Public interest journalism is one of Pakistan's biggest coronavirus victims
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COVID-19 is leaving a trail of devastation in its wake in Pakistan, a state already plagued with serious political, social and economic issues even before the pandemic struck. In terms of scale and far-reaching implications on the citizenry and polity however, the media sector is already one of its biggest victims.
The pandemic is accelerating the deterioration and increasing irrelevance of Pakistan’s conventional print and broadcast media as it battles a shrinking media economy resulting in a virtual end to public interest journalism. In the backdrop of a demonstrated state interest in restricting open discourse, it is difficult to see media surviving the plague intact.
Pakistani media operates in a difficult environment as a routine. Even before the plague, the national economy was tanking, media revenues were dwindling, and various media houses had laid off over 3,000 journalists over 2019-20. Hafeez Shaikh, the prime minister’s advisor on finance, agrees with projections of Pakistan’s key lenders that economic growth will be negative this year. There is no money for media subsidies.
The pandemic has made the situation worse. With businesses closed, even small-scale advertisements, including lifelines from the government, have dried up, adversely affecting the routine operations of the media industry that employs about 250,000 people.
Production pressures and health issues are putting the lives of Pakistan’s 20,000 journalists and other media workers at risk. Over 60 journalists in the country’s five federal and provincial capitals alone have tested positive for coronavirus so far. At least one Islamabad-based journalist has died of the disease.
This is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. While most media houses embraced necessary social distancing and enhanced hygiene practices quickly, a large part of the media staff were initially asked to work from home but feared being rendered redundant and preferred to risk themselves in the workplace and the field.
A new media future is shaping up with news that matters shifting online and as audiences and relative freedom of expression becomes digital. This has happened because mainstream media has stopped being the guardian of public interest and resorted to being a spokesperson for government priorities.
Adnan Rehmat
Because thousands of journalists have lost their jobs, handed steep pay cuts or fear losing piling arrears in salaries, journalists are either not getting themselves tested or not acknowledging privately done tests (the tests are not mandatory by their employers).
Additionally, the media is in downsizing mode. Most newspapers have reduced the number of their pages. At least one TV channel and some bureau offices have closed. For mainstream media, COVID-19 has meant less content, and often content that is not necessarily useful for consumers in a time of enhanced need for reliable information. This includes clerics populating prime time TV talk shows and news bulletins being thin on “news you can use” formats, especially since the government is aggressive against criticism of its controversial COVID-19 response performance. Field reporting has all but disappeared and mostly statements from government functionaries substitute for journalism now.
The overall impact has been a quantitative and qualitative diminishing of professional journalistic output supplementing the pre-coronavirus trend of closing spaces for dissent and criticism. This means media that is increasingly irrelevant as investigative journalism and diversity and pluralisms of voices and views goes missing.
And yet amid the gloom a silver lining sparkles. A new media future is shaping up with news that matters shifting online and as audiences and relative freedom of expression becomes digital. This has happened because mainstream media has stopped being the guardian of public interest and resorted to being a spokesperson for government priorities.
How is the digital media landscape looking and will online journalism finally become bigger than conventional media in Pakistan? It is certainly headed in that direction by converting what is a media production and operation crisis into an opportunity.
Critical public-interest COVID-19 coverage is now natively found on both online-only media platforms such as Sujag, Humsub, NayaDaur and The Current as well as the digital operations of mainstream media groups like Dawn and Jang that offer better content than their offline print and TV operations. Traffic for these digital media platforms has increased manifold.
While market Darwinism was already pushing mainstream Pakistani media online, COVID-19 has catalysed this process of media digitalization. This should not be resisted, but supported through a combination of industry and policy actions such as cheaper internet access, a looser online regulatory framework, protection of digital rights, urgent investment in capacity building of conventional journalists to become digital professionals and digital platforms coming together to prioritize professionalism and public-interest journalism.
Without staying focused on its principal mandate of public interest journalism, media in Pakistan will simply die out as COVID-19 has made clear for conventional media. Public interest digital media can instead be the phoenix that resurrects professional journalism in Pakistan.
– Adnan Rehmat is a Pakistan-based journalist, researcher and analyst with interests in politics, media, development and science.
Twitter: @adnanrehmat1
