Media Bias in Pakistan

A couple of weeks ago one of my friends from Karachi visited me in Hyderabad for Eid. He wanted to wittness the Sindhi culture and traditions. I thought it would be apt to show him Sindh tv and KTN since they cover alot about Sindh tradition. However it came as a surprise when i heard a talk show which branded a certain ethnicity as terrorirsts and a mafia. Such balant were the accusations that it clearly showed the biased point of views of the host and the guest. Being from the same ethnic background I was shocked to see how low that certain program was. Needless to say my friend from Karachi was pretty offended and this made me hang my head in shame and got me thinking how come the media is so biased to a certain ethnicity, religion or a political party.

Not only regional language newspapers and channels but mainstream channels and newspaper openly indulge in biased point of views one way or another. A certain Syed Ali Raza Abidi is journalist who openly supports MQM. He will go to any extent to glorify it and villify other political parties. Same would go with Ayaz Aamir who is a respected journalist and also a party member of PML-N or Sherry Rehman who was a journalist but now is in PPP. Journalism should be unbiased however in Pakistan it is biased to the core and journalisms venture into politics all to often. Another example was the recent killings in Ramzan in Karachi. There was alot of coverage of Urdu speaking community but very little coverage was given to the killings of Pathans or the Baloch communities by Urdu media. Arent their lives any important? Similarly Khyber tv have accused MQM as target killers where as they have never accused the party of their ethnicity ANP of land grabbing or other crimes. Big News channels like Geo had made it their mission denounce the current government. Everybody knows about the government's failings but to make it a point to denounce them on every action is also taking it too far.

Lastly all of our new channels are biased when it comes to America or India. Every problem of the country if not blamed on the current govt is blamed on America, India and Israel. Jews rule the world, India is always conspiring against Pakistan and Osama was American agent.

The height of such biased views by most of the channels shape the audience's minds and way of thinking. This is highly unethical and on the long term can become a society breaker. Every ethical religious or international comment should be unbiased and tell both sides of the story. That is the role of media, that is how you shape the thoughts of the viewers, not induldge in sensationalism and full scare war against a certain race or sect. That is where we have crossed the line.