TV THOUGHT: Should rape victims be named at all? Glimpsing Meera in India! Anti-polio media campaigns lack credibility; more Pushto TV

There is some good news from the private Pushto TV channel called AVT Khyber which has launched its 24 hour transmission from last Sunday (27th February). It is to be telecast to 27 countries. My cable operator does not provide the facility. I have seen a bit of it in Islamabad. But the fact that a regional language TV channel grows, and reaches out to more people is significant.
A news report captioned "Will 24 hour service be enough for AVT Khyber to click?" says that "the channel was warmly welcomed by Pakhtuns across then globe since the launch of its test transmission in July last year."
The Statesman, Peshawar, reports that another Pushto language channel (called Shamley) is also to begin its operations very soon. Therefore with this competition the quality of both the channels is expected to improve.
The paper, also hopes that the long transmission of the AVT channel will "bring in new hues, and dimensions to Pakhtun cultural, political and social outlook on life". Needless for me to say that the growth of TV in the NWFP and the areas that it will reach will be watched with interest, for a variety of reasons. One of them is that socio cultural and religious values in that part of the country provide difficult territory for media inroads, that perhaps appear inevitable.
For those of us who watch television in Karachi and other places outside the NWFP it is hoped that our cable operators will provide us the AVT option soon. Infact, one wonders about the other channels that are coming up, and how soon they will be available to us. I am thinking about the role of the cable operator in the days ahead.

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Is the anti-polio drive a success or a failure in this country, and why does the Ministry of Health evidently pursue this theme in such high profile? These are the kind of questions that come to mind each time our TV channels focus on anti-polio drives, and that, too, mainly through advertising.
The ARYone in its news report on 2nd March (Wednesday) mentioned the anti-polio drive that is on in the country once again(for three days) and focused on the frustrations of the efforts in Pakistan, while even in Bangladesh the results are reportedly better. They attained better results in fewer attempts (rounds as they are called).
In its report the ARYone carried a statement of the Pakistan Medical Association General-secretary, Dr Qaisar Sajjad who was very appropriately, without going into unbelievable scenarios of what the Ministry of Health was doing, referred to the lack of credibility that exists about the anti-polio programmes. There are doubts and misgivings about them, and one public perception is that the polio drops are in reality an exercise in population control-a way of reducing fertility.(Four cases of polio have been discovered in Pakistan in the first two months of 2005).
Dr Sajjad said that politicians should be associated with the anti-polio programmes so as to lend credibility to them. This may or may not be the best option I would add. Like I am wholly unsure whether dragging in show biz men and women is truly effective and rewarding when it comes to these anti-polio campaigns. Entertainment yes, but if the official media experts believe that it will mean more than that, in real terms, is something that needs to be reconsidered.
The other point he stressed was that there should be honesty and sincerity in the effort, (one may add efficiency too) in what the people involved implement for the ministry and its donors. The donors have warned the Pakistan government that if the polio goals are not met this year, the funding will be stopped.
What, of course, has remained inexplicable is the reason why polio has such high priority in Pakistan, and not such a large number of health problems, which strangely are never focused upon at all. Why is there no advertising by the Health Ministry for illnesses and handicaps associated with eyes, ENT problems, or diabetes, or hypertension or cardiac problems, or even improving the state of emergencies in cities, as Pakistan urbanises.
But let us not get into this debate here. Let me now focus on a mediocre programme that was telecast on PTV on Tuesday night, one of its channels in which a programme on the anti-polio drive in Sindh was focused upon. And in addition to singers Jawad Ahmad and Hadiqa Kiyani, there were the usual speeches by the Sindh governor, the federal health secretary, the provincial health secretary, and the head of the polio programme in Islamabad. So much time was wasted in telecasting the entire show to underline the anti-polio campaign in Sindh.
One of the speakers said that he and the Federal Health Secretary had gone to WHO in Geneva recently and had been told that Pakistan must meet its anti- polio goals, or bring the plan to an end. No more funding from overseas donors. What I failed to understand was the reason for telecasting such a drab show at prime time. Is no one bothered about this waste of time and resources?
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This is a very engaging show on the CNN channel, every Sunday, around noon, which gives us an opportunity to see how the world media are handling the big issues (or major themes) of the day. The programme is called International Correspondents, and my channel surfing has enabled me to see it on two consecutive Sundays. It is a kind of media watch, and at times one is able to look at Pakistan's media also in that light, in that context. There are similarities that are so obvious.
Before one proceeds further I am tempted to reproduce a quote from John Alter (Newsweek), from the current issue of the weekly. It reads thus "Under the Law of Media Oscillation, the only safe prediction is that a static, unchanging, political narrative is impossible. Stuff happens in war and politics. And when it doesn't, the media will half-consciously rearrange all the atoms of emphasis and particles of story choice to make it seems so."
In the International Correspondents on 27th February, the overall theme was the media's coverage of situation in Baghdad - the deathly risks that media take, for example, and that at times, the people believe that the media is lying. There was a reference to the "media war inside the media", and the threat that blogging was to the media today. A Reuters man, based in London, remarked that in that wire service it was not their problem, of how the news was used after it was sent out.
The other subject that this show centred around was a war between the media and a mayor in Britain. Interestingly, and not surprisingly both sides concerned refused to come to the CNN dialogue. Instead we heard two other journalists debate the issue, without the fireworks that one was expecting. I liked the expression "establishment press" that was used several times. One participant underlined that the best media was outside the establishment, and that even in genuine democracy questions can be asked.
And the International Correspondents programme that was telecast on 20th February. In this, one of the principal themes had a look at the Zimbabwean media. In particular the focus was on a Zimbabwean English language daily published in London. Called the Daily News, and edited by Wilf Mbanga, he revealed that the daily was funded by two Dutch NGOs. The paper had been banned by the Mugabe government, which describes this newspaper as a "gigantic fraud". The Mugabe government also has banned the international media from coming into the country for the general elections this month. The editor elaborated that the Zimbabwean government was unwilling to accept an alternate point of view and so Wilf Mbange chose to operate from outside the country. The CNN anchor person disclosed that the Zimbabwean government refused to appear in the programme. (That appears to be a standard practice?)
As I sat through this show I wondered whether this CNN show would focus on such TV newsmen and channels that operate today (or may need to operate in the future) in societies where they are viewed as hostile by their respective governments.
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Should the name of a rape victim be revealed in the press, in the media? Is it right or wrong? What is the ethics and what is the law? There is a world wide debate on this subject, and right now, this issue is particularly relevant in Pakistan. It was this kind of a context within which Follow Up With Fahd (Geo) picked up this theme in its weekly follow-up programmes. We have seen some very pertinent themes being picked up in our current affairs programmes, and some very candid talking being done by our assorted panellists (ranging from former President, Prime Ministers, politicians, armed forces personnel to men in office).
To discuss this theme Fahd Hussain had Tasneem Ahmed of Aks, a research organisation, based in Islamabad and Mariana Baber, a senior reporter of The News, Islamabad. Tasneem Ahmer said that whether the name of a rape victim should be mentioned also depended on whether the individual herself had not come out in public before the press could do that. However she stressed that a sensitisation was required for this theme.
Mariana Baber underlined that at times the media had to mention the name for the sake of credibility, and mentioned male reporters being a factor why these stories are handled in the way they are. She recalled how rarely such stories appeared in the Pakistan press when she began journalism, and the word "rape" was seldom heard, a mark of how values and conversations have gone over the years.
There was also a reference to a specific instance from Balochistan, which has featured in the media, in the last two months, but the broader look was at the overall picture. There was emphasis that male reporters and subeditors need to be made sensitive to such stories, and that they avoid being judgmental. There were, however, such instances where women, victimised were driven to such a stage of desperation, that they didn't care what the media did. Even in such instances media should be discreet and restraint, and avoid going along with the emotional responses of suffering women.
One reason why the media mentions names and shows "a lack of sensitivity "was because it functions under the pressure of time, and even a lack of communication, and the luxury of research. At times the competition amongst the media compels them to name the victim, said Tasneem who also observed that of late such women have gone abroad to settle down, to get away from it all here. There was also a mention of high profile cases. And how some cases, get "politicised".
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We may not have ever seen a Meera film. She is a young Pakistani actress, and often makes news. This time she has gone to India and made news. She has appeared in an Indian film, evidently, and it is her sensuousness on screen, and those naughty scenes that are being talked about; and Geo is showing a glimpse. A glimpse to tease, as if.
Reported Geo on Wednesday night that the Lollywood lass has expressed concern that she is being threatened for her scenes in that Indian film and that even her family has been warned. She seeks protection. Nobody should refuse her that option now. That's my advice.
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Finally, channel surfing on Saturday night was difficult for me when it came to selecting between the Geo channel showing that star studded fund raiser Help, for the Tsunami victims, and the Sony channel showing the 50th Filmfare awards distribution ceremony.
At the Awards distribution ceremony I found it very touching to see the way in which the young actor Abhishek Bachan came to receive his award, but brought his father Amitabh Bachan with him. Jaya Bachan was watching in the audience.
Said Abhishek after receiving the award that as his father Amitabh Bachan was the best actor ever he was giving the award to him, after receiving it. And the father (Bachan senior) therefore graciously accepted it, and then said that "like all good things in the Indian tradition, this award too should be passed onto the son". So the award came back to Bachan junior. Jaya watched with pride, as if in tears.
I made an effort, and managed mine.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2005