In this turbulent political season, a bench of the Supreme Court held a small informal referendum on Pakistani journalism. Justice Qazi Faez Isa criticised the state of media freedom, democracy and governance, asking the Attorney-General Khalid Javed Khan, “Tell me. Is media free in Pakistan?”
In this regard, the attorney-general requested the judge to give an option of answering other than a yes or no, to which Justice Isa offered that a referendum should be held with the media persons present in the courtroom.
He said the media persons in the courtroom should raise their hands if they think the media is free. When no journalist raised their hand, the judge asked the journalists to raise their hand if they think there was freedom of press in the country. Yet again, no journalist raised their hand.
The incident has sparked a debate in the journalists’ circle. It is true that we are not allowed to speak against the existing system. And it is true that this is happening at the behest of “Mogambo”. But in our society, we are also restricted to speak against Malik Riaz as well as the mobile companies.
The fact is that Pakistani journalism seems to be divided into three camps these days. One camp is for journalists who support the current government and those who “created” its mandate. This camp has all type of freedom and is rewarded with all kind of wealth.
Yes! One difference is that in the old days, only the bag of nobles was available. And these days, the government now gives presidential medals. Former Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif awarded Wajahat Masood while the present government awarded Arshad Sharif.
The second camp is filled up with journalists who are critics of the “spiritual government” and the “pir and murshid” who managed the miracles for it. They have been evicted from their jobs and are banned from writing and speaking. There is no doubt that these actions are atrocities, but even the worst of things have some aspect of goodness.
For example, it is something worse than oppression that becomes the catalyst for freedom. If the master had not committed atrocities, man would have considered slavery as his destiny. So the one good aspect of the present regime is that we have found the endurance of some so-called ‘Tess Mar Khan’ of journalism.
The third camp of our journalism consists of these journalists, who have set up a camp between the previous ones. Their tendency is to oppose Mogambo and his system from the inside, but they consider ‘sacrifice’ a futile act.
Their strategy to keep themselves “in service” is to criticize the government as well as the opposition. Three years ago, they used to say loudly, “Why doesn’t Nawaz Sharif name the person who ousts him?” Later, with the right timing, Nawaz Sharif took not four names, then the same journalists started saying, “Why did he take those names? Nawaz Sharif is doing very wrong.”
Nowadays, the camp’s claim is that the PDM movement is gaining momentum. According to them, it is wise to fight the Senate election instead of immediate resignations. But when they write such things in newspaper or speak on TV, they say the PDM has failed, it is contesting the Senate election instead of resigning. At the same time, in the next breath, they say, “It does not mean that the government has succeeded, it has also failed.”
The camp also includes innocent people who change the title of the book overnight on Mogambo’s orders. Both the Mogambo and the opposition look at this camp with suspicion. We cannot call this camp ‘Wise’. Thus, their proper name is “Gray Camp”.
Abul Kalam Azad, the legend of journalism in the subcontinent, stood up in the court and said to the colonialists, “I will not surrender to your demands.” This gray camp of our journalism, to save its jobs, always surrenders and follows a hypocrite approach.
The truth is that there is a war of interests on all sides. Some see their interest in calling Nawaz Sharif ‘bad’ and Imran Khan good, while others see the vice versa. And someone sees his interest in the gray camp. Journalism will not be free until this game of interests ends.
Media will be free when our journalists, as individuals, stop taking positions, plots, permits and contracts from governments. And secondly, collectively abandon plans of begging billions of rupees from the government for housing schemes and press clubs.
