Political Communication

The political communication situation in Pakistan before November 3rd was pretty encouraging. The freedom of broadcast media and press was at its highest level. The number of cable channels (news related) was growing rapidly. Not only the number of media outlets was increasing but their audacity and courage to speak against the current establishment was also rising. The audacity part of media was reflected in the various live debates taking place on different channels (involving government as well as opposition figures) e.g. Live with Talat on Aaj tv and the ‘Grand Debate’ on Geotv. In these debates anchors, political guests and the live callers were free to comment on any political figure or situation. The issues were analyzed and in the end a summary was presented to the viewer to judge himself as to what the correct course of action is or which side of the argument is strong.

The political actors also were using media to communicate their point of view e.g. Nawaz Sharif getting a lot of media attention for his brief trip to Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto’s arrival was also covered extensively. So political actor’s activities were being keenly observed and analyzed by media in daily talk shows. In this way, media provided a medium of political communication for the political actors. The media was able to communicate ground realities to the masses in a very effective and efficient manner. There was no restriction on the media as to what to say or what not to say (although government was trying hard on its part to prevent or decrease the flow of information). An important thing that I observed before November 3rd was that the government was more inclined towards taking pride in fact that they media is free under their rule rather than answering the questions raised by media or to counter criticism of government handling of various issues.

In my opinion media was performing its idea roles i.e. informing people, educating them, providing a platform