Should media be given complete freedom?

A free media is an integral part of any democratic nation. However, the media should not be given complete freedom as it violates the rules of ethics and decency in society- a must for checks and balance; goes hand in hand with social responsibility and results in corruption and hunger for power and money.

The statement issued by the World Association of Newspapers during World Press Freedom Day, says, “Media should be allowed to report freely and responsibly on issues that erode human rights. Failure to guarantee media freedom creates fertile ground for autocracy, with those in power refusing to be accountable and responsible”.

Media is supposed to play a central role as an independent gatherer and disseminator of information. However, this is not always the case. Its content is not determined by editorial integrity and credibility, but by market forces, resulting in media content being more dominated by business and political advertisements and advertorials than balanced news, opinion pieces, editorials and reader's views.

Pakistani media is flooded with images that contribute to the collapse of morality, namely fraud, corruption, gossip, sex, drugs, scandals, cheating, hooliganism and murder. One of the ethics journalism includes is the “harm limitation principle” which deals with the questions of whether everything learned should be reported and, if so, how. This principle of limitation indicates that some weight needs to be given to the “harm” of full disclosure.

Media operation should, therefore, include truthfulness, objectivity, accuracy, fairness and public accountability. This goal can be achieved through practice of censorship- control of information and ideas in a society. This does not imply curbing the freedom of expression – it merely draws the line between freedom and unrestrained cruelty. It is a reminder for people who have crossed the lines of morality and humanity under the name of freedom of expression. This means that the media should remain real enough to reflect the society but subtle enough to keep it humane.

Children of impressionable ages are constantly being exposed to excessive violence, as well as sexually explicit content. Media exposure is crucial in developing the opinions and values in these children. A common example is the extremely violent video games that children are addicted to which tend to increase the aggressive tendencies in them. Methods such as advance warning of explicit material, partially obscuring offensive words, blurring or cropping offensive images, movement of disturbing content from a cover to an inside page, or from daytime to late evening, when children are less likely to be watching, all may assist readers and viewers if they wish to avoid specific material, which is otherwise considered important to the story.

                                                                                                                                

For viewer ship and public ratings the media can cross all boundaries, as in the movie Condemned, which reflects sheer inhumanity and brutality as 10 of the most dangerous and 'condemned’ prisoners, including a husband and wife, awaiting trial are picked up from various prisons around the world and dropped off in a remote island with time bombs around their ankles and cameras everywhere. Task: kill/ blow up each other. Incentive: the one who survives is promised freedom. All this violence, rape and killing for: top viewer ship ratings. The Mastermind’s argument: death sentence is the destiny of each one of the ‘condemned’- but he will be giving freedom to one!

Altaf Khan wrote for ‘The Pakistani Spectator’, “All the private media channels including Geo, ARY, Express, Aaj, Dawn and others have become mouth pieces of terrorists. Just switch on any TV channel and you hear: a blast has been heard in Peshawar; then for five minutes it flashes; then live coverage starts from the blast spot; they broadcast dead bodies, crying people, blood, and injured people; they telecast live collapsing of buildings, and they show running terrified people. This so called media freedom has only filled the pockets of media anchorpersons and they have made them a celebrity of sensationalism.”

Stories with excitement or attention-grabbing names or events are more frequently reported, rather than reporting on more pressing issues to the general public. Emphasis is put on the "juicy" aspects of a story that attracts a larger audience. This is why I believe that electronic media seems to have created more confusion than educating or mending the thoughts of people. The cover story in July’s edition of local publication, Newsline, further highlights the reality and dismal state of media and journalism in Pakistan.

We must ask ourselves, if media men are justified in providing half-baked and sensational information to the public? If journalists realise that professionalism requires them to search beyond the obvious facts? And if this misuse of freedom is setting us back or taking us forward?

As a final note, I would say that media should practice freedom with social responsibility and maturity and the weapon of freedom should not be abused as does the media of today. The media should know that the power of the pen can be mighty and if this is taken lightly, it can cause great damage to our society. They must accept and understand that responsibility.  As the renowned French philosopher Albert Camus once said, “A free press can be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom a press will never be anything but bad.”