Faiza Qureshi
In the contemporary world, societies find themselves amid information crisis. The crisis is exacerbated by the media's role in constructing public opinion and steering social perceptions. Globally, the media landscape comprises print, electronic, and digital media, as well as informal sources of information. In Pakistan, despite the vast outreach of Social Media Networks (SMNs), TV is still a preferred medium of information for the general masses, with an estimated market of more than 150 million viewers. However, it is often criticised for its lopsided focus on politics. This overwhelming inclination towards politics has led to a public discourse distortion and undermined the media’s credibility as a source of information. Due to the magnitude of TV viewership, this insight attempts to dissect the perceptions and realities of Pakistan’s TV news media in the light of international models and navigate the path through balanced coverage.
Despite the large viewership, the average TV viewership per person has decreased 14% yearly and currently stands at less than 120 minutes per day. This is partly due to the introduction of new media (digital and social) and partly due to the lower quality of content.
Today, Pakistan hosts 114 satellite TV channels and the Pakistan Television Network (PTV). In addition to national channels, 43 foreign channels are licensed through Landing Right Permission (LRP). The licensed channels are a balanced health, sports, and education mix. However, due to Pakistan’s limited capacity of the analogue cable system, only 70 channels can be aired through cable networks. Consequently, this limits viewers’ choice of news, where 42.8% of the available content is news.
The channel mix is misleading due to the disconnect between viewership and broadcasters’ preferences. Despite 70% entertainment and 19% news viewership, the channel mix (Figure 1) shows 31 private news TV channels and 42 entertainment channels. Currently, the entertainment-to-news ratio is 4:3, which preferably should be 7:2.
Furthermore, in terms of content, the news media in Pakistan is highly inward-looking. According to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) report of 2021, approximately three hundred forty current affairs programmes were aired weekly, with politics occupying 58% of the debate focus. Even issues like economy, governance, law and order, and sports are discussed with a political overtone. This saturation of political content has negatively impacted the national discourse, where the discourse on other important walks of life is found missing or disproportionately low. Data from the past year presents a minuscule focus on international issues. It would not be wrong to say that our media indulged in political scandals when the world discussed the global energy crisis, low-orbit satellites, market downturn, and US-China semiconductor rivalry.
Moreover, private news channels broadcast many infotainment programmes, but those also mirror politics. The PEMRA framework lacks explicit definitions for this content category, resulting in a lack of regulation. Initial investigation revealed an overwhelming perception that 83.3% of the broadcast content revolves around politics, often accompanied by misinformation.
Graph-1: Perception of Political Coverage
The prevailing media fervour in the country is attributed to managerial, structural, and value-related issues. Firstly, the 'advertisement-based revenue model fuels a perpetual competition for higher ratings by emphasising "exclusives" and "breaking news". Currently, 4 of the top 10 highly rated channels are news channels (BOL News, ARY News, Geo News, Samaa News), indicating the heightened political hysteria fostered by sensationalised news content. Secondly, the 'lack of digitisation' has led to interest groups manipulating Television Rating Points (TRP), distorting actual sentiments and viewership preferences. Thirdly, an ownership crisis in the media industry has compromised professionalism and responsibility. Cross-ownership has empowered influential stakeholders with commercial interests and often overshadowed public interests. The top 3 news channels are owned by large business conglomerates (Jang Group, ARY Group, Vision Group), raising concerns about the potential serving of shadow interests. Finally, there is a ‘content production crisis’ as the industry has prioritised vertical expansion over-diversification, often aggrandising non-issue into ‘the issue’.
The media industry resorts to sensationalism to keep the business alive, but international practices present some successful models to align media practices and national interests. In this regard, ‘BBC public service remit’ can be considered. BBC is a public service broadcaster, and its remit demands programs on topics of public interest, including arts, science, technology, education, household and religion, with sensitivity and responsibility. Although PTV holds a similar remit for private channels, a gap in implementing a similar remit would be the business model. BBC and PTV are public entities, while private news channels in Pakistan are purely profit-driven. Therefore, there is a need to find sustainable business models for private news channels to serve Pakistan's interests.
Another international model is the promotion of local news channels. In countries like the US, UK, France, and Australia, the number of local news channels is higher than that of national news channels, but in Pakistan, there is seemingly less focus on this. The private media in Pakistan is primarily focused on national news, where market preferences often overshadow the voices at the regional level. Therefore, promoting localised news channels, especially in larger cities, can diversify the content and bring meaningful news to the audience. In this regard, the study has gained the support of 53.2% of the population.
Graph-2: Viewers’ Preference to Localized Channels
Moreover, Pakistani media must establish an international HD English news channel to present the country's perspective effectively. Currently, BBC, Aljazeera, and CNN correspondents present Pakistan’s case, which credibly should come from Pakistan directly.
Likewise, reviving specialised programs on news channels can also enhance content balance. Previously, dedicated time slots were allocated for business, religion, entrepreneurship, and international news. However, disproportionate over-reporting on politics led to the discontinuation of this practice.
Additionally, reciprocity of content landing rights needs to be maintained at regulatory and broadcaster levels to enhance the industry’s efficacy and responsibility. Some channels have specified airtime for programs from international news channels, like Urdu VOA, BBC Urdu Sairbeen, and DW. However, Pakistani content does not find space in the principle of reciprocity on these international platforms. Therefore, PEMRA must devise a reciprocity plan to foster a more equitable and responsible broadcasting environment.
Figure 2: Recommendations
To conclude, news media needs to balance information, education and entertainment. News should not be synonymous with political coverage; instead, there should be a fair balance of subjects. The prime time (6 PM to 11 PM) content needs a regulatory overhaul, where PEMRA must prescribe a percentage for balanced content. In this regard, political tenor should be limited to not more than 30% of the aired content, as recommended in Figure 2. Hence, public confidence in news is restored only through diversification of aired content, not sensationalism.
The views expressed in this Insight are of the author(s) alone and do not necessarily reflect the policy of NDU.