Strengthening police-media relations

A weak professional equation between the police and media needs to be evaluated in the prism of history

Since 9/11, the Pakistani audience has been bombarded indiscriminately by all kinds of hard, troubling news. Consequently, this has multiplied feelings of dejection within the public. The agenda-setting with regard to news and the narrative related to extremism and terrorism has, until recently, primarily remained in the hands of extremist organisations or the inexperienced electronic media. In this regard, the introduction of the 20-point National Action Plan (NAP) and the Electronic Media Code of Conduct 2015 (EMCOC) are positive state interventions.

Before the NAP was drafted, the media hardly felt the need for presenting a counter-narrative to that of the extremists, who often exploited the situation to the best of their advantage. Spokespersons for proscribed organisations did not miss any opportunity to establish contacts with the media. Recent efforts by the Pakistan Peace Collective, the information ministry, the National Police Academy and National Police Bureau to enhance counterterrorism communication skills of senior police officers are commendable. It depicts the resolve to transit from an isolationist narrative and move towards a more inclusive one. The question is that in the absence of an organisational edifice of media relations units within police departments, lack of trained professionals, no defined media policy, a lack of trust between the media and the police, how can a professional equation be knitted so that the ideals of both peace and objectivity are achieved. The free flow of information warrants the establishment of a media relations apparatus within law-enforcement agencies, drafting of a media relations policy, and capacity-building of officers.



There was a time when the media used to be the domain of literary personalities. Over the years, however, its ownership has gradually transferred to capitalists. For owners, earning profits is the foremost priority and ethics often end up being sacrificed. Hence, what is needed, among other things, is an ethics code for media proprietors.

Extremism cannot be tackled through the gun alone. The media also needs to educate the audience regarding the responsibilities of ordinary citizens when it comes to countering extremism. The audience should be educated with respect to the identity of the enemy within, and the role of facilitators, sympathisers and abettors. In the aftermath of the Badhaber attack, the media hardly allocated any space or time to generate a debate on the silence and passive attitude adopted by the residents of the area and failed to reflect on the role that one of these may have played in facilitating the terrorists.

Another aspect that needs to be looked into is defining terms like ‘conflict zone’, ‘sectarianism’ and ‘proscribed organisations’. This has been addressed in the 24 points of the EMCOC 2015, which also recognises the rights of victims of crimes and requires that identities of those who have been kidnapped, raped or have been subjected to acts of terror are not revealed. The EMCOC 2015 also expects that ‘news’ that may jeopardise investigations, inquiries or trials is not aired.

The EMCOC bars the media from airing footage of gory incidents, dead bodies and bloodshed. However, one feels that implementing this requirement may not be possible without enhanced interaction and understanding between the police and the media. The police management needs to comprehend that ‘information’ is a precious commodity that the media industry processes. Hence, if someone creates hurdles in the way of the free flow of information, the media may end up giving its own slant to particular incidents.

Coming to the NAP, one of its points explicitly bans the glorification of terrorists through media. Previously, after every act of terror, one saw excessive coverage of such miscreants in the media. Such treatment only served to multiply the sense of achievement of those belonging to proscribed organisations. One could see the positive impact of the implementation of this particular requirement in the aftermath of the Badhaber attack.

A weak professional equation between the police and the media needs to be evaluated in the prism of history. The Pakistani police is primarily trained on colonial patterns where communication mainly travels through the chain of command. This means that police officials often opt for silence. At crime scenes, senior officers do not make themselves available for comment. A majority of them lack the initiative and skill to deal with the media. Furthermore, the police often tries to treat the media as a subordinate entity, which also creates problems. However, in the absence of an institutional policy within police departments, the relationship between the media and various police forces all over the country will continue to depend on how individual officers relate to the media. The police hardly ever realises the difficulties that media personnel face in the completion of their tasks. It is when media persons are denied access to information that they end up resorting to flashing unverified or exaggerated versions of stories.

The advent of live coverage of incidents, coupled with the demands of commercialism, has often compromised editorial oversight within media organisations. During the last decade, the importance of the gate-keeping function seems to have gone down, resulting in field reporters dominating the show, which sometimes results in unverified information being broadcast. In counterterrorism operations, live coverage has been known to not only pose threats to the lives of security personnel, but also provide an edge to terrorists to manoeuvre offensives.

To enable the free flow of information, an understanding of the right to information and how to access it need to be developed. The media needs to value sensitivities of ongoing investigations of terror acts. A change in mindset, both on the part of the media and law-enforcement agencies, is required to ensure free flow of information.

Reporting on conflicts is still the favourite choice of the Pakistani media. What is needed is an effort to highlight the sacrifices of 55,000 Pakistanis in the war on terror. While the narrative has begun to change following the institution of the NAP, the media is yet to amplify the counter-extremism narrative. What is missing in the NAP is a communication strategy encompassing the state, the media and law-enforcement agencies. As a matter of social responsibility, the media should volunteer its services and emphasise the counterterrorism narrative, so as to defeat the designs of extremists and terrorists.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2015.

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