I

Letter from Musharraf's Monster In ,independent TV is young, powerful, and biting the hand thatfed it

BY SHAHAN MUFTI

One evening last June, during an oppressively hot summer in that have emerged in the last seven years Islamabad, I attended a protest organized by Pakistani television as a popular but controversial alternative to state-run TV. The new laws restricted . A fiery stream lit Constitution Avenue-the broad thor- live coverage and gave unprecedented oughfare is lined with the state's most powerful political institu- power to government regulators to seize tions-as a torch-carrying procession marched past the Supreme private property and interruptbroadcasts deemed unacceptable. Court. The marchers chanted slogans against the military regime The crackdown had been long com- of , vowing "endless war, till the media are freed." ing. Three months earlier, in March, GEO- TV'S offices were the scene of a defining Some of the biggest names in Pakistani television were moment for the journalists in Pakistan's independent televi- among the protestors, names known to nearly a third of the sion news business-when their struggle against government urban population in this country of 150 million. "Imagine restrictions itself became news, and helped them glimpse if one of us showed up on air with a bruise tomorrow:" an their untapped potential as a force for political change. anchor I recognized from a popular political talk show said, On March 16, government security forces raided GEO'S stopping next to me. He smiled smugly, and stepped over a offices after the network crossed an unspecified "red line" by listless tangle of barbed wire that had been flattened by the broadcastinglive coverage of a rally for the chiefjustice of the crowd. Islamabad police in full riot gear lined both sides of Supreme Court, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who had been the road, watching silently. dismissed by Musharraf the previous week. In recent years, The protest that evening-there were several byjournalists Chaudhry had repeatedly embarrassed Musharraf by aggres- last summer-began with rousing speeches outside the offices sively prosecuting government corruption, and the president of Pakistan's most popular private television network, GEO-TV. wanted him out of the way. After his dismissal, Chaudhry Journalists, mainly from broadcast media, and hundreds of emerged as a hero for those seeking an end to military rule. their supporters were demonstrating against the sweeping The security forces broke into the GEO building, shattered restrictions introduced by Musharraf's government a few days windows with batons, fired tear gas, and roughed up the men earlier on all electronic media-basically FM radio and, particu- and women inside, demanding that the coverage stop. larly, the more than sixty private satellite television operations That day, were riveted to their television sets

46 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007 Tough Talk Hamid Mir, who is among the veteran Pakistani journalists attempting to forge the identity of independent TV news, prepares for his prime- time public affairs show. as Hamid Mir, GEO'S Islamabad bureau chief and the most of democracy hovered in the near distance. After eight years widely recognized on Pakistani television, waged of cagey military rule, Musharraf found himself on unstable his own live, on-air struggle against the police. Defying orders ground. The judiciary was in revolt; the various opposition to stop transmission, Mir locked himself in the newsroom in movements had united against him; floods along the southern the basement From there, he broadcast a minute-by-minute coast had displaced over 200,000 people; and the U.S.-led narration of what was happening. "They're attacking us with "war on terror" was knocking loudly along Pakistan's porous tear gas now," he yelled at one point, as the network beamed 1,600-mile border with . Sensing change in the shaky, raw footage of the clash over its satellite feed. harsh summer winds, or loo as they are called, everyone, it Hours later, the raid now over and the security troops gone seemed, spilled onto the streets to stake their claim. (GEo never stopped its coverage), Mir, wearing a sober blue The elections scheduled for the fall were commonly suit, was leaning into the camera for his live prime-time show. referred to as the most important in the country's history. Not Pakistan's parliament, a creamy white colossus with the first only would they pit pro-American forces against nationalists article of Islam inscribed across the front, provided the back- and Islamists at a time when the country was being watched drop. Mir announced a special guest for that evening's show, closely by anxious Western capitals, but it was also seen as and a phone line crackled through to President Musharraf. a chance to alter the civil-military balance of power, under "I would like to apologize," the pugnacious general said a few which civil politics have always been run-directly or indi- minutes into the interview, referring to the raid. "Freedom of rectly-by the army. Musharraf defied a growing chorus of speech, freedom of expression, and the freedom of media, this critics who argued that it was unconstitutional for a general is my mandate. I strongly condemn any violation of this!' to be president, and insisted on standing for reelection while It wasn't typical Musharraf, to say the least. The general retaining his position as the Army's chief of staff. has earned a reputation for never apologizing. But then, it The nascent independent television press found itself at is said that television is making the impossible happen in the epicenter of this political upheaval. While it fought to Pakistan every day. win and retain its own freedoms, the scale of the events that it grappled with in its coverage of the run-up to the elections challenged the very nature of its journalistic mission, raising LAST SUMMER, as Pakistan turned sixty, the country appeared questions about what role this powerful new medium can to be fracturing along multiple fault lines, even as the promise and should play in Pakistan.

COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW 47 In July, a few months after the raid on GEO, I met Hamid by critics and supporters alike, with fostering the growth of Mir at his top-floor office in the network's Islamabad offices, private broadcast media in the country. which occupy a piece of prime real estate in the capital's Now, five years after the first private news channel went busy commercial district. Before becoming a television star, on air, the broadcast media are nipping at the regime that Mir was one of Pakistan's most aggressive print journal- nurtured them, threatening to tear it down. Their coverage ists. As an editor at the country's largest -language of the Chaudhry affair, as well as of Musharraf's increasingly daily, Jang (which translates literally as "War"), Mir was vocal political opponents, set the broadcasters on a colli- known for his tough expos6s on government corruption. sion course with the president. Anti-Musharraf sentiment As the first (and to this day, the only) journalist to inter- is boiling over in newsrooms at a time when his rule has view in person after September 11, 2001, never seemed shakier. "Afew years ago you could have said, he had also begun enjoying international recognition. But days after the ransacking of GEO, Mir was "promoted" by the channel's management, from bureau chief to executive editor. It was a position created to insulate Mir, maybe Musharraf promised a for his own good, as the government suddenly showed its technologically advanced willingness to hit back. The political storm that had blown up with the dismissal society with an open of the chief justice was still buffeting the country. Chaudhry economy and a free press. had been reinstated only days before to a shower of rose petals and street celebrations across the country, and he had specifically and publicly thanked the "media fraternity," without whom, he said, the rebirth of the judiciary, signaled by its unprecedented stand against Musharraf, would have been impossible. But Mir wasn't in the mood to celebrate. 'If it weren't for Musharraf, private television wouldn't be He found that his promotion had effectively removed him where it is;" Mir says. "Today there is no doubt-if it weren't from editorial decisions at GEO, and he was frustrated. "What for private television, General Musharraf wouldn't be in the did we gain that day? What did I gain?" he said. "I've only mess that he is inf lost more freedoms every day since. I can't even go live on The story of the general and the private broadcasters air anymore!" must read a bit like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein,at least Mir's understanding of journalism's role in society comes to Musharraf. The general came to power on the heels of from Pakistan's rich tradition of an independent print press, Pakistan's war with India in Kargil, Kashmir, in the sum- which has jousted with four different military regimes since mer of 1999. In that highly secretive war, Indian journalists the country's birth in 1947. Old print hands, like Mir, recall reported from the icy Himalayan front lines on private news with pride when papers like Jang would publish blank col- channels watched all over the world, while Pakistan's state- umns (and once an entire blank front page) to protest gov- run media refused even to acknowledge the war's existence, ernment censorship. and its independent newspapers were largely kept out of But in a largely rural country with one of the lowest lit- the war zone and fed misinformation. As a result, Pakistan eracy rates in the world, print media has never been mass lost the battle for public opinion, and international pressure media. Newspapers sell mostly in urban centers, while in finally forced the Pakistan Army, led by Musharraf, to pull rural areas radio, and to a lesser extent state-run television back. "The whole experience was defining for him," says (broadcast over a terrestrial network), are the main sources of Adnan Rehmat, who is the Pakistan country director for news and information. With the Internet still available only Internews, a media advocacy and watchdog group based to 3 percent of Pakistanis, the influence of online journalism in Washington, D.C. "He felt Pakistan was losing the infor- is negligible. Until Musharraf came to power, there was no mation and cultural war to India." Like any good general, private satellite television in Pakistan. But now cable lines, Musharraf decided his country would find a way to com- carrying satellite television signals, are slowly creeping into pete-and win. even the most remote villages. A young documentary pro- GEO-TV, owned by the Jang Group of Newspapers, went ducer at News, the country's first twenty-four-hour, on air in 2002 as the first private news channel in Pakistan. English-language news channel, explained the significance Today, whether originating in Pakistan or beaming in from of this: "They don't really have schools in interior Sindh" he nearby Dubai, Pakistanis have a relative smorgasbord of TV said, referring to the most impoverished state in the country. viewing options-from Quran TV, which has built a thriving "But now they have cable lines. So guess what? Now we're business on religious programming, to Fashion TV Paki- the ones educating all of them." stan, which gets away with partial nudity in the middle of Pakistan remains one of the most dangerous places in the the day, to Muzik, which showcases Pakistani pop acts, to world for a journalist to work, yet in the eight years since Dawn News, there is little this burgeoning new industry is Musharraf overthrew the democratically elected govern- not auditioning. ment of in 1999, not only have newspapers From the start, Musharraf promised a technologically maintained their independence, but Musharraf is credited, advanced society with an open economy and media sector,

48 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007 including a free press. But this also meant that didactic, foreign nationals-public pressure forced the state's hand. As state-censored news would lose viewers to, among other Musharraf confronted one of the biggest challenges to state things, a primetime interview show hosted by a charming authority ever in the capital, international media attention and funny transvestite, or a satire depicting a schizophrenic became transfixed on Pakistan, with some in the Western Islamic president. "Infotainment" became a winning formula, and press hinting at the beginnings of an Iranian-style GEO and a few other news outlets, like ARY-TV and AAJ-TV, revolution. emerged as serious competitors for state-run Pakistan Tele- The Red Mosque became the flashpoint for a confron- vision, particularly in urban centers. Today GEO has four tation that many Pakistanis considered inevitable in their twenty-four-hour channels for entertainment, sports, news, increasingly polarized society. While an affluent and largely and youth, and plans to launch an English-language news secular elite was reaping the benefits of Musharraf's open channel soon. economy, a vast underclass had grown disgruntled, and some Musharraf, supremely confident and largely popular in found a convenient scapegoat for their frustration in the "lax his first few years in power, wanted to transform Pakistan moral standards" in evidence daily on the city's streets and into an "enlightened moderate" nation, and welcomed the also on satellite TV. a weeklong battle phenomenon. The result was revolutionary. Whether it was The showdown came in early July, in humor, live news, or soap operas, the satellite channels were between the military and the clerics' armed followers in the were charting new social boundaries every day. As one journalist mosque. Hundreds, including children and hostages, which put it: "Private television single-handedly turned us from killed in the military's final assault on the mosque, were a society that was scared to speak out, into a confessional lasted an entire day. At the time, the broadcast media society that couldn't stop talking about itself." confronting the government's new censorship laws, passed a But when you're at the center of such profound social month earlier, and the Red Mosque incident became a test for change, you're bound to get scuffed up. Longbefore the state how they would respond. The government was so concerned sought to tone down the broadcasters, satellite TV operations about the likely impact of television coverage that Musharraf were being ransacked by sectarian mobs for attempting to publicly announced, a few days before the offensive, that the cover religious conflict, by criminal networks for exposing government would take action against the clerics only if the them, by the powerful intelligence agencies for overstepping media agreed not to show any dead bodies. were there. "national security" boundaries, and by religious militants for But when fighting erupted, the TV cameras purveyingvice. When Musharraf felt his pedestal wobble, the On the first day, a photographer was killed in the crossfire; state became only the latest-albeit the most powerful-insti- another young TV cameraman was shot in the spine and GEO was tution to lock horns with the broadcasters. paralyzed. The new Islamabad bureau chief for Now, the boundaries within which this hungry new shown live on air, bleeding profusely from a head wound. medium must operate are being negotiated in the streets, the Seeing this, the government quickly restricted coverage. newsrooms, the courtrooms, and the corridors of power. Imran Aslam, the cEo and one of the founders of GEO-Tv, is blunt about his network's performance during the crisis: "It was a miserable failure." I met Aslam, another transplant ISLAMABAD, THE CAPITAL, has the unflattering reputation from Pakistan's newspaper business, in the studios beingbuilt of being"the city that mostly sleeps' A serene town of fewer for GE•o English, in Karachi. Covering the battle of the Red than a million people, it is surrounded by rugged green hills Mosque became "real American-style embedded journalism;' and wrapped snugly in red tape. Most television news opera- he said, referring to the restrictions implemented by the behind the tions are based in Karachi, the bustling financial capital, but government. The entire assault was viewed from journalists were maintain a major office in Islamabad to cater to an audience Army's collective shoulder, so to speak, and who breathes and eats politics. even barred from entering hospitals. "To this day, we still The rather dry shows produced in Islamabad are typi- don't know how many people were in the mosque. How many died and cally talking heads, debates between politicians, and the were children, how many hostages? How many al odd breakfast show. But this year, those static forums had where were they buried?" Government claims that foreign a healthy serving of drama to chew over. If the struggle Qaeda fighters had made their way into the compound could between the judiciary and the executive branches that spilled never be verified, and many questioned the authenticity of from into the streets of the capital weren't enough, a confrontation the grand display of weaponry, supposedly recovered was also brewing in the heart of Islamabad at a well-known the mosque, shown to journalists when they were finally place of worship, the Red Mosque. allowed in after several days. The mosque had become abase for thousands of religious "People were offering us their rooftops" said Hamid Mir, could get students working under the leadership of two cleric brothers recalling the missed opportunity with regret. "We too who aimed to "Islamicize" the Pakistani capital with their views right into the mosque compound. But we were just interpretation of sh'aria,or Islamic law. The government ini- scared' The top management, he said, was under too much tially ignored them, but soon found it could not. When the "pressure from above." Red Mosque Brigade began vigilante, moral-policing opera- The limitations on coverage imposed by the government tions-busting prostitution rings, raiding video stores, burn- did more than just frustrate the young broadcast operations. closed ing mounds of CDs, and even kidnapping police officials and With obvious avenues for covering the confrontation

COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW 49 off and an admitted reluctance to use "side doors" broad- casters were lured into a position that many now say was a Viewers 'want to hear perversion of their journalistic mission. "We ended up play- ing negotiator," Aslam explained. Both government officials what they already believe. and the leader of the Red Mosque, Ghazi Abdul-Rashid, used Neutrality is a sin and the the media as a soapbox. As the standoff intensified, hardly an hour would go by without an on-air statement by one side or remote control is god: the other, in an effort to win the battle for public opinion. -Talat Hussain On the night before the military offensive, a GEo anchor brought on the leader of the mosque and a state minister in an attempt to negotiate a settlement. The live, on-air talks brokered by the journalists failed. '"We got reeled in by the moment," Aslam said, "and now I think about how dangerous suspend the ordinance if the Pakistan Broadcasters Associa- that was. We're media, not mediators!" tion, a group of media owners (no working journalists are GEO wasn't alone in betraying its commitment to impartial members) agreed to create a voluntary code of conduct. The journalism as it attempted to cover this explosive story. News chairman of PEMRA, a former chief of the capital police force, channels across the board found themselves in activist roles, put it to me quite simply: "If the media polices itself, there crossing established boundaries of professional journalism. will be no more policing left to do." It was common during the crisis, for example, for journal- Some broadcasters, like Shakeel Masood, the CEO of Dawn ists at the scene to interview each other about events, giving News, saw this as an opportunity. "Of course the government their opinions as well as the facts. In a variety of ways, the would like to dictate: 'You can talk about this; you can't talk broadcasters became part of the Red Mosque story. about that," he said. "But having this code is part of becoming A few days after the Red Mosque standoff ended, I met a mature media." Many journalists, though, believe that the Talat Hussain, the bureau chief in Islamabad for AAJ-TV. The chances of getting a code that protect independent journal- network has a reputation for being one of the feistiest anti- ism were slim. Unless the broadcasters produce a code that government news outlets around. Hussain pulled a document satisfies government concerns, they argue, the onerous new from his cluttered desk and handed it to me. It was a notice laws will remain in effect and the government will withhold from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority some $20 million-worth of campaign advertising. Neverthe- (PEMRA), established by the government just before the less, the code is in its final stages and will be done this year, emergence of private broadcasters to issue licenses and set although the substance of it has not yet been made public. the standards for content. In the weeks after the Red Mosque "It'll be something permanent but we need to get it done raid, a series of suicide attacks shook the capital, and AAi had before these elections," said Masood. "The media can't afford shown dead bodies and bloodied body parts, as had many to have this unsettled when covering what might be the most other news channels. The document was a warning from important election in the country's history." the regulatory authority that AAj risked losing its license if But the question is more fundamental than that. The it continued televising the carnage. journalists want clearly defined rights, not just a short-term Hussain has devoted hours of his prime-time talk show fix that allows them to cover the elections. Many journal- to discussing the nature and limits of press freedom, but ists fear that if the private broadcast media don't establish a the suicide-bombing footage, he told me, might have been a clear, independent role in this critical period of transition to strategic mistake. "We're just opening up ourselves to criti- democracy, they risk getting overrun by the many political cism," he said. "It just lets the state crack down and look forces that are attempting to use them. justified doing it." Even more troubling for Hussain is the false choice he says broadcasters face between what the viewers want and what LAST JUNE, MALEEHA LODHI, one of the country's most the government wants. The viewers "look up to us as the celebrated female journalists who now serves as Pakistan's holders of truth," he said, "yet they want to hear what they ambassador to the U.K., spoke to a gathering of university already believe. Neutrality is a sin, and the remote control is students in about the upcoming Pakistani elections. god" No sooner will a network try to soften its editorial line "Unlike in the past, this time there will be dozens of private or include the government's point of view than e-mails and TV networks to cover the entire electoral process from start calls pour in accusing them of selling out. The government, to finish," she said. They would be Pakistan's first televised he said, "wants a calm, rosy picture." Neither seems to want elections, and the private media would play a role in shaping good journalism. political behavior like never before. The indirect pressure implicit in this "choice" is one thing, Lodhi's predictions on television's role in the elections are but the "PEMRA Ordinance 2007," as the oppressive new laws proving to be reasonably accurate. But while many expected that sparked the summer's protests are officially known, was private television to be an important forum for debate during a more brazen crackdown by the government. Following the the elections, few anticipated that the broadcasters would get uproar by journalists over the new restrictions (media owners sucked so deeply into the power politics, or that the elections were largely silent), the government offered to unilaterally would become a trial by fire for television news.

50 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007 The election season began with a bang at the end of Sep- The debate ended prematurely, before the audience got to tember. Opposition groups, including a vibrant civil-soci- ask questions. ety movement led by the country's lawyers, filed suit in the GEO decided to air the show in its entirety, and Iftikhar Supreme Court challenging Musharraf's eligibility to seek Ahmad, Mir's co-host, delivered an on-air commentary after reelection while still serving in the Army. The decision had the broadcast: the potential to redefine the civil-military power equation Ladies and gentlemen, I didn't expect the debate to end like in the country, which has worked against the sustenance this. I thought the lessons of tolerance we give to others, we of democracy for decades. Once again, as they had earlier could practice ourselves. We had hoped that the Pakistani in the summer, the media's (and by extension, much of the public could have learned that we all have the patience to country's) complete attention fell on the Supreme Court, learn each others' points of view. Only then can we move GEO is playing where Musharraf's-and some said the country's-fate hung forward as a nation .... We hope that the role move the country forward, to reform society, to create balance. to in the a tolerant, patient, and balanced society, a society that can saturated with discussion of the As television became understand each other and work together to solve their prob- into possible fallout of the court's decision, PEMRA sprang lems-I hope this role will continue. action on behalf of an agitated government. It issued a warn- ing to all private TV networks that any sub judice matters Just like that, in the debate between Pervez Musharraf's who related to the election were off-limits, to avoid what it termed supporters and opponents, it was the broadcasters "media trials!' scored an important victory. The politicians had embarrassed to A few days after the warning from the regulators, activist themselves, and the journalists managed to rise above it, lawyers and opposition party workers led a rally outside the establish themselves as a fair voice of reason. Supreme Court. Under a hail of stones, Musharraf's oppo- nents demonstrated and scuffled with security forces on Con- Avenue stitution Avenue, obscured in a haze of tear gas. Dozens of TV LOOKING OUT HIS office window onto Constitution pensive. reporters covered the rally, and when police began cutting in the middle of the turbulent summer, Hamid Mir is camera wires, the journalists got swept up in the protest. The prospect of a return of democracy brings back memories "Imagine if one of us shows up on air with a bruise tomor- for him, not all of them good. He lost his job at Jang in the row," a TV anchor had asked me during that march in June. mid-1990s, thanks to then Prime Minister , This time, the images left little to the imagination: police the day after he broke the news of a submarine-purchase mil- beating journalists with batons, well-known journalists scandal that had allegedly made Bhutto's family $120 with bleeding heads and broken bones being rushed off in lion richer overnight. A few years later, he lost his job again, ambulances. The provocation by police notwithstanding, under the democratic rule of Nawaz Sharif, for exposing the media had once again become part of a story they set more government corruption. "But we have to, for our own can't survive out to cover. sake, strengthen democracy:" he tells me. 'We It was another failure, but the story does not end there. without a strong parliament and without a strong judiciary. Musharraf was reelected president in a controversial and We can't be at the mercy of one man. It's our prime respon- largely boycotted legislative vote on October 6, after promis- sibility-we do have a watchdog role." elections, the ing to relinquish his military position if he won. The more Regardless of what happens in the general The important general elections are in December and January, preceding months have been a crucible for Pakistan. Benazir Bhut- and will determine the makeup of parliament and the next stakes were raised again in October, when prime minister. For the private broadcasters, it is a chance to's triumphant return from exile was marred by bombings to shake off two distinct breakdowns in their mission-one that nearly killed her, and did kill 140 others-a scene that in which they let the state bully them and another in which unfolded on television. These months have been a cruci- They have their hostility toward Musharraf got the better of them-and ble for the country's private broadcasters, too. find that crucial balance between detached observer and emerged as a deeply flawed but essential pillar of whatever force for social change. kind of democracy Pakistan ultimately embraces. It is dif- "The Great Debate," broadcast on GEO a few days before ficult to say precisely where this pillar will stand in relation The Musharraf was reelected, appeared to be a step in this direc- to the others, or at whose expense its power will grow. tion. Because of the opposition boycott, there was only one journalists at these news operations continue to struggle with power in candidate with a chance of winning, and it was essentially a pressures-both internal and external-to use their debate between Musharraf's supporters and his opponents. support of someone else's agenda, whether the judiciary's, Tensions were running high in the studio. Hamid Mir co- the opposition's, or the state's. But thus far, those journalists hosted the first debate of its kind in Pakistan's history, and are working hard to stay true to their own agenda, to keep media millions watched as the panelists argued over issues rang- the mission of an impartial and credible television they ing from the president's personal character to the nature of alive. Without this balance, they seem to understand, economic growth in the country. are bound to lose. CJR At one point, a government defense lawyer unleashed a rant against an opposition leader. A string of obscenities SHAHAN MUFTI is a freelance writerbased in Islamabad,and a poured forth as the hosts lost control of the belligerent guests. correspondentfor The Christian Science Monitor.

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TITLE: Musharraf’s Monster SOURCE: Columbia J Rev 46 no4 N/D 2007

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