goals and objective and then try to communicate our message through them

2: distribution of sanitary products and basic hygine products like soap shampoo etc

3: will show them educational cartoon videos through projecter

4: assigned team member will gather kids and tell them motivational moral stories about health and hygiene importance

5: we will conduct sessions of parents to share Importance of balance diet for mothers and children

6:colorfull banners and posters will be posted throughout the village to gain attraction

7:we will utilize the masjid and ask Imam to help us in order to spread our message when people gather for namaz

8: as majority of the people is illiterate so instead of sharing information through pamphlets we will prefer Punjabi speaking people to communicate our messages

9:We will provide free testing facilities for disease like hepatitis etc

STAGE 4

EVALUATION

We will gather the data of first 3 months visits of the patients, our target would be less than 30 patients per month

We will then conduct a survey about our campaign and how people feel about it

FACTORS THAT CAN EFFECT THE DSC CAMPAIGN

Noise/Distortions

People lack interest in any campaign so its hard to gather their attention for a longer period of time so in order to overcome this we will try to communicate our message through interpersonal communication with precise and to the point message.

Filtering

As women and children are our prime target but due to backwardness women usually are not allowed to participate in any outdoor activity so we will try to use the influential women to convience them

Language and Non-Verbal Cues

As every village has its own norms and traditions we will try to adopt them to make villagers feel comfortable with our team


Conclusion:

Development Support Communication is not merely concerned with providing information on development activities but it involves creating opportunity for the people to know about the technical nature of new ideas and on how they work and with what effect. With this campaign we are sure that not only we will be able to establish a health unit but also we will be succeed in creating awareness.

Development Support Communication plays the more important role of creating an atmosphere for understanding how these new ideas fit into the real social situation in which the people operate.its our ultimate goal is to catalyse local development activities, local development planning and implementation, and local communication to smoothen the path to development.

In addition, those in charge of planning Development Support Communication campaign must be those who understand the social structure (those who have entered into the socio-cultural contexts of the people) and how change can take place in it, not merely how development messages can be disseminated



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For inquiry /suggestion plz comment below visit our political blog https://raiyaykidahi.blogspot.com #newmedia #masscommunication #newmedia #online journalism, #Masscommunicationtheories, #radiotvproduction, #printmedia #newsreportingandwriting, #masscommunicationresearch #pmra #pakistanimassmedia