Electronic media in Pakistan

History of Electronic Media in Pakistan Electronic Media refers to forms of media which use electronics or electromechanical energy for the end-user (audience) to access the content (Electronic Media 2012) such as audio and video recordings which may be delivered through televisions, radios or accessed online. The other common form of media is the print media which mainly includes newspapers and magazines. The history of electronic media in Pakistan is as old as the country itself as Radio Pakistan began operating the day independence was achieved after the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) was formed. There were existing radio stations at Dhaka, Peshawar and Lahore which were expanded to Karachi, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad and Quetta in the following decade. This expansion continued in the 80s and 90s when dozens of other cities, both urban and rural, were added to the list. Radio Pakistan began its first FM transmission in 1998 and thereafter several private radio stations popped up which continue to grow. Television was relatively slow to grow as it wasnt until 1964 that Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) came into being. However, Karachi residents had already gotten a taste of this new invention when a television was displayed at an exhibition arranged by the American embassy in 1955. The first television station had started its operations from Lahore followed by Dhaka, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Karachi and Peshawar. Initially the transmission was in black and white which then switched to colour in 1976. Television remained in the exclusive control of government until 1990 when Shalimar Television Network (STN) and Network Television Marketing (NTM) launched Pakistans first private TV channel. (Farooqi & Autho 2010) Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) was established under PEMRA Ordinance 2012 with the purpose of facilitating and regulating the private media. Initially placed under the information ministry it was later shifted to the cabinet division to ensure that the authority remained neutral and unbiased in its decisions. PEMRA has been mandated by the government to improve the standards of information, education and entertainment in the country by increasing the choice of television channels available to the public. It also ensures that a degree of transparency and accountability is maintained by ensuring an unobstructed flow of information to the people of Pakistan. What is Electronic Media (Anon, n.d) Responsible for providing the public unhindered access to information, PEMRA has been involved in media censorship on various occasions. The most notable of which occurred after a state of emergency was imposed by the then president, Pervaiz Musharraf. During the months following the imposition of emergency several television channels suffered regular blackouts.

Development of Pakistans Electronic Media Pakistans Media has come a long way over the last decade. It employs countless journalists, media persons, anchors, technical staff and analysts, each playing their part in helping the industry grow and function. While the print media dates back to the 1980s, it was only during Musharrafs era that electronic media really started to shape up and expand due to his liberal policies regarding the media. Since its inception, PEMRA has issued more than 70 satellite TV licenses and more than 120 FM radio licenses which show the boom the electronic media has experienced during the past decade. This rapid expansion in private media channels over the past few years has helped attract viewership back to Pakistans channels rather than foreign news channel. However, while the expansion has helped the masses to be more aware of the happenings in the political world on national and international level, the media has exploited its position by playing on emotions of people several times showing audio/visuals for the sake of sensationalism. The private media channels have their vested interests and definitely do not seem to be working for the interest of the general public. This could be clearly linked to failure of clear rules and code of conduct for the media and their workings. The media has become excessively commercialized, instead of being quality focused; the focus is more on what would sell well to the public. Lack of accountability and responsibility are other factors that have contributed to the current condition of electronic media in Pakistan. (Pirzada and Hussain 2012)

List of Television Channels in Pakistan Entertainment

ARY Digital Geo Tv Hum Tv PTV Home Music AAG ARY Musik Indus Music

News

AAJ News Dawn News Geo News Samaa TV Express News

Religious

ARY QTV Madani Channel

Sports

Geo Super PTV Sports

Famous journalists in Pakistan 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Najam Sethi Hamid Mir Shahid Masood Asma Chaudhary Ansar Abbasi Talat Hussain

Importance of Electronic Media Electronic media has now become the main medium which peopl e prefer to remain aware of the happenings around them and is also the number one source of entertainment. With the demands and requirements of people growing, the role of electronic media in our lives is also increasing and it is pretty much impossible to imagine a world without televisions and the internet. The world has become a global village now and the public needs to be kept informed of what could be happening in the other corner of the world as now the economies of countries are dependent on other countries so what might be happening thousands of miles away may well have an impact back at home. This is where the electronic media plays a very important role by relaying all this information in no time at all. It is not just the current affairs though where you could see the electronic media at work. Millions of individuals around the world rely on it to keep themselves entertained through the movies, dramas, sports events and songs shown on TVs or accessed through the internet. Electronic devices such as iPods, tablet computers and smart phones have become a necessity rather than a luxury and deliver rich forms of entertainment media. One area that could not be neglected mentioning here is education. Educational programmes delivered through electronic media reach a far more diverse population than what universities can. People unable to afford universities or unable to attend universities for some other reason can keep studying by watching/listening these educational programmes on TVs or radios. In fact,

many universities now operate outreach programs which focus on providing education to people living in far flung areas or even in other countries.

Improvements Required in Electronic Media Industry There has been mushrooming growth of electronic media in Pakistan due to the establishment of dozens of TV channels in the past few years and it has been relatively difficult to control the type of content shown. As mentioned earlier, the role of media has been becoming increasingly irresponsible as nearly every news channel features talk shows throughout the week where the invited persons seem to be overstepping the boundaries of morality and ethics by throwing accusation after accusation at each other. Furthermore it has been seen in the past that media has shown uncensored images directly from crime scenes or crash sites, which is ethically very wrong and also quite disturbing, just to gain an edge over their counterpart channels by displaying the images first.

The establishment of PEMRA in 2002 gives some hope that eventually with proper regulations the TV channels could be more controlled and careful of what they decide to make public. The things that need to be focused upon include: clear and concise policy through an autonomous person, a defined Code of Conduct for all forms of media to be strictly followed, strict standards for entry in to media profession and providing proper training and skills before people can start working. The need of a rating mechanism is also urgently needed as children are also exposed to the same content that normally only an adult would be allowed to access.

The biggest obstacle in achieving this is the might of the media houses and powerful politicians who change the law as needed or required by them. Hopefully by providing more resources and authority to PEMRA and by completely disassociating the body from the government this could be achieved and the Pakistani electronic media could set an example for the world to follow