Crime news reporting is a significant part of the digital media and news industry, especially in Pakistan. While reporting such grisly news is necessary to spread awareness about the negative aspects of our society, airing such content for longer periods of time unnecessarily is something which should be restricted.
The horrible Sahiwal incident dominated the reporting minutes recorded for news channels. The pattern of crime reporting is, more or less, same throughout the year with a massive focus on negative news.
Here is a breakdown of the crime reporting minutes from January 01 to January 22, 2019, shared by the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Fawad Chaudhry.
جب آپ اتنا زیادہ وقت کرائم کی خبروں کو دیں گے تو اس سے معاشرےپر کیا اثرات آئیں گے؟ میری میڈیا سے اپیل ہے اس پالیسی پر نظرثانی کریں ، ہر خبر کا بریکنگ ہونا اہم نہیں ہوتا۔ pic.twitter.com/wVKi5BrW4Q
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) January 23, 2019
Note that the total number of minutes in the above-mentioned duration come out to be 31,680.
Channel | Crime Reporting Minutes |
7 News | 2024 |
Aaj News | 1330 |
Abb Tak | 1418 |
KTN | 1210 |
24 News | 1869 |
Dawn News | 1286 |
Samaa TV | 1352 |
Mehran TV | 792 |
News One | 704 |
Channel-5 | 1836 |
Rohi | 1122 |
K21 | 1232 |
Neo News | 1374 |
92 News | 1308 |
Such News | 1550 |
Dunya News | 1396 |
Public TV | 984 |
Metro One | 1726 |
GNN | 1462 |
Express TV | 1418 |
Capital TV | 1462 |
Din News | 1034 |
Geo News | 1264 |
Mashriq TV | 1616 |
Bol News | 1594 |
Hum News | 806 |
ARY News | 1330 |
Lahore News | 2178 |
Roze News | 1550 |
Out of all the news channels, Lahore News tops the charts for airing crime news with 2178 minutes whereas the lowest reporting time has been recorded for News One with 704 minutes.
The minister has urged the media houses to review their policy of airing crime news, saying that it is not important for every news to be aired as a breaking news. He further questions the impact on the society after airing such news for longer periods.
Chaudhry’s tweet on the microblogging platform has received a mixed response. Let’s have a look at how people have reacted to his suggestion of decreasing the airing minutes for negative news.
Some agree.
There must be a law restricting channels to report crimes under the defined per month limits. Also, it should be must to report positive image of Pakistan for a certain hours. @reportpemra
— Team Yasir Gillani PP-145 (@TeamYasirGilani) January 23, 2019
https://twitter.com/ZKhan57306456/status/1088113263450181633
True.
پاکستانی میڈیا پاکستان اور قوم کے لیے کم اور بزنس اور ریٹنگ کے لیے زیادہ کام کرتا افسوس ناک سچ یہ کہ ساری دنیا کا میڈیا اپنی قوم کو ہیجانی کیفیت سے نکالنے کی کوشش کرتا اور ہمارا میڈیا سنسنی اور ہیجان پھیلانے کو کامیابی اس لیے جرائم کو غیر معمولی اہمیت دیتا میڈیا
— Ch zahid Hayat (@ChZahidPak) January 23, 2019
Some don’t like the suggestion.
یعنی ساہیوال سانحے کی جگہ ’مثبت خبریں‘ دکھانا تھیں؟ ٹِکرز تو دیکھے ہی جا رہے ہیں، آپ فوٹیج بھی خود بھجوا دیا کریں۔ وہی چلا دیں گے۔
— Atif Tauqeer (@atifthepoet) January 24, 2019
اچھا جی ..آپ کا مطلب ہے کہ بس مثبت خبریں چلایا کریں اور معاشرے میں جتنے ظلم وجبر زیادتیاں وغیرہ ہوتی رہے اس پر آنکھیں بند رکھے تاکہ عوام سمجھ سکے کہ سب کچھ اچھا ہو رہا
— 17_Sarkar (@Engr_saud325) January 23, 2019
کرائم بند نا کروائیں ۔۔۔ رپورٹنگ بند کروا دیں۔۔ شکل ٹھیک نا کرنا آئینہ توڑ دو۔۔۔ وزیر با تدبیر صاحب
— Nadeem (@clickonnadeem) January 24, 2019
https://twitter.com/akbarb480/status/1088111177534705664
Game of Thrones (read ratings).
Among top channels of Pakistan, GEO NEWS has th least time served in terms of broadcasting Crime Reporting.✌ Highlighting social issues is indeed a good move but majority of th channels tbh over-exaggerate th issue just for th sake of ratings.📺
— Arfa Feroz Zake (@ArfaSays_) January 23, 2019
A useful suggestion?
https://twitter.com/syedusama8/status/1088155438066139136
You are the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, aren’t you?
https://twitter.com/sdhani07/status/1088154698601910275
اپیلیں کرنی چھوڑیں اب ، policy enforce karain
— Atif (@achieverrr) January 23, 2019
Do you think the airing time should be standardized? Let us know in the comments section.
That’s Pakistani media in a nutshell. Sensationalizing everything for cheap ratings.
Jab crminals khud hukoomat me ajain tu yeh huta hai
Kar di naa patwaryon aur jahilon wali baat.
Hazrat baatain kam aur kam zaida kare, Murad Saeed aue Sheikh Rasheed se seekhain.
Policy banai aur enforce kare. Hum apke sath hai aur kuch der k liye bhool jai k ye so called 4th piller hai.
Pura Pakistan janta hai ye media hamesha corrupt polictians, money launderers, land grabbers, secular aur anti Pakistan mafia k liye kam karta hai.
24/7 blah blah lagai hoti hai in news channel ne. tension deny k elawa b koi aur kaam nahi aur reporting k koi manners nahi. background pe pagalon wala music aur starplus wali video editing lagai ho gi.
When you have too many news channels, this is bound to happen. Everyone is gunning to ‘Break’ the news.
There has to be a code of conduct & ethics for reporting, which sadly is missing in all the channels’ content.
makafat e amal.apni bari i to ab bura lag raha hai.
slow clapping.
Sahi baat hai.. Makafat e Amal hai yeh.. :-D
PTV News K Elawa Baki News Channels Pe Pabandi He Laga Do
کرائم بند نا کروائیں ۔۔۔ رپورٹنگ بند کروا دیں۔۔ شکل ٹھیک نا کرنا آئینہ توڑ دو۔۔۔ وزیر با تدبیر صاحب
Hahahahahaa Made my day :-D
Issi media ki sachi jhoti reporting aur hype create karny ki wajah se Govt main aey aur ab isi Media py pabandi bhe chahiye kyn k kal ko yehi media kisi aur Party ki bhe aisy he Campaign kar skta hai lihaza pabandiyan lagao Ads roko blackmail karo ta k sb insan k bachy ban k Sab Acha Hai ki reporting karty rahain.
Masbat khabrain Part 2 Wala bayan hai yeh..
Yes
Yes, the media should be controlled by allocating specific minutes of airtime for reporting crime. Also they should be imposed to deliver 3/4 percentage of positive news of their aired negative content.
In addition, our media is more or less like a Bakra Mandi, where every sheep follows the one sheep which does something different. Point to be noted here, the different new thing does not have to popular amongst people but every other channel will follow it anyway, no matter how bad it goes.. dats.. damn of a heck.
There is no innovation in the content other than just Talk Shows and so called Debates, Monolithic Party Specific Favoritized News which will never gonna make any change. The role that media is playing is at its peak for the deliverance of worst happenings throughout the Country. Hats off for their work they portray this image throughout the World.
It seems the media doesn’t contain any intellectuals as of now, the content they are delivering is just a rubbish bubble gum everyone has to chew.
There were times when PTV was the only channel, but the content they deliver is so much fulfilled with new innovative programmes not only for youth but for kids for old ones but also for each and every member of the society.
So PEMRA has to work loads to put media into shape as they are only creating negative hype, demoralizing citizens, generating stress and creating negative image of the People, Country and the Nation throughout the World.