Freeing the airwaves

It comes as a pleasant surprise that the incoming government has committed itself to making both Pakistan Television and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (Radio Pakistan) more independent. Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has said that the government will not shy away from airing activities of opposition parties on the state broadcaster.

This is good news but for this initiative to take some positive shape, certain steps would have to be taken so that the people can enjoy quality programmes and reportage in days to come.

As things stand, despite the proliferation of privately-owned TV channels, PTV continues to enjoy a sizeable audience. Radio Pakistan, unfortunately, has not fared that well despite efforts by previous head Murtaza Solangi, a professional journalist, in trying to introduce new forms of technology to keep up with the game.

It is in some ways a unique situation. Doing away with the TV and Radio licence, the government in 2004 introduced a levy on electricity bills for those consuming more than 100 units. That levy at the rate of Rs25 a month brings in more than Rs2 billion to PTV, which has an expenditure of more than Rs3.5 billion annually. The balance is made up by airing commercials on television. It is not clear how much of this, if at all, goes to PBC. Either way, the TV levy is a unique and effective way to earn money for the national broadcaster.

But it has been misused by successive governments. Many installed their favourites at huge salaries and allowances to run PTV and PBC or to be their consultants. We cannot afford to repeat those mistakes. We must spend that money wisely.

In the past we have seen two occasions, and both by Senator Javed Jabbar in his capacity as minister of information, where efforts were made to air footage of opposition parties on national TV. In 1988, when Benazir Bhutto was PM, Senator Jabbar was the information minister and he allowed PTV to broadcast freely the activities of both the government and the opposition.

This did not last very long and the good senator had to be moved to another portfolio. He again tried this in 1999 when General Musharraf came to power and eventually resigned in 2000.

Keeping this in mind, Fawad Chaudhry must tread carefully. But what he can do is to create an institution that will outlive his tenure as information minister. Both PTV and PBC should be moved from the mantle of state broadcasters and made into public broadcasters. Of course, there will be many legal and other roadblocks to this but if there is a will, they say, there is a way.

Public broadcasting means moving away from the Ministry of Information and being run under an independent board of directors or governors, as we see in the case of the BBC. Some of these members will be appointed by the government, others from other quarters, including Parliament.

We should do this both with PTV and PBC. It will allow new talent to come in and for both organisations to break away from the cobwebs of bureaucracy. Our biggest problem isn’t censorship but the bureaucratic mindset.

As public broadcasters, both PTV and PBC will be in a position to lead — given their size and the depth of experience of their employees. What we will see soon enough, given the independence they so badly crave, will be another golden era for PTV — but this time not only in entertainment but also in current affairs.

Of course, the question is, whether we are ready for this. An independent PTV and PBC will outshine almost all others. It will be able to do coverage without worrying about ratings or other pressures. More important, we can also work at involving the state-owned news agency, the APP, as part of it.

Pakistan needs to place its journalists in important capitals in the region. Pakistanis have a right to consume news stories without a Western or other bias. APP needs to have professional correspondents in all those capitals where we have foreign policy priorities. We also need to post our correspondents in capitals across the region. This can only happen if APP is made part of the public broadcaster framework and its correspondents can feed into both PTV and PBC. It is a win-win situation for Pakistan. All it needs is the vision of people to have it implemented.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2018.

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