Broadcasting ideas

I keep returning to the Iqbal Memorial Lectures by Professor Abdus Salam, given in mid 1960s and broadcast by Radio Pakistan. I have written about those lectures in these pages in the past. As I listened to them again recently, I wondered about how much we may have lost in the last six decades. It goes without saying that if Salam was alive today, he would not be welcome on any public platform. A tragedy of equal measure is that even after his death three decades ago, many would think twice, and probably not even entertain the idea of playing his lectures publicly. Unfortunately, they have good reason to be concerned.

But my point today is not about the intolerance of society, though so much needs to be said on that. It is about what is viewed, by the media industry and the public sector, as worthy of supporting. Salam's lectures are brilliant, thought provoking, deeply researched and analytical. At the same time, they are about philosophy, history of science and physics – areas that were not topics of common discussion in households and gathering of friends in the 1960s. Most of all, they are in English – a language that is (and was) spoken and understood by a small segment of society. We may like to imagine the 1960s of Pakistan as a land of milk and honey, despite the evidence to the contrary, but even the most optimistic picture of that era would tell us that these topics were academic, complex and catering to a small group. From a purely market perspective, supporting these lectures is a non-starter. Why not have songs, dramas, or whatever form of entertainment is the most popular flavour of the day? Yet, Radio Pakistan chose to broadcast them, and sixty years later, they continue to have a life of their own.

The question to ask is if these ideas were worthy of support then, why not now? Why has our calculus become so narrow on ratings and revenue that we cannot imagine having serious lectures that are not punctuated by 'breaking news'? Why is the mode of discussion on our channels built on conspiracy theories or personal attacks? What about conversations on important ideas?

These days, few listen to the public broadcaster, and that is not just because of the quality of the product but also because the public broadcaster is not interested in having serious conversations that go beyond the party line. The private channels may point to serious competition for ratings and viewership, but I am not sure that is truly an honest argument. It is more convenient to choose the easy path, to churn out an 'efficient' product that is instantaneously catchy (though shallow), to disengage the mind from serious conversations that can create doubt, generate questions or challenge assumptions.

In 1987, British philosopher, author and broadcaster Bryan Magee hosted a 15-part series titled 'The Great Philosophers'. It was a series of one-on-one conversations with contemporary scholars on the ideas and impact of some of the greatest philosophers of the western tradition from Aristotle to Descartes to Kant to Marx and others. The conversations were serious, thoughtful and meant for a broad audience. The simple idea of a 15-part series on philosophers is probably going to put many to sleep, yet this was a huge success. These episodes are available freely online and continue to inspire a dedicated audience through their simple production and deep ideas. If someone were to dismiss the programme by saying that was a different era, and now times have changed, well – BBC aired them again in 2025 and once again they were broadly appreciated.

The question I am grappling with, in the era of AI and so-called efficiency, is about our own choices and autonomy. What do we choose for ourselves and why? And for those who have the power to shape discourse and broadcast ideas, what do we choose for others? We can choose to listen carefully, read broadly, and think deeply. We can ponder on important questions that surround us. No marketing campaign, race for rankings or ratings, or ideas about trends, should take that away from us.