KARACHI: It is true that the media has been the main driving force in increasing public support for the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), which has been actively pushing for changing the status quo in the country.
However, recently, it has been observed that media support for the PTI is dying down. The party’s rallies in smaller cities, where it is attracting huge crowds, are largely being ignored by the media. Even the PTI’s recent public meeting in Quetta, which was one of the biggest of its kind in a sensitive area like Balochistan, although partly covered by the electronic media, did not receive much attention from the print media. If the media continues to ignore the PTI in this manner, then the public perception of it being free and independent will soon fade away.
At the same time, I feel that the PTI needs to reorganise its media team to better project its point of view. At present, apart from Imran Khan, nobody else in the party has been able to create any significant impression amongst the populace.
Abad Ahmed
Published in The Express Tribune, April 27th, 2012.
