Reporting in Silence; Trends in Pakistani Print Jo...

Summary

• Unlike the print media which is naturally equipped to report the attrition as well as developing story; the electronic media lacks that capability and that is made use of by the political and nonpolitical actors to make the most of the absence of the objective reporting.
• Taking the media model in practice in Pakistan to the yardsticks of journalism debated above; print media in the face of the new political make-up of the polity, economy and society in Pakistan not to ignore the ominous shadow of the corridors of power; which regretfully rests on the premise of ‘issuing directives’ than a ‘stakeholder debate’, the growth of the electronic media is all but understandable.
• It rests on the developing stories which are not investigative stories, rather they are sourced from the corridors of power, political and military elite or the electronic media is a vehicle for the ruling clique to inform the ‘ruled populace’ of a new calamity (read directive) In such an environment the role of the print media is secondary to the electronic media.

AI Generated Summary

Editorial pages; the national pages and the front and back pages of any high end or the middle category print publication in Pakistan indicate that they are not reporting what they could have or what they should be reporting; rather an evasive reflection of the society they are operating in. In any nation state like Pakistan; the media; especially the print media has hold and still holds respect and importance on two counts. The publication is printed with the lapse of a complete 24 hours and whatever is reported, the development of the story is recorded till a specific timeframe; which is usually referred to by the respected reporters and the editorial team as till the time of filing of the story’. Taking the argument forward, what is printed is treated as categorical which has the proof of being published and which can be quoted as a credible forensic reference; whether the intent is criminal investigation, pure research or historical probe.