Thank you to the Supreme Court for keeping the media busy!

It is Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry who is keeping journalists busy from nine to five even during Ramazan.

Qamar Zaman August 13, 2012
Thank you very much, Chief Justice. Had it not been for the Supreme Court the media — journalists, television anchors, columnists and many others related to the vocation— would have been struggling to find something newsworthy during the Holy month of Ramazan.

Though our national character is known for being laidback, the month of Ramazan brings with it some additional lethargy, where no one is ready to do whatever he/she is supposed to be doing.

Perhaps, everyone is witness to the fact that when you go to get something done, people at the helm of affairs are seen taking extra credit for doing their job. And sometimes, if the task involves dealing with more than one department, it is advised that the task be taken up after the month of Ramazan. Hence, for a media person, finding a juicy story is not less than any other challenge in this month. But with the Supreme Court of Pakistan working during the summer and taking up high profile cases, including the prime minister and other notables of the country, it has provided the media industry enough fodder to keep it going.

It is Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who keeps journalists busy from nine to five, and no one dares to skip the proceedings and remarks passed by the judges, which make headlines for the print media, tickers for the electronic media and topics for the anchorpersons to hold entire talk shows on.

But this reflects the sorry state of affairs for the so-called fourth pillar of democracy — media — that it has only focused on the ongoing executive-judiciary row and has neglected everything else. Take the case of the painful power outages during the excruciating summer season. The magnitude of loadshedding has not changed during the month of Ramazan, despite promises by the government and there are blackouts even during sehri and iftar. I have personally witnessed this when I visited my village last week.

The discussion over the energy crisis is not possible without a thorough investigation due to which it is neglected and court proceedings — a ready to use material — are given preference in every medium of the media. I feel sorry to say that it is news when people come out on the streets, take the law in their own hands and damage public and private property but it is not news when there aren’t violent protests.

Read more by Qamar here.
WRITTEN BY:
Qamar Zaman
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (8)

Akhter | 11 years ago | Reply The so called fourth pillar of state is terrified of displeasing the honorable chief justice thats why its ok to bash politicians in media but heaven forbid it would border on shirk to quehow mr arsalan could go on so many lavish trips without the chief knowing. I guess now will never know as he has stopped the investigation.
web site | 11 years ago | Reply Network never stretched out their arm to people, but contact you and me; We never meet and contact each other, but we are supporting each other.
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