GILANI RESEARCH FOUNDATION

Public Service Archiving Activity

Media Ethics
Country Paper on Pakistan

Dr. Ijaz Shafi Gilani

AMIC Seminar on Media Ethics, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2000

Disclaimer: Gallup Pakistan is not related to Gallup Inc. headquartered in Washington D.C. USA.
We require that our surveys be credited fully as Gallup Pakistan (not Gallup or Gallup Poll). We
disclaim any responsibility for surveys pertaining to Pakistani public opinion except those
carried out by Gallup Pakistan, the Pakistani affiliate of Gallup International Association. For
details on Gallup International Association see website: www.gallup-international.com
© 2009 All rights reserved
 GILANI RESEARCH FOUNDATION

Public Service Archiving Activity

All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or

unauthorized distribution

For more information and queries

Conteact: Bilal Ijaz Gilani
[email protected]
www.gilanifoundation.com

Disclaimer: Gallup Pakistan is not related to Gallup Inc. headquartered in Washington D.C. USA.
We require that our surveys be credited fully as Gallup Pakistan (not Gallup or Gallup Poll). We
disclaim any responsibility for surveys pertaining to Pakistani public opinion except those
carried out by Gallup Pakistan, the Pakistani affiliate of Gallup International Association. For
details on Gallup International Association see website: www.gallup-international.com
© 2009 All rights reserved
 Media Ethics
Country Paper on Pakistan
Ijaz Shafi Gilani

Media Ethics
Country Paper on Pakistan

Dr. Ijaz Shafi Gilani

Chairman Gallup Pakistan and PIPO

Disclaimer: Gallup Pakistan is not related to Gallup Inc. headquartered in

Washington D.C. USA. We require that our surveys be credited fully as
Gallup Pakistan (not Gallup or Gallup Poll). We disclaim any responsibility
for surveys pertaining to Pakistani public opinion except those carried out by
Gallup Pakistan, the Pakistani affiliate of Gallup International Association.

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INTRODUCTION

During the last fifty years in Pakistan, the number of people reached by mass
media have risen and its role in their life has increased dramatically. Today
the mass media affects all aspects of their life including political, social and
personal life. It shapes their world view, it evokes ‘primordial’ values of
good & evil, love & hate, envy & prejudice, compassion and altruism. It
introduces them to cooking & stitching, sports and aerobics. It is a parent, a
teacher, a role model and a friend. In other words it is a surrogate
community and sometimes even a surrogate family. Its geographic scope is
increasingly expanding beyond local communities to entire nations and now
at a global level. The issue of ethics in media is therefore as relevant and as
complicated as ethics in society. In political life the ethical issues of
reconciling various sources of power dominate the discussion. In social life,
the issues are that of reconciling competing social preferences across
religious, moral, generational, ethnic and socio-economic divides. In
personal life the ethical issues may relate to personality development of
oneself and ones family.

As more and more of physical reality cedes the stage to virtual reality the
custodians of this new space will be subjected to an expanding framework
and newer dimensions of Ethics, and concerns about its observance will be
enhanced.

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A discussion about Media Ethics therefore is universal on the one hand

because it addresses issues which are fairly uniform across the globe but
particular in the sense that different societies may lie at a different point on
the continuum of change which extends the role of media in political, social
and personal life.

The expanding scope of media in our lives increases its functions and the
relevant actors. The repertoire of functions and the cast of actors who play a
role on the stage of media ethics is thus somewhat specific from society to
society. And so are the nature of prompts and punishments or incentives and
penalties which must be administered to give teeth to social consensus on a
desirable Code of Ethics. And here of course we are confronted with the
issue of social consensus and the unique ways in which various societies
may strive to achieve a semblance of social consensus.

While all of this discussion may seem abstract, it has essentially emerged
from reflections on the experience of Pakistan in its recent history spanning
over half a century. The following section provides a sketch of the
expanding role of media in the life of a Pakistani. It thus lays down the
context in which the current debate on media ethics is being conducted.

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THE GROWING ROLE OF MASS MEDIA IN PAKISTAN

Fifty years ago the country which is today Pakistan had a population of
approximately 35 million persons; more than 80% or 30 million lived in
rural areas, leaving an urban population of around 5 million. The rural areas
were quite inaccessible as roads were poor, there were no telephones and
electricity supply was quite uncommon. The mass media, as we know it
today, was restricted to newspapers constrained by the limitations of literacy
which were around 15% of the total population. Thus a literate population of
less than five million dispersed across different key locations on a sizeable
land mass of over 700,000 kilometers could be sparsely reached by
newspapers, whose timely supply would obviously be constrained by the
speed of trains and buses, if and where rail tracks and motorable roads were
available.

This is not to say that mass media did not enjoy a significant role at that
time. To the contrary there was a magic about the written word and a
mystery about the nascent radio broadcast; and hence their reach and impact
defied the calculations made through current techniques of audience
measurement relying on reach, frequency and target rating points, without
taking into account the magic and the mystery of the medium (much of
which has in fact disappeared today, with time and other overreaching
developments). Perhaps the mass media achieved its reach and exercised its
impact by becoming an artifact in a social setting in which the word of
mouth in the parlours of the rich and the famous and the ‘hujras’

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(community meeting places) and ‘tharas’ (street corners) of the commoners

amplified any utterance in print and sound. The reach and impact flowed
step by step in a complex social environment. The mass media essentially
reached the real masses through the intermediation of an elite which resided
mostly in urban areas and was privileged to access the media through
education and financial capacity to buy a newspaper or owned an uncommon
possession, the radio. The influence of the mass media in those days should
however not be underestimated, if only by gauging the restrictions which
governments placed on it and the enthusiasm with which political activists
and social reformers aspired to mobilize it for their causes. But, it is quite
evident that the direct audience of the mass media were quite small, and its
true significance lay in its effective relationship with other social institutions
notably the grass-root political and social organisation. In politics, the mass
media (print media was the only option) was an important instrument with
which the civil society could build its organisation to compete with a much
better organised and ever encroaching (at the time) power of the colonial or
the post-colonial state. The mass media helped build a grass-root
organisation which in turn amplified the message carried through it. In social
controversies the influence of the mass media rested on its ability to create a
‘rumour’ which travelled with its characteristic speed and distorted signal at
each rung of a spiraling path.

The debate on media ethics was carried out to address these issues. The
focus was primarily on politics and a tug of war between the state and
various civil society institutions. An acrimonious issue was the extent to
which the ruling group could claim to be the sole custodian and spokesman

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for the state. The agenda of discussion was largely limited to the concerns of
the state and the concerns of political rulers and oppositions. In more recent
years the parameters of debate on media on media ethics have however gone
beyond the concerns of the state and the concerns of political rulers and
oppositions.

The new parameters are related to the social and cultural life and the field of
business and commerce. These new battle grounds have become important
alongwith the expanded role of mass media in our lives. We shall briefly
discuss here the expanding role of print and electronic media in the life of an
average Pakistani.

Print Media

During the last fifty years the urban population of Pakistan has grown nearly
ten fold from a little more than 5 million to nearly 50 million. And despite
pathetically low rates of literacy, the absolute number of literates have also
grown more than 10 times, partly due to the growth in population and partly
as a result of higher literacy rates. More importantly a vast network of roads,
albeit of very poor quality, has brought most of the 90 million rural
Pakistanis within the reach of urban centres. Air and road transportation has
revolutionized during the same period. The newspapers are thus reaching
larger numbers not just through the word of mouth, but directly. An average
newspaper is read by seven or more readers because nearly half of readers
read from a borrowed paper. Today, nearly 50% of Pakistan’s adult
population is a regular or casual reader of newspapers. For all readers
combined the average reading time is a little more than thirty minutes. More

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than 90% of the readership is in Urdu language and the remaining is split
between Sindhi as regional language and English. The readership is split
between the more expensive newspapers priced at Rs. 7-10 and the less
expensive ones priced at Rs. 2-5. The former category of newspapers are
considerably more voluminous than the latter and include several specialized
sections on Sports, Entertainment, Business as well as more than one
magazine each week. The larger volume allows them to extend the scope of
their writings to social and commercial issues and to include a sizeable
number of advertisements. The print media now earns approximately 2.5
billion Rupees a year from advertising which by Pakistani standards is a
large sum. Newspaper readership is almost universal among the one million
upscale households which constitute the top 5% of the socio-economic
hierarchy in the country.

The purpose of this description of the current situation of newspaper

readership in Pakistan is to show that newspapers are an important actor on
the political, social and commercial scene of Pakistan. Their reach cuts
across urban and rural areas, and various socio-economic classes. Only a few
newspapers in Pakistan cater to narrow political or communal groups. In
most of the cases they attempt to attract a cross section of political and social
segments. This in itself suggests that newspapers are not an aid to
supplement grass-root organisations with a narrowly focused or partisan
agenda. They are increasingly a reflection of the broad spectrum of our
society. This creates an interesting change in the attitudes of those who wish
to use or misuse this medium for their partisan purpose; and this includes the
ruling political groups as well as other important political, social and

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commercial actors. It is futile for them to dominate it to the exclusion of

their competitors, for in that case it would cease to be the collective arena on
which they wish to compete. Instead they would like to disproportionately
influence an arena which is otherwise driven towards reflecting the society
in proportions approximating the reality. This change gives a new nuance to
both the parameters of media ethics and the measures to ensure an ethical
behaviour. It is interesting to note that the distortions of truth and fairness
are today caused less by blatantly coercive and legal means and more
through subtle or not so subtle use of infiltration, corruption and to use an
even harsher word, black-mail. With greater resources at their disposal, the
rulers have been more prominent and powerful players in this improper
contest, but these means are not unknown in their use to political
oppositions, ideologues of various cultural preferences and global players of
all varieties, for causes which are justified by their national, emotional or
commercial interests. The institutions of the state including the civil
bureaucracy and the armed forces have also not shied away from this
contest. By some accounts they have been the most vicious players. It is
important to highlight these aspects of reality when we deliberate on the
means to enforce an ethical behaviour in the mass media. Increasingly the
distortion of truth and fairness is caused not through open sanctions, but
through sneaky and crooked means; its remedy may require more than
formal legal checks and a process which goes beyond a recourse to the
traditional legal process.

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Electronic Media

What is true for the expanded role of print media in our lives becomes
considerably more important when we turn to the electronic media.

More than three fourth of urban households and nearly half of all rural
households in Pakistan own a television set and watch it fairly regularly. An
equal number own a radio set but only half of them listen to it with some
regularity. Still the daily reach of radio is approximately 10 million adults.
For television the number of estimated viewers on a given day are more than
twice as many. The reach of television has certainly been helped by the fact
that in the last twenty years, rural electrification has grown four times from
16% of rural households to more than 60%. In the case of television, an
average viewer watches it for nearly three hours a day, and this duration has
been on the rise. The rise in viewing time is correlated with the increase in
transmission time and the increase in the number and variety (in terms of
content) of channels available to a viewer. The medium of television is a
major vehicle for shifting our lifestyles towards a virtual world. According
to a recent study by Gallup nearly 40% of adults in Karachi are up and
watching TV at 10:00 p.m; the comparable figure for late night viewing,
during the some hours, was only 10% twenty years ago. The TV viewers
receive information and form attitudes on many, though not all aspects of
life from television programmes. Another study by Gallup on health and
hygiene has shown that a majority of Pakistanis receive information about
health from the mass media, principally television. Nevertheless it has its
limitation, and a large number say that before they take a practical step on a

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health matter they consult a personal friend or relative. But, the role of TV is
pervasive; its viewers watch it for 3 out of let us say 8 hours during which
they are not sleeping or at work. It is a major social institution which is
rapidly integrating itself alongwith, and in some cases as a substitute of,
family and neighbourhood.

The pervasive role of TV in our lives provides great temptation to political

rulers and the adherents of social engineering. But, once again empirical
evidence suggests that despite its impressive reach, perceptions about the
effects of television in changing peoples’ behaviour is somewhat
exaggerated. The relationship between reach, awareness, attitude formation
and behaviour change is far more complex than most political leaders or
social engineers would like to believe. Empirical evidence from Pakistan
shows that long years of prejudicial campaigns against political oppositions
were quite ineffective in converting the loyalties of people to whom such
campaigns were addressed. During 1977–88 the government of General Zia-
ul-Haq carried out massive TV campaigns against Bhutto’s Peoples Party.
But, when elections were called in 1988, the Peoples Party polled a
proportion of votes which was almost identical to what it enjoyed prior to
the years of television campaigns against it. Television campaigns had failed
to convert its target audience. However it may have produced the effect of
consolidating the anti Bhutto sentiments of those who were already
predisposed in that direction. The evidence for this appears through another
study carried out in 1992 when an intensive TV campaign was carried out to
show that Bhutto’s Peoples Party was a terrorist organisation. The TV
campaign focused on personal confessions by some prominent ‘terrorists’

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who had been captured. A study before and after the campaign showed that
it had not converted even one percent of Bhutto supporters; however the
campaign was quite successful among the anti Bhutto constituency: Many
more among them viewed the Peoples Party as a terrorist organisation after
the TV campaign than before it. From the other side of the political spectrum
the anti Nawaz Sharif TV campaign by the Bhutto government during its
tenures in government (1988-90 and 1994-96) failed to diminish his political
support.

It is important to recognise the role of TV alongwith its power and

limitations while we talk of developing a code of Ethics to regulate its use.
Firstly, the freedom of expression on the air waves is not likely to drastically
alter the political fortunes of leaders in government or the opposition.
Secondly, television has considerable role in informing the people on social
issues and affecting attitudes, but even there the behaviour change is often
intermediated by traditional and personal channels of communication.

Advertising is an important part of electronic media, just as it is for the print

media. According to current estimates the electronic media enjoys roughly
an equal Rupee value of advertising with the print media: It is to the tune of
Rs. 2.5 billion each year. Television is the principal beneficiary, since not
more than 5% of total electronic media advertising budget goes to radio.

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THE PARAMETERS OF MEDIA ETHICS

In the light of our discussion the parameters of media ethics should

encompass both print and electronic media. Moreover the parameters of
media ethics should span the political, social and commercial content of
media.

If one looks at the recent deliberations on media ethics in Pakistan, the focus
is primarily on the print media and on its political content; however
discussion on the freedom of air waves is also beginning to surface through
the legislation under consideration for allowing private participation in the
operation of electronic media.

A number of practical moves are under active consideration in Pakistan.

These include a law on the “Freedom of Information” another proposal for a
law to form a “Press Council” and a law related to the broadcast media
through forming its Regulatory Authority.

Both the draft law on the Broadcast Regulatory Authority and the officially
supported move to form a Press Council include a section on Code of Ethics.
Their reading leads one to the following conclusions:

Firstly there is a clear intent to follow the current global norms of a Code of
conduct for the media through allowing a wide range of freedoms restricted
only by such commonly, held considerations as “to ensure that programmes

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and advertisements do not encourage violence, terrorism, racial, ethnic or

religious discrimination, sectarianism or hatred”. There are nevertheless
another set of wide ranging considerations like “Respect for the sovereignty,
security and integrity of the state” and “Respect for national cultural and
religious values and principles of public policy as enshrined in the
Constitution”. This means that the effective Code of Conduct will in fact be
shaped by precedence established through practice.

A proposed draft to form the Press Council goes into considerable details
about the Code of Ethics, relating to
• Respect for Truth and Accuracy
• Respect for Privacy
• Refrain from inciting discrimination on grounds of race, religion,
caste, sect, nationality, ethnicity, gender, disability, illness or age
of an individual or group
• Refrain from sensationalism on issues of health, violence or
brutalities
• Refrain from identification of victims of sexual offences
• Refrain from plagiarism, slander and libelous material

It also touches upon issues pertaining to the behaviour of media personnel

on matters such as
• Refrain from biased reporting and publishing of unverifiable
material

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• Refrain from exchange of financial or other favours which are

likely to create conflict of interest

It further refers to professional conduct regarding

• Prompt rectification of any harmful inaccuracies
• Equal and fair display to apologies
• Provision for right to reply
• Provision for opportunity to respond to allegations of wrong-doing

There is a notable difference of emphasis between the above list of refrains

from those contained in the official Registration of Printing Press and
Publications ordinance 1997. The list of refrains therein pertain to

• Offences against public tranquility

• Incitement to murder
• Advocacy against the nation’s sovereignty
• Spreading of hatred against the government
• Exciting feeling of enmity among different national communities
• Seduction of government officials away from their national duties

• Attempted damage to Pakistan’s foreign relations

On the whole the notion of Code of Conduct is being seen here as a judicial
or quasi-judicial matter. Any departure from the prescribed code is hence a
case for punishment or penalty. This is different from a concept of ‘Rating’
the media on its on-going performance and using the Rating as a basis for
public approval or censure. The concept of Rating on a Code of Conduct
developed through a consensual process is important for several reasons.

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Firstly, ethical behaviour often lies on a continuum of propriety, wherein

such clear departure from the norm which night call for formal punishment
is hard to establish. There should of course be room for identification of
cases of clear violation and the application of relevant judicial or quasi-
judicial measures. But, there must also be the need to establish a mechanism
to address the quality of behaviour on a Code of Conduct within the grey
area of observance. Secondly, a given publication or media channel is
unlikely to be a good or bad performer on all the issues at all times. Its
departures from code of conduct are likely to be selective. Hence one may
develop a procedure to rate media publications and channels either on an on-
going basis, or through randomly selected samples. These Ratings would
then serve as a voluntary guideline for the audience and the advertisers to
judge levels of compliance or observance of the Code of Ethics. In a sense
the formal compliance with the Code of Ethics would be judged through a
judicial or quasi-judicial process, while the level of observance would be
judged through a process of social sanctions administered through public
ratings on the observance of Code of Conduct. Considering that the scope of
mass media has extended to large and diverse sections of the population and
its area of influence is much wider than politics or concerns of the state, the
range of concerned parties is extremely wide and varied. Their perceptions
of what level of observance of a code of conduct is tolerable is also varied.
Thus it may be appropriate to treat the quality of conduct in media akin to
how quality of education is judged in America through Rating of educational
institutions, or the manner in which creditors are rated by Credit Rating
Agencies and in a somewhat similar though not identical case, to the rating
of movies.

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ACTORS ON THE STAGE OF MEDIA ETHICS

It is important to identify the various actors on the stage of media ethics.

They include the players, the spectators (audience) and the referees (judges).

Media organisations are today large corporate bodies with owners, managers
and professionals. In an ideal situation it is considered best to separate the
owner / manager role from the professional role of the media persons. It is
presumed that such a separation would ensure that business considerations
do not affect the professional judgement of journalists. Thus there is a clear
distinction between professional content, advertising and ownership /
management. In recent developments there is a tendency, especially in the
electronic media, to breach these distinctions.

Programme content and advertising blend into each other in stage shows and
other formats. Some of it is done overboard and in a transparent manner, in
other cases the relationship between public relations advertising and
programme content is not clearly identified. In its worst form the
relationship becomes blatant extortion: If you oblige you get good and
positive display, if you do not oblige you are not simply ignored, instead you
get negative and scandalous display. This form of unethical practice, turning
into black-mail is a serious cause for concern.

As the influence of media goes beyond political arena into social and
commercial life, its function of vigilance and transparency assumes new
dimensions. In political matters the journalists assumed an ‘adversarial role’

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and ‘cronyship’ with people or institutions on whom they reported was

looked upon with suspicion, and only a very fine and delicate combination
of the two was acceptable. A good journalist had to safeguard his or her
independence. In return they could claim privileged access to information.
Such information was generally received at no cost and distributed at no cost
to the media audience. It was all in the public realm, guided by (mostly) an
unwritten social contract in which the journalist was perceived to be
different from intelligence operators working for governments or business
concerns. This feature of media was selectively misused by the intelligence
community. But, by and large, the media maintained itself as a class
different from spooks.

In an information economy in which information and marketing have

become the center-piece of economic activity, such a distinction will come
under increasing pressure. There is another emerging complication in this
field. The tremendous expansion in the field of media in terms of number of
publications and channels, quantum of content and global coverage
combined with a communications technology which relies on decentralized
personal equipment, a large part of media information gathering has been
outsourced to free-lancing outfits. Clearly they are an important part of the
most respectable media institutions, but not all of them behave with the same
respect for journalistic code of ethics as is expected from the better known
buyers of their services, who have a strong stake in maintaining their ‘brand
equity’. A country such as Pakistan is an important case study because it
displays in a more crude and transparent form the same ailments which may
be present and growing in subtler forms elsewhere.

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For example Pakistani newspapers have practiced for a long time a system
of local ‘stingers’ in the districts. It is generally believed that they receive
very little if any remuneration from their employers or appointing
authorities. At one time it was believed that they were interested to offer
their services and received their gratification from a sense of pride and
perhaps the privilege of being considered among the local elite. As the role
of media is expanding these positions have become more controversial; it is
now alleged that the positions are purchased as an investment to extort
financial gains through corrupt practices and blackmail tactics.

The increasing requirements of information by national governments, global

actors and commercial institutions have created a situation in which it is
becoming harder to distinguish between full time workers for media
organisations who deal in the public realm only, part time stingers, sub-
contractors (receiving outsourced work), hybrid organisations which
combine work which is in the public domain with work which is exclusive
and of a proprietary nature. There is a wide range of people belonging to
media, academia, consulting organisations, diplomats, IT professionals,
governments and intelligence outfits who are all doing fairly similar work.
Some of them, such as journalists and academia, claim privileged treatment
in the collection of information, in return for observing a code of conduct
which is also distinctive. However when this relationship of trust is abused,
the credibility of the entire relationship and its framework becomes suspect.
This is quite characteristic of the situation in Pakistan. It has been caused
through successive actions of the owners, managers, journalists, and other

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actors involved in the broader field of information gathering and reporting. It

is important then to take a comprehensive view of actors within the context
of new information technology and a new economy which rests on
information as a key and scarce resource.

It is within this new framework that actors who play the role of a referee or
judge, such as standards councils and ombudsmen may acquire a more
important role to play. It would be important that standards councils and
ombudsmen should take a philosophical view of the situation from time to
time, perhaps year to year during periods of rapid change, and give their
views on the complex dilemmas under which freedom of information must
be balanced by other considerations. Access to information on the one hand
and prevention of misuse of information on the other hand are issues which
may require constant vigilance. A country specific reflection on a periodic
basis may provide much needed countervailing power to those who may be
searching for corrective mechanisms in a situation of change. Such a review
should also address the relevance of public interest justifications against
freedom of access to information. Often such justification continue to remain
operative even after the original circumstances which prompted their
application disappear.

Considering that vast areas of our lives are affected by media, and the
situation is constantly under change, giving birth to new issues all the time,
the importance of standards Councils and Ombudsmen and Complaints
Councils has become extremely vital. They must however be supported
through research efforts in two ways: Firstly a philosophical review on a

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periodic basis is essential to lay the grounds for evaluation. Secondly

ongoing research support is required for a systematic empirical evaluation of
the observance levels of an agreed code of ethics.

A very important actor on the stage of media ethics is the ordinary citizen or
the audience of the media. In a way they are the final customers whose
satisfaction is an important concern of the entire activity. It is the average
citizen, whose views on freedom of information, the relative balance among
the various wielders of power, and standards of moral behaviour are critical.
The Standards Councils the Ombudsmen and even the Courts are eventually
affected by the popular milieu, although their own judgements, are a means
in themselves to shape popular attitudes, since the average citizen looks up
for guidance to them. In any case it is important to constantly gauge public
attitudes on the parameters and positions on a Code of Ethics.

It is interesting to note that in the case of Pakistan, there is, in recent years, a
strong support for the independence of media from government control. It is
possibly a result of the fact that independence of media has remained on the
agenda of most popular political struggles in Pakistan’s history, dating back
to the 1960s (during Ayub Period), 1970s (during Bhutto period) and 1980s
(during Zia period). Thus when popularly elected governments in the 1990s
made an overt move to control the press, it was opposed by a majority of
public opinion. Public opinion polls have also consistently shown support
for pluralism in current affairs and news reporting on the electronic media.
The most interesting evidence of public views against government control of
the press comes from the episode of a bitter conflict between the Jang Group

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of newspapers (Pakistan’s largest Print Media Group) and the Government

of Nawaz Sharif in 1998-99. The Government had charged the newspaper
group of massive tax evasion, whereas the newspaper group claimed that it
had been targeted for selective action because it had refused to accept
government dictation concerning journalists critical of the government.
Public opinion was sought on this row and Gallup polls showed a majority
favouring the position of the Newspaper Group. This was despite the fact
that the Government otherwise enjoyed popular endorsement; in fact the
views of its own intending voters were responsible for the balance of views
against it on this issue. It was also despite the fact that popular views were
very critical of tax evasion. Clearly a majority believed that the
government’s attempt to control the normal functioning of the newspaper
was improper. According to the survey held at that time 80% said the
Government was acting wrongly and only 20% said the Government was
acting.

From among those who intended to vote for Nawaz government, 75% still
opposed him on his perceived bid to control the Press. This is not
withstanding that trust in the press is not too high. Only 49% say they place
trust in the Press as an institution, as compared with more than 80% for the
military on one end of the spectrum and nearly 15% for the police on the
other end of the spectrum.

The Press must also consider in its own enlightened interest that there is an
indirect relationship between the credibility of the medium and the
credibility of advertising carried by it. In a related question in a Gallup poll

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Ijaz Shafi Gilani

on the credibility of advertising carried by the newspapers one third of

newspaper readers said they did not believe that advertising carried by
newspapers was credible. Unfortunately there are no time series data
available to provide a comparative perspective (nor do I presently have
access to any cross-country comparison, which would certainly be helpful),
but tracking these findings over time night provide a good understanding of
public perceptions about the Press.

It would be useful that an independent poll each year should evaluate

popular perceptions about the ethical behaviour of various channels of the
media including print and electronic. Its findings should be made public for
discussion and deliberation. This exercise would also serve the purpose of
providing a perspective on the ethical behaviour of media, which may not be
necessarily be the same as that of the media itself or the standards councils.

As the world of media around us changes rapidly, it would be interesting to

keep track of the varied perceptions of actors on this stage, the media people,
the standards councils and the ordinary citizen who are the end consumers of
the media product.

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TYPE OF REGULATION &

The Nature of Sanctions

At one time media was seen as a relatively limited phenomenon, limited in

its reach and limited in the scope of subjects which it affected. Thus the
sanctions were viewed mainly in two ways: Governmental restrictions in
terms of licensing requirements or their revocation and damages in case of
libel.

As the reach and scope of media increase and it becomes a very important
social institution on a host of subjects, it becomes important to develop a
new set of social sanctions to keep the media disciplined within the
prevailing social mores of the society. Of course it is very difficult to define,
evolve and enforce social mores and social sanctions. Nor can they ever be
as precise and as enforceable as legal sanctions; in fact if they were so, the
purpose of distinguishing the two would be lost. However it is very
important to evolve standards of ethics for social behaviour and to enforce
them. In a society such as Pakistan, such standards and their enforcement is
present in traditional segments of the society and on those aspects of life
which are less touched by the drive of modernization, such as family and
primordial customs. But, we find it very difficult to deal with an equal level
of nuance, tolerance, compromise or even discipline when it comes to
modern institutions such as the mass media. This is why we find it very
difficult to even perceive that it can be managed through self-regulatory
means. We find it necessary to create statutory bodies through overriding
role of government in their establishment, financing and administration. The
non statutory bodies either do not remain functional or are split along

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partisan lines and cease to be a collective forum. This is the reason why a
Press Council in Pakistan is not being conceived as a self regulatory body;
instead the current proposal is to establish it under a government statute,
supported by government funding, albeit with a management controlled by
private persons rather than government functionaries. Under the present
circumstances this may very well be the only practical course. But it must
nevertheless be considered a transitional arrangement, to be ultimately
converted into a self regulating institution independent of the state. We must
understand that the institution of state is receding and the forward thrust now
rests with a host of new non-state institutions. In their broad concept non-
state institutions are remotely related to how our traditional society managed
itself, but they are essentially very different modern institutions. They are
the bedrock of effective democracy in modern nation states and they will
form the foundation of global governance of one or another variety in the
21st century. The mass media and information technology is shaping that
future for us. It is important to visualize our upcoming institutions within the
perspective of a future in which local and global society may look for
solutions for its problems outside the ambit of the state.

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CONCLUSION

Pakistan is entering a new stage in its history of discussions and debates on media
ethics. A much maligned law on the management of Press and Publications has
been practically revoked. It is in the process of being replaced by a new law
regarding the print media. In the meantime the state monopoly of air waves has
come under strong criticism and a new law which permits greater competition and
pluralism in the electronic media is on the cards. As the role of media in society
becomes wider in coverage and deeper in scope of effects, the need for developing
media ethics through a process of social consensus become all the more important.
The current debates in Pakistan do identify the broad parameters of media ethics,
which have been reproduced in this paper.

Under the current scenario the importance of non-state institutions for defining
and regulating media ethics has increased. But given the realities it may be
advisable to initially establish standards councils under government statute with
the essential aim of phasing out government role and relinquishing it to self-
regulating entities in due course.

Corresponding with this approach would be the need for combining legal
sanctions with social sanctions exercised through systematic compilation and
disclosure of violations of media ethics. Finally, considering the rapidly changing
and increasing role of mass media in society there is the need to regularly track
this change and develop philosophic reflections on how they affect our society and
the manner in which we should harness their socially desirable consequences, and
prevent what is considered socially undesirable. If mass media and information
technology is shaping our lives, an on-going discourse and reflections on its
implications must lie at the heart of an evolving framework for Media Ethics.

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