Introduction

  The political, economic and social development plays a key role in the development of human spirit as public gains confidence to reach their potential.  The mass media  is an integral part of the world as it can only merge from the foremost societal factors.  The  flow of  information with  and creation of the digital media has converted the world into a globalized  village. The access of information, news, entertainment is not even a issue  in this era ,as information reaches to the audience without any barrier.  But still defining the role of mass media In Pakistan is both an opportunity and challenge.  There is a change in shift from the sudden post-colonial mindset to the emerging national identity. The history of mass media shows the transformation of the print and digital media over the years in bringing the overall change for the mass media in Pakistan. Uptil the 21 centaury the mass media  is primarily dependent on  the print media in Pakistan for the dissemination of information to the public  but along with this the two state owned medium television  and radio with fewer channels worked  to provide information to the masses.

In the year 2002, the liberalization of the digital media  brought a change in the working of mass media. Many new channels started working in the  country  and the print media expanded their services to television and radio to further engage the users. From then onwards  Television and Radio become the essential  source of information for the masses. The multi linguistic , diverse culture  and multi-ethic media landscape in Pakistan are  the unique aspects of the media in rural and urban areas. The language disparities  in urban and rural area is one of the reasons the Urdu newspaper  have greater reach when compared with the  English language publications . The circulation of print publication further decreased in this era as people started to prefer the electronic media over the print . In between these years security of journalists remained the key  issue  and the reporting of news  in tribal areas was much more difficult and the government restricted the media  not to report about the terrorist and extremist groups prevalent in FATA and Balochistan. The war of words and propagandas is another issue as FATA and Balochistan radio has many channels spreading hate speech and radical agendas The political parties followed the custom of political parallelism as Pakistani People’s party  also owns  their  newspaper Daily Musawat. Pakistan still has a pulsating media landscape  despite of the political pressure of  the government institutions.  From the late 1990’s the Internet is available in Pakistan but the access is limited to fewer people. With the rapid use of technology in  the years between 2000-2010 Pakistan saw a tremendous change  in the growth of  mass media. Below is the detailed description of the media evolution and challenges for both print and digital medium in the tenure of 2000-2010.

 

Print Media Industry in Pakistan

 

  Print Media is one of the oldest means of journalism and  it is  the right identification of the media.  The radicalized media is fronting numerous challenges all across the globe. But specifically in the region of South Asia , Pakistani media industry is under constant pressure of  terrorist,  military groups and  political parties. Founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali  Jinnah , in his debates  acknowledged the importance of free press in the country. But mournfully press in Pakistan is not able to reach  the desired goals of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The culture of camouflage  came into existence  due to restriction on the press  (Pakistan press Foundation,2006). The print media  grew rapidly  during the 1980’s but it opened the door of yellow journalism . According to Pakistan Press Foundation , the press  in Pakistan is considered as the most  outspoken in the region of Asia. The value  of print media can only be comprehended by knowing the importance of this medium. The oldest means of mass media  is of integral importance in shaping the perception of people at various levels. It is the main source of information for the newly emerged mediums like Television and Radio. The free flow of information is  the major component of a democratic society. The formation of opinions of individuals is necessary to know the effect of mass media . Even the rickshaw drivers in Pakistan have some root-level knowledge about politics (Akhtar,2005). The former Ambassador of USA  said that the people of Pakistan wants the press to hear their voices and in turn publish them (Crocker,2005). A vast majority of Pakistani citizens are well informed so they want the press to provide them a free platform for an open discussion.

The print media in Pakistan has a ferocious autonomy  as an independent and operational institution in the country. The industry have came a long way in its survival. The print media industry  is among the few institutions in the country that has made their way up by surviving through military dictatorship and  democratic rule  with maladroitness  and corruption. A total of 1500 journals, newspapers are published in the country  in both regional and English language. The widely known newspapers in Urdu language are Nawa-i-Waqt, Jang, Mashriq, Jasarat  and many more. The  foremost  daily papers in English  are Dawn, The Nation, The Times ,The News ( Akhtar,2000). The  distribution of newspaper per capita is the lowest in Pakistan when compared with the other countries of the world ( Pakistan Press Freedom, 2006).After the independence media is regulated by the authorities in the power . Mostly during the dictatorship regime media is controlled by the heads of the government. However in the civilian rule the situation is lesser or more the same .The media is regulated by the government . After 1990’s , little relaxation is given to the media authorities of  both the print and electronic medium. The content in terms of  topics has  expanded during this period . As entertainment is also introduced along side the news  which caused the potential industry to boom in an efficient way. However, still the dictators are  of utmost importance in forming the decision of the media authorities during the democratic regime.

 

The unique aspect of Pakistan media is the growth and booming of this industry in the dictatorship regime in the Musharaf’s era and eventually become one of the largest industry in the country. The certain growth of this industry  only in a decade holds vital  importance as it  emerges as the fourth pillar of the  municipal and leads to the downfall of the dictatorship rule in the country (International Media Support, 2009).Since the independence Pakistan media has faced  four  eras of dictatorship regime. And each era  worsened the condition of the print media industry of the country. The military rulers imposed serious restrictions and bans o the media industry which leads to the downfall of the industry. All the changes in media done during dictatorship regime is considered  nemesis for the media industry of Pakistan but General Parvez Musharaf in his era proved  it wrong by  his several reforms in the industry. He opened the doors for the freedom of media in Pakistan (Baig & Cheema, 2015). Also some  other professionals disagree with this and said that its merely a strategy to remove the tag of the conventional dictatorship in the country but however it is the  meritorious accomplishment of the era.  

The revolutionization has a greater impact on the  press as the local press is in beleaguerment of  the local problem (Picard,2004). The process of globalization has  brought a change ,as it created problem of dissemination of information by regional and international newspapers. The high  distribution of international newspapers have impacted the  circulation of local and regional newspaper(Dear, 2006). According to him the distribution of international newspapers is 70%  in comparison with the regional newspaper which is only 30 % all around the world. The main reason according to him is the lack of facility in the printing department of the regional newspapers. Mukaish Kumar  (2007)  explained in his research article the importance of online newspaper in conveying the message to the public. It is a much more fast and easy way to approach the people inclined toward the digital technology. The online native language newspapers creates a golden opportunity in providing news timely . Credibility and the trust build by the press organizations  fortify the survival of the news media further.

 The Pakistani print media has more space to survive than the electronic media in both the dictatorship and  military regime. M Ziauddin, the editor of Dawn voiced in an interview that the newspaper has survived all the  democratic and military regimes by blatantly bowing down to the government demands. Censorship is very rigid during the days. The censorship boards often remove the entire pages merely on the basis of censorship. But during the Parvez Musharraf era  print media was given freedom in several aspects. Najam Sethi , the editor of The  Daily Times survived the jail in the previous two regimes for jotting down the critical reviews. According to Najam President Parvez Musharaf government  gave freedom to the press.  The press is free to a greater extent unless someone is goading  personal attacks on the generals. Musharaf’s  government  is lenient and  had  adopted a liberal approach during his regimes with lesser restriction and manipulation. The  experts argued by saying that the loss and gain for the media is equal in proportion (Adnan and Matiullah, 2005).  Adnan and Matiullah (2005)  argue that  freedom of press is in danger as  they are silencing the journalist all across the Pakistan .  Several times the press was told not to cover a public event,  opposition, corruption of politicians and the tribal areas under military operations. The report by Green Press (2006) showed that Pakistan is among the dangerous places for the working of independent journalists.  Press freedom is one of the major issue in print media industry. The Pakistan Press foundation  (PPF0 reported constant  suffering for the journalist but the fact that  in the regime of Musharaf the  media entered a new phase of liberalization.

  Print Media in Pakistan is not being able to achieve heights as freedom of expression is  not given to the press. The free flow of information is crucial in the democratic world. The  main reason of the weakened state of press is the prevalence of self-censorship. The journalists are pressurized to cut out the  elements of critique from their analysis by the use of some external factors. One of the example of censorship is of  the earthquake in Pakistan in year 2005. Although no direct censorship is imposed on the print media but the  print media  restricted the critique on the earthquake.  The comparison  between the news stories of international and local newspaper of Pakistan shows that International newspaper expressed  the emotions  of extreme sadness for the victims along with the negligence of government to provide relief to public.  On the other hand local newspaper explained the whole scenario in generalized terms and had not talked  about the lack of support by government and military during these difficult circumstances. Another example about a specific issue is , the coverage of United Nation Conference in November, 2005 in Pakistan. At the conference the global community offered loan of US $3.2 Billion for the Pakistani community suffering from the disasters of the earthquake. But Pakistani print media instead of seeing it as a greaten burden  to the economy portrayed the UN conference as a huge success (CNews,2005) . After the conference proceeding the tribune newspaper reported  the conference as a tremendous  achievement and the people of Pakistan are delighted  to see the  concern of global community for them in these difficult times (Pakistan Tribune,2005)

 The major issue with the press in Pakistan is the undue pressure and influence of the government and other state institutions of the country. Considering the  history of print media in Pakistan Zia Mian commented that it is surprising none of the government whether military or civil regime has ever executed press censorship (Mian,2005). The government of Pakistan has used unofficial means to limit the press freedom in the country. The government has constantly pressurized  the media  without making use of the  formal approaches to stop the media practices (Akhtar,2000). Hence the journalist in the country will not be able to freely speak about several  matters due to the excessive regulations imposed on them.  The change brought to the press in the end of 1999 , in the tenure of General Parvez Musharaf. The Committee to Protect Journalist  (CPJ) reported the free working of press in the country. The criticism on the new policies and administration  was  aired and published freely now (CPJ,2000), However Musharaf continued the legacy of the  previous rulers by controlling the press through various unofficial means. As an outcome of this ,during the rule of General Parvez Musharaf the print media was not able to report freely several times  and also  reinforced  the process of self-censorship. The control of press media is usually done through terrifying the journalist,  newsprint import control and lastly through the  advertising control.

  Government authorities have used a  different  technique to control the newspaper content. Government has stopped the  advertisement which is the major chunk of revenue for the print industries. The government  is the source of major advertisements in the newspapers.  The major government revenue is generated  through Pakistan  railway, tourism and other such sectors. The exact advertising revenue provided by the government is greater than 50 percent. But the major drawback is  that the private sector follows the same trend as that of government which further decreases the revenue of advertising in the print media (CPJ,2005). In the year, 2003 the government stopped the advertisements of 12 Sindhi newspapers that includes  Nawa-i-Waqt, the Nation newspaper. Which later compelled the newspapers out of the market (Gillani,2004). In order to stop the newspaper from reporting the crime in the tribal areas of Pakistan,  the government withheld the advertisement in order to persuade the print mediums. The print media is dependent on the advertising budget  as the main source of income (Rehmat and Jan, 2005)

 The newsprint import policies is an other way to control the print media.  the production of pulp in Pakistan is lesser so the print media  largely depends on the import of newsprints. The custom on imports are higher for the citizen but government can reduce the custom duty if the import is specifically for the purpose of newspapers . The government  suborn the  owners to  import a greater number of newspaper print than the desired quota. Instead of allowing two tones of import. For example,  The government allows the selected owners to  import eight tones rather than two tones. So they sell the remaining stock in the black market. The print media industry is mainly a business, newspapers owners indulge in these practices with the support of the government (Akhtar,2005). Lastly , the government suppresses the voice of journalists by not allowing them to criticize freely during the Musharaf’s regime by promoting self-censorship in Pakistan. The government restricted the media to report facts about the tribal areas as the dictatorship rule of Musharf was not able to address their issues.

 The most of the tenure during 2000-2010 come under the dictatorship rule as Musharf held the office for a long duration of time. In this tenure, there are lots of incidents where media has played a pivotal role like Jamea Hafiza issue, the treat of democracy, judicial crises, media laundering and many more.   Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) took over the office in 2008  and the changes during the period of 2008-2010 are so minor. But during the election days print media lays an integral role in reporting and no unfortunate circumstances have occurred during the coverage of elections. The freedom of press is restricted in some areas  and reports are harassed in order to create a sense of terror. 

References

Akhtar, Rai Shakil. 2000. Media, Religion and Politics in Pakistan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Akhtar, Rai Shakil. 2005. Media, Religion and Politics in Pakistan. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Personal interview, 1 November.

Crocker, Ryan C. 2005. Telephone interview. 15 December.

Pakistan Press Foundation (2006). Journalism in Pakistan: An Overview. Derived December 29, 2007 from http://pakpressfoundation.wordpress.com/2006/05/05/pakistan-pressfoundation/

International Media Support Report. (2009). Between Radicalization and Democratisation in an Unfolding Conflict: Media in Pakistan. Retrieved 04 01, 2012, from International Media Support Report: http://www.i-ms.dk

Baig, A., & Cheema, U. (2015). Broadcast Journalism in Pakistan: A Hostage to Media Economics. Islamabad: Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI).

Green Press Report (2006) Press in Pakistan. Derived from http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4ADBF_enGBPK258P K258&q=Green+Press+Report + (2006)+ Pakistan &start=10&sa=N. MA Thesis, Fatima Jinnah Women University Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Dear (2006), “New Technology and local press problems”. A & C Black publishers Ltd, London.

Picard (2004), “Globalization and Media Problems”. Wadsworth Publishing, Belmont, United States, Pp. 19-52.

Makaish Kumar (2007), “Problems and Prospects of local media and government”. Survival Vol.51. No.60, New York. Pp 176-178.

CNews. 2005. ‘UN Donors Conference in Pakistan’, 24 November, accessed from cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/ World/Tsunami/2005/11/19/131496-ap.html (on 16 December 2005).

Pakistan Tribune. 2005. ‘Real success lies in materialization of reconstruction, rehabilitation process’, 20 November, accessed from http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=125923 (on 20 December 2005).

Mian, Zia. 2005. Personal interview. 27 October.

Akhtar, Rai Shakil. 2000. Media, Religion and Politics in Pakistan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

CPJ. 2000. ‘Pakistan Report 1999’, Committee to Protect Journalists, accessed from http://www.cpj.org/ attacks99/frameset_att99/frameset_att99.html (on 1 November 2005)

CPJ. 2005. ‘Pakistan’, Committee to Protect Journalists Asia Report, 27 April, accessed from http://www. cpj.org/cases05/asia_cases05/pak.html (on 23 December 2005).

Gillani, Waqar. 2004. ‘Pakistan—A Vibrant Press Under Constraint since 2003’, Daily Times, 10 May, accessed from http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_10-5-2004_pg7_24 (on 2 November 2005).

Rehmat, Adnan, and Matiullah Jan. 2005. ‘Media in Pakistan: Growing Space, Shrinking Freedoms: Annual Report on State of Media Freedoms in Pakistan’, Internews Pakistan, 19 October, accessed from http://www.internews.org.pk (on 2 November 2005).

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