Media: Public Interest is top priority

Karachi

Almost all the speakers on the second day of a three-day media conference, themed “Media Agenda 2012”, on Wednesday expressed concern over the changing trends in journalistic norms, the falling standards of the language and the market-oriented pursuit the field is turning into.


The conference is being held under the joint aegis of the Federal Urdu University of Arts Science, and Technology (Fuuast) and the Higher Education Commission (HEC).


Zaffar Abbas, the editor of Dawn, stressed the need for objectivity in reporting and journalism. He said that what was supreme was public interest and if public interest demanded uncensored publication of a news story, it must be done.


Jawed Naqvi, Dawn’s correspondent in New Dehli, said that freedom of the press to a great extent was a myth as there would only be freedom to the extent that the newspaper owner wanted. He would not let freedom of the press go beyond the limit where it would hurt his corporate or personal interests.


Noted BBC Urdu broadcaster Raza Ali Abidi regretted that today newspapers were resorting to cheap popularity and corporatism to rake in revenues. He pointed out how these days English language journalists couldn’t even distinguish between heaven and haven. He decried the modern trend of letting in high-flown Arabic and Persian terms into Urdu, and insisted that language should be simple and one that could be comprehended by the man on the street. It was a pity, he said, that journalists nowadays did not read. “They should be driven to read.”


Prof Dr Shakir Kidwai from the Aligarh Muslim University in India said that while the present trends in Urdu journalism were nothing to be very happy about, it could hardly be helped. The latest trend to globalization was leading to monolingualism. He lamented that today journalists were public figures which hurt objectivity. Nowadays, he said, journalism was entrepreneurship and personal business or economic interests were sure to hurt objectivity. Today, he said, journalism had turned into a money-minting proposition. 


Hasan Mansoor, bureau chief, AFP, said that TV reporters were most vulnerable to exploitation by various quarters, especially by their sources of information. Promotional reporting, he said, was tantamount to intellectual corruption.


Tahir Hasan Khan, president of the Karachi Press Club, who returned from India a day earlier, compared the state of journalism in both countries and said he wanted to see the same advancement of the media that he saw in India. He said reporters should also bank on counter-sources. Scripts, he said, should be totally neutral.


Mudassar Mirza of Daily Jang decried the present trends in journalism which, he said, were reflective of the lack of interest on the part of the working journalists. Nisar Zuberi expressed similar views.


Prof Inam Bari quoted certain translations of English terms into Urdu in vernacular dailies, like “Shirab Khanon Ke Peeche” for “behind bars”. He said that these days Urdu was turning into “Urdish” (an amalgam of Urdu and English). “What is wrong with saying Saqafat?” Even in Urdu dailies, he said, we read the word culture in Urdu script. He attributed this to the fact that bureaucrats in language bodies had never bothered to study Urdu literature. 


Masood Ashar had a different approach. While saying that literary and newspaper languages were different, he said that Urdu was a “grafted” language, so no harm if words from other languages were further grafted into it. Besides, he said that almost all the advances in science and technology were taking place in the English-speaking world. As such, he said the trend could not be helped since journalists were assimilating these advances. He regretted that unbridled consumerism in modern life had given rise to tabloidism. No TV channel, he said, could be considered serious, as they believed in sensationalism and lacked educative value.


Athar Hashmi, Editor, Jasarat, insisting that language being a highly effective weapon should be simple and accurate, blamed the press and the electronic media for letting in trends which were degrading the endeavour of journalism.  


In a speech profusely punctuated with quips and humorous remarks, he said that these days senior journalists and editorial bosses in the newspaper offices just did not bother about the quality of the language which often rendered the news item meaningless or robbed it of its poignancy. He quoted one of Prime Minister Gillani’s speeches where the latter had said “Zimavar” instead of “Zimadar”. He highlighted the fact that most Urdu writers and litterateurs were from Punjab.


Professor Dr Tahir Masud lamented the fact that English words were creeping into Urdu journalism even though Urdu equivalents existed. He said that such a tendency arose because nowadays journalists were bereft of the reading habit and just did not bother to read. Language, he said, came with profuse reading.

SOURCE: http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-111445-Media-urged-to-give-public-interest-top-priority