‘Media Trends, Media’s Depiction of Pakistan, and its Impact’

A session titled ‘Media Trends, Media’s Depiction of Pakistan, and its Impact’ was held at IPS on March 21, 2018 with a view to enlighten the Institute’s team over the subject.

The session was addressed by Zahoor Ahmed Niazi, a renowned journalist who has served as the editor of Jang, London, and is now heading Minhaj-ul-Quran International.

Ahmed was of the view that majority of the battles today were being fueled by and legitimized through media propaganda. Pakistani media on the other hand was not able to realize this impact so far mainly due to the influence of external elements over it. In comparison, he added, the UK media reports domestic matters as per its discretion but adheres firmly to the guidelines provided by the government when it comes to the matters pertaining to international affairs.

Pointing at the reasons behind the persistent negative portrayal of Pakistan in international media, Ahmed said that the Indian lobby was much more active in global media arena compared to Pakistanis and hence was able to project its narrative much efficiently.

Responding to a question regarding the quality of investigative journalism in UK, Ahmed said that the country focuses on practical journalistic work much more than the syllabus-based education and hence their standard of investigative journalism was very high.

Talking about the present situation of Pakistan, the speaker said that deliberate efforts were being made by external powers to defame different institutions of Pakistan; it was thus the need of time for the country’s media to play a mature and responsible role in this regard instead of becoming a puppet that is controlled by external elements.