Case for public television

The newly inducted chairman of the Pakistan Television (PTV) Board, Naeem Bokhari, said in an interview recently that the state television would only represent the government, adding that it was “not like any other channel”. In a video clip, Bokhari can be seen interacting with reporters and one of the reporters asks him whether the government and the opposition will get “equal time” on PTV. “Absolutely not,” replies Bokhari, adding “This is the PTV, not any other channel. This is state television which represents the government.”

“Only government?” asks the reporter. “Only government,” confirms the PTV chairman before the video is cut short. Given that Bokhari is a lawyer by profession what we can safely assume is that his comments were not just spoken without any thought or in the heat of the moment. This is possibly a well thought-out strategy. Credit goes to Bokhari for at least speaking the truth with regards to the brief he has been given. But it opens a larger debate of the role of both PTV and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (Radio Pakistan) as well as what the future holds for them in this age of digital platforms.

As things stand, PTV along with PBC as well as the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) are departments under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MOIB). Content produced by any of these entities reflects the opinion of the government in power. In case of PTV, a Board of Directors appointed by the government manages its affairs. The managing director, appointed by the government and approved by the Board of Directors, is the administrative and executive head.

Traditionally, PTV has been the most important of all the three entities under the ministry. Not only does it bring in much needed revenue in the form of advertising as well as through a levy to collect TV licence fee, it also has the lion’s share of audience. Even in his age of cables and digital platforms, there are many parts of the country where only PTV is accessible.

However, with the introduction of private TV channels 2001 onwards, we have seen the monopoly spotlight come to an end and its audience and revenues dipping. More importantly, consistent meddling in the content of PTV by successive governments has affected the quality of its programming. In the past while successive governments focused on the news content, the entertainment side had blossomed. But now both are under a cloud.

One can recall some moments when PTV has made us proud. One such brief spell came in 1988 when then senator Javed Jabbar was given the portfolio of information under the Benazir Bhutto government. Senator Jabbar did the exact opposite of what Bokhari proposes to do. PTV gave equal time to both government and opposition figures. But this did not last long as the then chief minister of Punjab, Nawaz Sharif, launched a rather unfair campaign against the Benazir Bhutto government. Under pressure, BB put a stop to the new policy and Jabbar was given another portfolio.

In those days, the only competition that PTV faced in its news coverage was from the evening broadcasts of BBC Urdu. Now things have changed entirely. With several competing channels on air, PTV’s audience has shrunk. More importantly, television itself is seeing a change — it is predicted that mainstream television will give way to digital platforms within a few years.

At a time when countries around us like Turkey, Qatar and China are expanding their own broadcast channels to cater to an international audience, PTV needs to also broaden its horizon. This can only be done if PTV regains its standing which cannot happen if it is seen as only a mouthpiece of the government.

A natural progression for PTV would be to embrace the concept of public broadcasting as against its present arrangement of being a state broadcaster. It must be freed from the shackles of MOIB, which incidentally is what the PTI election manifesto also commits to. In the ‘Naya Pakistan’ manifesto that was issued in 2018, the PTI promises “PBC and PTV will be made autonomous with their own Board of Governors similar to the BBC model”. This is exactly what needs to be done.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th, 2020.

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