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A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details 1 The Production and Reception of gender- based content in Pakistani Television Culture Munira Cheema DPhil Thesis University of Sussex (June 2015) 2 Statement I hereby declare that this thesis has not been submitted, either in the same or in a different form, to this or any other university for a degree. Signature:………………….. 3 Acknowledgements Special thanks to: My supervisors, Dr Kate Lacey and Dr Kate O’Riordan, for their infinite patience as they answered my endless queries in the course of this thesis. Their open-door policy and expert guidance ensured that I always stayed on track. This PhD was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), to whom I owe a debt of gratitude. My mother, for providing me with profound counselling, perpetual support and for tirelessly watching over my daughter as I scrambled to meet deadlines. This thesis could not have been completed without her. My husband Nauman, and daughter Zara, who learnt to stay out of the way during my ‘study time’. Fawwad Khan, who helped tremendously in the coordination phase of my fieldwork. He arranged several of my interviews with media personnel, some of which would have been otherwise difficult to procure. Nasreen Rizvi (my aunt) for coordinating phase of my focus groups in Sohni Chalet. Tanvir, my driver who facilitated most of my focus groups, making all the arrangements seamlessly - right from the food that was to be served to ensuring my safety and security in the more difficult and conservative neighbourhoods. Rabia Alavi, who honed me on to complete my thesis, and provided comments on my draft. 4 University of Sussex Munira Cheema Doctor of Philosophy The Production and Reception of gender-based content in Pakistani Television Culture ABSTRACT This thesis explores the production and reception of gender-based content in Pakistani television culture. The guiding research question asks how and why such content changed since the `liberalisation’ of the media landscape since 2002, and how have women appropriated this content? Gendered television content changed in the post-liberalisation period with the highlighting of controversial issues such as honour killings, rape, adultery, the violation of women’s divorce rights, and the subjugation of women in the extended family system. Drawing from theoretical debates on the concepts of publics, the public sphere and cultural citizenship, I argue that these popular cultural spaces can be read in terms of an emerging feminist public sphere where women can engage as members of the public and as cultural citizens. Based on the data produced from 40 interviews with producers, the study illuminates the agendas and motivations - both commercial and ideological - in producing gendered content. The evidence suggests that controversial issues related to gender deliver ratings if in line with Shariah; issues that explicitly clash with Shariah (homosexuality in particular) do not feature. To explore how women appropriate this gendered content, I conducted 32 focus groups among women of different ages and classes in Karachi. This research reveals how engagement with this content allows viewers to revisit their intersecting identities as Muslims, women and Pakistanis. The viewers in the lower middle class read this content as Muslims first, and then as women. However, those in the middle class revisit the content in relation to their national identity. This thesis offers an original and comprehensive insight into the production and reception of the gender-based television in Pakistan, and in so doing, makes a fresh contribution to the study of gender, media and culture in Muslim societies. 5 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 9 1.1 Rationale for the research 12 1.2 Evolution of the media landscape in Pakistan 14 1.3 Scope of the study 21 1.4 The Public/private distinction in Pakistani society 27 1.5 Gendered citizenship in Pakistan 31 1.6 Overview of the Chapters 33 Chapter 2: Conceptual Framework 38 2.1 Introduction 39 2.2 Audiences and Publics and Cultural Citizens 39 2.2.1 Looking for the term in the local language (Urdu) 39 2.2.2 Defining the terms 40 2.2.3 Understanding the concept of `public’ through attributes 41 2.2.4 Relevance of the concept of cultural citizenship to the project 50 2.3 Rearticulating the notion of the public sphere 53 2.4 Understanding the dynamics of the popular culture 60 2.4.1: Popular culture as the reflection of the public sphere 61 2.4.2: Popular culture and the emotional expression 63 2.5 A political economy perspective on media consumption 65 2.6 Conclusion 70 6 Chapter 3: Methodology 71 3.1 Introduction 71 3.2 Interviews 72 3.3 Focus groups 82 3.3.1 Overview of the groups in Lower Middle Class 88 3.3.2 Overview of the groups in Middle Class 89 3.4 Transcribing Data 91 3.5 Ethical Question 92 3.6 Conclusion 94 Chapter 4: Openness in gender-based content 95 4.1: Recalling PTV 97 4.2: Losing Modesty/Abandoning Dupatta 104 4.3: Openness in the gender-based content: Consequences for the home and lounge 113 4.4: Glorifying/highlighting gender-based taboos: is it about vulgarizing content? 123 4.5: Conclusion 135 Chapter 5: Understanding Production of the gender-based content 137 5.1 Recalling PTV 137 5.2 Perception of the producers about their viewers 144 5.3 The trend of seeking better ratings 153 5.4 Importance of sellable/selling factor in any gendered content 164 5.5 Where does the actual power lie/who has the actual control over gendered content? 167 5.6: Whether media organizations are similar to the institutions/mediated public sphere with inherent sense of commitment/responsibility towards public 174 7 5.7 Conclusion 180 Chapter 6: Empowering women through gendered content: Producers’ perspective 182 6.1: Drama serials: Empowering viewers? 183 6.1.1: Content Heads’ perspective on potential of drama serials in bringing change 188 6.1.2: Directors/producers perspective on drama serials in bringing change 192 6.2: Breakfast shows: Empowering/bringing change on producers’ agenda? 208 6.3: Producers of gender issue-based talk shows: Empowering/bringing change on producers’ agenda? 219 6.4: Conclusion 233 Chapter 7: Women Empowered or disciplined through gendered content? 235 7.1: Patterns of engagement with emancipatory trends in drama serials 235 7.2: Viewers’ engagement patterns with religion and social issue-based talk shows 262 7.3: Viewers’ patterns of engagement with breakfast shows 270 7.4: Viewers’ engagement patterns with crime shows 276 7.5: Conclusion 289 Chapter 8: Conclusion 291 8.1 Summary of the findings of the chapters 293 8.2 Revisiting the attributes of the public 300 8.3: Revisiting the utility of popular culture and cultural citizenship 303 8.4 Revisiting the concept of the public sphere 305 8.5 Revisiting methodology: Lessons learnt 307 8.6 Looking into the future 309 8.7 The project of emancipation for Pakistani women 310 Bibliography 313-330 Appendices 331 -344 8 9 Chapter 1: Introduction This thesis is driven by a single over-arching research question: why has the content in relation to gender changed so dramatically in Pakistani television since ‘liberalisation’ and how do women engage with and make sense of this changed content? For those who remember Pakistani television before the liberalisation policy of 2000, it is difficult not to have noticed the change in gender-based content in the post-liberalisation era. Television producers have used drama serials to engage with gender specific issues, and have incorporated new genres to entertain and inform gendered audiences. There are programmes that raise awareness on gender issues in a serious manner, and others that highlight such issues in an entertaining way. In this context, gendered television content on cable television networks has three defining features. First, it is about the renegotiation of the relationship between the between the public and the private realm. Second, it grants its audiences access to the mediated public sphere without dislocating them from the privacy of their homes. Third, it opens up spaces for practising cultural citizenship, which can have consequences for their female citizenry within Pakistan. Despite the phenomenal growth of television in Pakistan, and very apparent rise of this new content, there has been no in-depth study to date to account for why television producers felt the need to introduce new genres dealing specifically with the gender-based content; nor has there been much academic attention paid to the question of how Pakistani women feel about this new wave of content in Pakistani television. 10 In order to redress this situation and to answer the central research question, the research objectives for this study are: To identify the change in Pakistani television cultures in relation to the gender- based content. To examine the role/underlying motives of the producers in bringing about the change in Pakistani television. To examine how Pakistani women engage with and make sense of the change in gender-related content. To understand whether the change in gender-based content can have the potential to empower women in any way.

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