News that is music to the ears

So the next time there is a bomb blast, will our media play Ali Azmat's 'Bum phatta'?

Every time a major political or controversial story breaks, our news channels make it a point to flash it continuously, spiced up with songs. And that irritates me a lot. It sounds non-serious, to say the least. Numbers like ‘Dulhan hum le jaiengay’ (we will take the bride) for Sania-Shoaib wedding, ‘Ye dosti hum nahi choreingay’ (We will not abandon this friendship) on PPP, MQM coalition after fall-outs really push the boundaries of what ought to be acceptable. It is so insane at times you wonder if they really are talking about real events and happenings.

It’s a trend to now compete on the selection of songs too. The better the song you have, the better your breaking news will rank.  Yes, that is probably what they think given the amount of variety we get to hear in the backdrop of different news packages. Maybe in the near future, we will be so spineless and rating-thirsty that the next time a bomb explodes, the channel playing the upbeat Ali Azmat’s ‘bum phatta’ (bomb explodes) will bag more viewers than the one playing Nusrat Fateh Ali’s slow number ‘Iss dunya kay gham’ (the sorrows of this world).

I understand that the political drama and the actions and comments of leaders in Pakistani democracy are nothing short of comic, but I don’t see any justification behind adding music.

What good does this do to the content? It could have been much-needed promotion of our music industry but hold on, they are not even our own songs! They are borrowed from across the border. Whether it is with or without permission, is another story.

To think that the biggest and best of our media brains are behind this, makes it further incomprehensible. I would term it yellow journalism. I don’t know what the public will though.