When good news is bad

GDP growth rate for fiscal year 2020-2021 decreases to -7.7%. Elation. But wait a minute this is not Pakistan, but India. Down go the spirits. GDP growth rate increases to 3.94%. What? Really! Pakistan. This is bad. Must be figure fudging. Bad is good, and good is bad. Thus the skeptics question. How can the government, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank all be wrong. The experts, the economists, the anchors, the reporters all become “aghast” and start painting the dooms day picture. Why is good bad and bad good. Just have a look at what has been the perception of Pakistan in the last couple of decades. A rogue state. A failed state. A terrorist hub. Is this the reality? Not really. Then why was it perceived that way? What has happened to the narrative of this country? Why have we not been able to develop our own narrative?

These are the questions that remain in the air without being answered. May be because the answers are too uncomfortable for those who are answerable. May be the need to dig and develop the right answers to counter this perception attack has never been felt. Maybe it is simply too convenient to tinker it. Whatever the reason this habit of painting the dooms day has exacerbated and amplified all the problems the country has been facing in its attempt to establish its credibility. Normally, people raise fingers on external forces trying to paint a particular picture of another country depending on their relations. In our case of course it is habitual to bash and believe the worst about ourselves. Let us look at the factors that have contributed to this perception:

1 Governance and Indifference-A good product needs marketing to turn it into a brand. The governments in Pakistan have neither worked on product improvement nor marketing to create favourable perception of the country. While many countries in the region have become case studies of success, Pakistan has been marred by political uncertainty, policy instability and lack of capacity to address this issue. India previously and Bangladesh presently, have managed their affairs and image much better than Pakistan. The governments in Pakistan have been too busy saving their rule, positions, money to bother about these issues. This lack of focus has created opportunities for our enemies to focus on creating a narrative that suits them. India had managed to brand us as an extremist nation exporting terror in the world. It is only recently that an effort has been made to challenge that narrative and build a counter narrative of India being racist and extremist.

2 Media DNA- Sensation has many viewers. Media all over the world and in Pakistan in particular is born and bred on selling outrage. It maybe in the form of scandals, scams, blasts, unrest, violence, extremism, etc. Pakistani media has gone to all lengths to magnify the problem of violence. Breaking news is all about bloodshed, body parts and anguish. Compare this with the USA. In the last 5 months 232 incidents of violence and shooting have happened killing scores of people in offices, in colleges, in parks and at homes. Hardly anybody talks beyond a couple of hours on it. Contrast it with our media. Our media stalks the victim’s household and repeats it till you feel sick. These images then go viral and are gleefully reported in India and the West as feeders to their narrative.

3 Victimism Psychology- As a nation our favourite pass time is national bashing. We love to be cynical and blame the government, the system, the army, the clergy, and everybody but ourselves. We feel we are unfortunate to be used by everybody. This divided, disintegrated spirit undermines the potential of the country. Responsibility of bringing a change in the system, or in government all lies in collective national effort. Corona is a prime example. Without people cooperating and taking responsibility it will keep on coming back.

It is almost like a law of attraction. When people are expecting the worse and talking about the worst and watching the worst, worst usually happens. The media in Pakistan has grown up on bad news and for a long time talk shows had more viewership than entertainment. As the viewership is shifting to entertainment instead of changing their format media is trying to make every good news sound so outrageous that people can be lured into viewing it. To create a more positive narrative externally we must first create a positive narrative internally:

1 Leadership Ownership- The responsibility of any government is to produce good results and also ensure that it creates the necessary positive vibes. Ever since the government has come into power there has been a dooms day scenario being painted. Take the first year. The government inherited an economy that was given a ‘negative’ and ‘unstable’ rating by Moody’s. After a year Moody’s gave a rating of ‘positive’ and ‘stable’. Nobody really talked about it. Aside from the government the MNAs have to contribute to the narrative. They have to connect and educate their constituents to change their view of development from just roads and transformers to getting the system fixed which takes time.

2 Media Balance.Media loves a bad economy. Presently, after the most harrowing Corona year where the strongest economies have crashed, Pakistan is growing at nearly 4% against all predictions. The media is unhappy and trying to find ways of bashing it. The government must ensure that the positive narrative is also given the same thorough treatment as negative. The one-sided picture is harmful for media as well as they will find that people will switch away from their channels.

3 Collective Responsibility- Every Indian is a country ambassador. Regardless of what happens within the country, most Indians will only praise and talk positive about India externally. That is what is required. Every Pakistani has to consider himself as a brand ambassador, as an advertisement for its country. They must spread the many good things that are happening. If 220 million people will say that Pakistan is a case study of smart corona management, of saving poor from dying in the pandemic, of a growing economy despite dire straits, that will be a narrative too loud, too consistent to be overlooked by the world.

Countries with hardly any resource and many law and order issues have become good news for the world. Sri Lanka with a history of terrorism and South Africa with a history of violence carry a positive association in the minds of the people. The narrative of a resilient, robust emerging economy that is a case study of managing lives and livelihoods in time of corona is not just worth an article but worth a documented story in history of this era.

(The writer can be reached at [email protected])

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021