Gulzaib Tareen
It is rightly stated by Jim Morrison that, “Whoever controls media, controls mind.” It is against prudence to deny the importance and impact of media. Media is voice of people, for people and by people. Media voice blissfulness is pie in the sky for the people of Balochistan.
In Pakistan we have dozens of news channels. None of these news channels belong to Balochistan. Journalism in the province is only limited to reporting in these prominent channels. Even some of channels have only stringers rather than qualified reporters. These reports mostly report on weather forecast or terrorism.
Most of the citizens in the country have alienation about the province. Even educated fellow Pakistanis know more about Balochi Saji (Traditional food) then capital of the province Quetta. It is accurate to say that mind is under curb of media. Whatever is broadcasted, works as knowledge for youth of country.
Negligence of mainstream media can be guessed from its role of coverage in 2018. On July 13, 2018 Mastung incident took about 250 lives while the arrival of ex-premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi remained hot news for media. There were rallies for missing persons in the province while the marriage of a Sialkot boy with 45 year old Canadian was the leading story in contrast.
The youth of Balochistan usually complains against the biased attributions of media on their social media accounts. Digital Media is being used as an alternative to electronic media for raising voice. Although social media works like voice of masses but it also contributes in the formation and propagation of fake news.
The writer is a Student of Mass Communication at Punjab University, Lahore.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are those of the author and Balochistan Voices not necessarily agrees with them.
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