The New Nation - Internet Edition

Dr. M. S. Haq

I believe end products of PTV's (Pakistan Television's) current affairs programs should be - more competitive; more diversified; focusing more on competing local, national, global and other priorities of the day; more substantive; more practical; less repetitive; more constructive - I mean for example, more decision and implementation friendly at local, national, global and other levels; more useful; more viewer-friendly; and more result-generative; to mention a few.

I also believe the amount of 'relaxed informality' at transactional levels of certain current affairs programs of PTV needs an upward adjustment. One of the underlying assumptions here is: it could assist the viewers in the effort towards relating them to virtual environments of those programs in a more comfortable and profitable manner and that could, in effect, help them (I mean, the viewers) to internalize and perhaps use the outcome of those programs in a more purposeful fashion, among other things. After all, those programs are inter alia human organizations and viewers of those programs are human beings and as such possibilities associated with for example, the viewers' eyes looking beyond the rigid framework of at times boring discussion programs cannot be ignored.

The anchor persons, discussants, persons behind the scene and attending environments (physical + virtual + others) of above programs should be instrumental in inter alia creating a stronger rapport between and among them, as well as the viewers with a view to for example, achieving goals of discussion programs as a whole. The good news is: a further improvement - on an average basis - in physical environments of for example, PTV's current affairs programs has been noticed in recent days. Congratulations!

The present day agendas of government of Pakistan in human development areas; challenges, opportunities and expectations of Pakistanis and others associated with those agendas; facilitation of both existing and evolving human development strategies - whether or not connected with or ancillary to those agendas; implementation support (as applicable) for human development strategies; and matters associated with media watch, media feedback and media follow-up (as required) in human development areas; should, among other things, form a critical mass of PTV's current affairs programs under the present phase of country's development. There is, at present, a perceived need for PTV to strike a right balance between for example, political discourses of substantive nature and developmental discourses of again substantive nature in the overall and best interest of the country, and the world at large - as far as practicable.

More impact-oriented PTV discussions on for example: the country's health care system; poor people's (including inter alia other disadvantaged groups) access to the system; work-in-progress in education and anti-terror areas; anti-hunger and anti-poverty drives, as well as crash programs; the status of demand, supply, beneficiary and sustainability in various phases (policy, program, implementation and other phases) of developments at local, national and other levels; developmental forecasting; shortfalls in, and course correction measures for, politics, governance, democracy, trade and economy; elimination of wastage (how to eliminate wastage at local, national and other levels?); and media alertness, media preparedness, media cooperation, media collaboration, media coordination, media productiveness and media competitiveness in pursuits of planned and desired changes for better in relevant areas at any given time, per se; could be instrumental in providing inter alia support and motivation to the country's over all developmental efforts, as well as initiatives.

The above discussions could also help and assist friends of Pakistan (including inter alia the US), development partners of Pakistan (including inter alia World Bank) and others when it comes to their efforts towards: fine tuning for example, the focus of assistance to the country; facilitating maximization of developmental outcomes as a result of the assistance; and a further minimization of wastage of scarce usable resources.

Media (print, electronic and others) in development could gain an additional momentum in Pakistan and other world countries (including inter alia Bangladesh) with for example, the establishment, operationalization and maintenance of a joint and solid regime (the client country + country level development partners + the media + civil society) of accountability and transparency in the domains of peace, security (excluding inter alia and as applicable state secret related transparencies), progress and prosperity of concerned countries. One of the present day challenges of media in development is: how best and quickest the media could be factored in the above countries' developmental dimensions as one of the key agents of change for better, among other things? In that respect, a bunch of holistic, informative, pluralistic, mutually reciprocating, as well as beneficial, and sustainable - as appropriate - theories (including inter alia policies), programs and practices supported by a vibrant doer culture would inter alia be required in relevant areas.

The last word: the media practice of using human emotions - in the wrong way at the wrong time or at the right time (depending on how one interprets it) - for say, gaining cheap and temporary popularity - at relevant societal levels - at the cost of a country's over all image, development and competitiveness should be discouraged and should not be allowed to continue. It can destroy inter alia a country's comparative and other advantages manifold and the resultant outcome could assist other country or countries in the effort towards creating or strengthening (or both) their comparative advantages, per se.

Given the present day nature and scope of media power, it can also help lead a country to a make or break situation. It is in that context, expected, TV channels - for example, GEO News of Pakistan - should show more maturity, more objectivity, more reasonableness, more foresightedness, less emotion and more cost consciousness while dealing with the country's sensitive issues via relevant GEO News programs.

Do not allow others to benefit from your country's comparative, competitive and other advantages by letting those in-country advantages down, deliberately. People should not allow the media to mislead them or exploit them in an improper and unlawful manner, for example. Media should not attempt to become a champion of few people at the expense of vast majority of people. Let us work towards those things collectively and with strong commitments, as well as result-orientations.