The unethical, unprofessional use of Media

No one can deny the importance of media in any part of the world and since the media have got momentum after private stations coming into the forefront and has started playing a very crucial role in Pakistani society. It is therefore people see the media with a special eye and consider it the healer of their problems. It’s therefore that the media addresses the issues of the people and also bring to them with latest information that’s why people trust it the most and rely on it for every kind of information.

Unfortunately what people see from outside and portray the image of the media in their mind as an institution above all others-the media from inside is so shallow and week that if people got familiar of it they will never trust it any more. There might be a lot of reason of it being shallow and week from inside but one obvious reason is the approach of the reporters and media men for handling issues and topics in the society. Recently I came across one such incident that I want to share with all those who rely on media for the information and opinion.

I had to visit Peshawar city for a piece of work with a friend of mine and was wondering and finally met him at his shop near Qissa Khwani bazaar. The time we were having cup of Peshawari Qahwa a team of private television appeared making footage of the market. The team comprises of reporter having mike of the private television at his hand and camera men with a latest camera installed along road side. From the logos on the mike and camera the team belong to Dunya Television one of the leading TV channel in Pakistan and runs a very fruitful program -Hasb-e-Hal -that everyone is well familiar with.

The point to discuss here is the way the reporter and camera men were handling the piece of media work they were doing for the media organization where they were employed, was unethical and unprofessional one. The team was in Qissa Khwani bazaar to make a cultural piece on the Chogha and traditional cap which is called Pakol.When the reporter found no real customer of these products in the market he start requesting people to act as customers and finally one wonder agreed and he took interview from that person and the team went. The same situation was with the camera man who was frequently asking the shopkeepers to look busy in doing things and do not sit as idle.

When a reporter do not find any costumer in a market that was full of customer in the past what else he needs-a good situation to take interview from shopkeeper rather from a fake customer. Same is with the camera man-the camera man supposed not to ask the shopkeepers to look busy and do not sit as idle rather the same situation can be presented to the people while saying that the shopkeepers sitting waiting for customers. But doing such unprofessional things make the media team untrustworthy at least in front of the people present there because all of the people in the market converted their attention to towards reporter and camera man when saw them recording.

I had an experience of working for a documentary with Al-Jazeera English team who were on visit to Peshawar and were compiling documentary on Peshawar and the security situation there. I remember the Al-Jazeera team had to wait for a single shot of sun sitting for four hours and for a two hour program they spend almost one month in Peshawar.

Examples like above are very common among the media circles where media professionals use unprofessional methods for their ease and crop the stories according to their approach. The media persons have not to take further their approach rather should adopt a realistic approach and have to value professional and ethical side of the work, otherwise the civil society will lost the trust they have on media.