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Facebook ban: our polarising press
The Facebook ban is a fascinating story, not because of the actual news, but because of what its media coverage...
The writer is a freelance broadcast and print journalist (george.fulton@tribune.com.pk)
The Facebook ban is a fascinating story, not because of the actual news, but because of what its media coverage reveals about our increasingly fragmented society. Since the story erupted last week acres of newsprint and hours of TV coverage have been dedicated to a story that, for the vast majority of Pakistanis, is an irrelevance. Loadshedding, inflation unemployment and swollen lakes are more pressing matters than an immature, offensive internet page created in Seattle. Yet you wouldn’t have guessed this by the media’s response over the past week.
I am in no way condoning the blasphemous content of the Prophet (pbuh). But for most people Facebook is a foreign land unrelated to their daily lives. In a country of 160 million people only 18 million people are online, of which an estimated 1.5 million have a Facebook account. So potentially less than one per cent of the population would have been able to access the offending material. Nor were most people even aware of the offending content prior to the Lahore High Court’s decision.
So why the distorted media interest in this story? Because the story directly affected the two small, yet influential, social groups that control our media. Great swathes of our Urdu press and electronic media represent the mindset of the socially conservative and reactionary urban middle class. It was this group that was horrified by the blasphemous content, wanted to generate populist outrage and have websites banned. Meanwhile, the English press, to which this paper firmly belongs, epitomised the values of the western educated, socially progressive elite who were equally horrified by what it saw as overzealous censorship by the LHC. It was also this group that happened to be the overwhelming losers of the Facebook ban.
Each side of this cultural divide cried foul. Articles, columns, talk shows all spewed forth — each supporting the prejudices of their own demographic. The op-ed pages of this organ have been overwhelmingly against the ban. Meanwhile, the views expressed in its sister publication, the Daily Express, have been quite the contrary.
But the media have failed spectacularly in their coverage of this story to educate or enlighten their respective constituencies. There has been little attempt by either side to understand the opposing position. Have we bothered to ask our middle class about their underlying concerns? About the perceived erosion of their values and what they see as creeping westernisation and vulgarity in their culture? Or is it easier just to label them as ignorant cretins and be done with it? Meanwhile, has the Urdu media attempted to comprehend why the English educated elite are so incensed by the state’s attempts at curbing their freedoms and censoring content?
Our polarising press is increasingly looking like one of those late night political talk shows in which everybody’s talking (or shouting), but nobody’s listening. The stridency in which the English and Urdu media scream their respective positions only goes to further exacerbate this country’s widening cultural and social divide. A responsible media shouldn’t confirm one’s own prejudices, but instead confound them. We need to understand and listen to opposing arguments and start listening to our fellow countrymen on the opposite side of the tracks. Perhaps only then can we go some way to resolving the deep cultural and social divisions that segregate this country.
Meanwhile, the Urdu and English media continue to overlook vast portions of the populace — the rural and the poor. Their voice remains largely ignored whilst the media classes indulgently gaze at their navels.
Published in the Express Tribune, May 26th, 2010.
Reader Comments (18)
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In many way’s the whole Facebook episode came at just about the right time for this government. The President had just pardoned his Minister of the Interior in controversial circumstances, an artificial lake is about to burst its banks, load shedding is increasing, a budget is on the way and before I forget the executive vs. judiciary showdown, all happen at the same time. A nice distraction this seems to be!
The Facebook issue fits nicely into our nations fatalistic narrative. That what happened on Facebook was not an act by some lone, marginal individuals…rather it was an organized act, supported by the founder of Facebook who happens to be Jewish, who have come together to hurt Muslim sensitivities.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, it has put a lid on liberal-progressive calls for greater freedom of speech. Its an illustration of a situation where society approves of media restrictions of not only the offending content, but to wider material without seeming to lose moral authority.Recommend
If you look at the nomenclature of terrorist organizations, many refer to the Prophet and His Companions like: Sipah Sahaba Pakistan SSP (Warriors of the Companions of Prophet), Sipah Mohammad Pakistan SMP (Warriors of the Prophet), Jaish Mohammad JM (Army of Mohammad).
Isnt this Blasphemy? These murderous groups are killers of thousands of innocent; dont they bring insult to the Holy Prophet PBUH?Recommend
Well its good that you mentioned the facebook owner is jewish. Their are facebook pages which are celebrating holocaust and he never bothered to ban those as well. What our high court has clearly misunderstood is that you cannot make laws against stupidity, and they need to differentiate between public and personal responsibility. The offending facebook page did not even have 500 members before it was publicized by muslims. Internet by its very nature cannot be controlled. Even now people are back online using facebook through proxy websites. There are hundreds of millions of groups and people on facebook which provide useful information, nearly all major organizations now use facebook to reach out to people, from universities to technology organization. Its sheer stupidity to ban over a hundred million facebook groups because of one offending page.Recommend
Good one. Blocking Facebook illustrates the lack of journalistic integrity and professionalism.Recommend
Facebok ban is absurd. its like banning Microsoft word because somebody used it to write an offending article. if people are so sensitive about this matter than block that specific page. the absurd thing is that even if you search the words “facebook” or “youtube” on google you get a message saying that it has been blocked; so one cant even search articles on the matter etc. Since the Internet is full of obscene things why not ban the whole thing!!!!! it is abdurd, just absurd to ban youtube and facebook. The government should not block access to things. freedom of information is our right!Recommend
Geo.tv Just Reported This:
70pc Pakistanis want permanent Facebook banRecommend
We don’t need any sort of explanation liberal , democratic, political ..etc to defend Facebook. Media world over seems to be very polarized over this issue. Not a single intellectual, religious leader or political leader has given explanation for this ban in a positive manner how and why it was necessary. Which of-course was necessary(110%) according to our fragile social setup and our religious beliefs.
I am not talking about elite Pakistanis who are another point of polarity just like mullahs in Pakistan. The middle class people are actual face and fate of Pakistan and mostly conservative.And being conservative does not means a negative thing bcz we have rich culture heritage and social setup under the umbrella of ethics of Islam which is our essence anything outside that umbrella is outside Islam and not acceptableRecommend
I think it’s difficult for the media to be able to reconcile the two polar positions taken by Pakistanis across the nation. I think the reason people aren’t listening to the other side is because we aren’t exactly very clear on our stance as a nation. While we are the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, we are not strictly an Islamic state in the sense that Saudi Arabia is. We do adhere to a lot of so-called ‘Western values’ as well, such as Freedom of the Press, etc. If we were slightly clearer on what we could or should expect from our country, this issue might no have been blown out of proportion. If we are defenders of the faith (and I mean that in the broadest way possible, in that, it is our duty as Pakistanis to defend Islam, even when our perceptions of what Islam is are skewed) then every single step the government takes should be consistent with that. Sharia, in its strictest form should be enforced, and we should be adhering to each of its tenants down to the smallest detail.
The truth of the matter is that that isn’t the case in Pakistan. We do follow democratic principles, and we do defend things such as free speech and expression. The government has taken steps to ensure that the press remains free (I’m going to ignore nuanced biases and self-censorship here) and the press in turn has been effective in bringing about some level of accountability. So the question really becomes this, if we really are a democratic nation, or one which is working towards stabilizing democracy, then why are we pandering to these tantrums? Why aren’t we sticking to our democratic principles?
Long story short, if our national stance was slightly clearer, people would have a better idea of what to expect from their government. And the outrage is cause by the fact that we are currently being ruled by a liberal party, but the policies being passed scream otherwise.Recommend
@Nabeel,
The poll that Geo is referring to was conducted on propakistani.pk. The poll has so far received 6,300 responses and I believe that 6,300 responses (not respondents) are not representative of views of more than 160 million people. You can even vote twice or thrice or any number times you desire.Recommend
Agreed. Well written.Recommend
Good description.Recommend
This is going to shocking that our own Muslims brothers support the cause of the writer as he take the ban on face book as an unnecessary step.It may be ban on the freedom of speech and expression for the non Muslims but is a well come step for muslims and followers of Muhammad P.B.U.H Is this the freedom when you torture some one mentally, religiously, culturally, morally and most of all hurt some one’s values.Why did it was allowed by this social net working site to publish this unholy stuff.This is not the media hype but the popular religious sentiments of the 1.3 billion muslims across the globe.This issue has nothing to do with any prevailing problems of any kind.This is the issue of the very faith of billions of muslims.It was mandatory for any muslim specially for media persons to highlight and properly condemn this highly criminal adventure against Islam and Muslims.Recommend
Very well-written article and so glad you are speaking up about the polarizing impact of new media in Pakistan. It all boils down to not just access of the internet but the language of the internet too. English language in itself is a polarizing language in Pakistan – those taught in English schools automatically inheriting a grain of power and legitimacy in society and then them blogging, Facebooking and tweeting automatically representing the thoughts of the elite of the society. This is not to reduce the importance of new media in Pakistan but just to further reiterate what you have written and what we should be concerned about.Recommend
good piece- keep it up George!!Recommend
I think it is lamentable that when there are so many far more important issues that beg our attention, we are busy fuming over a non-issue and making a mountain out of a molehill.Recommend
A very impressive article indeed by George. Living overseas for a couple of years has given me a good opportunity to really understand that why is it so that Pakistan really has an image problem. The question becomes even more complicated when Pakistanis living overseas come to know about the real and enriching experiences that those white people who ever travelled to or lived in Pakistan have. Those are the right people who can educate their fellow compatriots that Pakistan is not what they see on the pages of the New York Times or hear about on Fox news.
But in order for their voices to be heard, our own leaders and our media need to get their act together. If Pakistan has an image problem, its surely because of our own notions of misplaced priorities. I certainly feel that the energies of members of the religious parties would be better utilized, if instead of protesting against facebook, they take the government to task about its failures to stop targeted killings in Karachi. They should take the government to task for not adequately dealing with recent natural disasters in Sindh, Balochistan and the Hunza Valley. After all, the people suffering there are also Pakistanis and deserve the state’s attention. Instead, the government’s attitude is being seen by people as being oblivious to their real life problems.
This has to change…Recommend
Also, those of the mullahs who came out on the streets to protest against facebook, where the hell were they when the Tehrik-E-Taliban and other terrorist groups had waged a near terror blood-bath in Pakistan’s main cities last year, ahead of the Operation Rah-I-Nijat?? Was their Islam sleeping in graveyards at that time?? Why havent these people spoken about the plight of the victims of the Hunza Valley landslide or the people killed in the recent attacks at mosques in Lahore? Is it so because these victims and affected communities belonged to minority groups? why dont these people realize that in its real emphasis on the sanctity of human life, the Holy Quran creates distinction between human life on the basis of race, ethnicity, colour, religious, sexual and political orientation? Why do these people not acknowledge this fact?
Why is it so that these mullahs dont understand that even people of these minority groups are Pakistanis first and therefore their right to safety, security and freedom of religious practice and expression should remain unfettered and very much guaranteed by the state?
It is ironic that those people who talk about making Pakistan an ‘Islamic’ state (I wonder what their definition of Islam really is)really forget the fact that our founding fathers including the Quaid-E-Azam and Allama Iqbal had really envisaged Pakistan to be a pluralistic nation where rights of minorities would be protected by the state, tooth and nail and that religion was supposed to be a private matter which had nothing to do with the state or the nation’s social life….
These ideas are not much different from the teachings of the Holy Quran and those of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) and the caliphs and Imams who ruled the Islamic world through out its golden age.
Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) used to allow Christians in Medina to perform their prayers at the Masjid-E-Nabvi and the Fatimid Caliph-Imams provided Jews with the safety and security that they needed whenever they were kicked out from Christian Europe!
When will Pakistanis understand that religious tolerance was the primary factor that enabled Muslim societies of the 10th to 14th century AD, to progress in fields of science, medicines, engineering and arts?
When would our leaders, mullahs and people understand that because of the intolerance that we have seen growing in some sections of our society, we risk destroying Islam’s vast history and rich cultural heritage that was painstakingly built over a period of roughly 1000 years in South Asia?
Islam has a rich culture and a great history of living at peace (but as a minority religion) side by side with other religions in South Asia and we should not allow a dreadful but small minority of people to destroy this great legacy of our religion in South Asia, a legacy that is better defined and reflected by architectural masterpieces like the Taj-Mahal, Badshahi Masjid and the development and nurturing of beautiful languages like Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi, rather than by the Wahabi-ism inspired war-mongering insurgencies and intolerance!Recommend
I would also like you guys and George to read the following link:
http://theburningissue.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/a-case-of-misplaced-priorities/
Any feedbacks on this would be appreciated! :)
REgards,
Mehroz!Recommend