Last night while i was switching through the channels i came across multiple channels where the biggest topic under discussion was .. "Was Veena Malik Religiously and Traditionally Ethical In Big Boss?" As it appears, it is perhaps the biggest Question our nation faces today. Well, down with inflation, corruption, poverty, terrorism n' hunger. They'll be looked after when the right time comes. Veena Malik, my dears! is todays topic.
On that note, i will have to agree with Sania Saeed's comment in 50 minutes. No one amongst us will probably believe Veena's attitude to be justified or probably none of us would like to be in her place but we as a nation have failed miserably to look at the bigger picture in general. We as a nation have learned to endorse these attitudes and our media has been our teacher all along.
Perhaps Benazir died of a bullet or may be of the lever of the car or what ever mystery her death might hold, Dear viewers!! "Geo aik baar pher sab say aagay". Geo's profound insensitivity towards everything is prevalent in their claim "ahead of everyone". And its not just Geo, our media as a whole has been endorsing the negatives much more than the positives, never reaching a productive conclusion.
Whether Meera was married or not, or whether Veena was ethical or not or how come Shoaib got Sania married to him remain to be the highlights in news for several days. Where ever some thing goes wrong in the country our media is there to spice it up with catchy phrases and serve this dish to a nation hungry for just the same.
I don,t want to claim that its entirely wrong, well obviously it is their Job to do so and who would if they dont? and in case they dont, who will create awareness and raise voice and bring to public knowledge the ills of our society. The point is; how often do we see these channels promoting the goods? What is the role of media in Branding pakistan as a country?
Ask an American what s/he thinks of Pakistan and I'm pretty sure, either they don't know or they will somehow link it up to 9/11 or other terrorist and extremist activities taking place in the entire world, all thanks to Pakistani media.
Our students study brand management and marketing and they end up serving in MNCs and big corporations just to show how good a brand Nestle' or Coke or Unilever is. I'm afraid and disappointed that no one thinks of doing the same for Pakistan.
I'm a marketing student and i strongly condemn the role Pakistani media plays in order to brand our country. We have bigger problems at hand and better things to discuss and i certainly believe that if we dont waste our time, resources and our marketing skills in promoting these petty issues, perhaps one day we could build a brand which stands for a land of beauty, culture and youth, fully riped and ready to learn from the mistakes of previous generations and rise up to be a much bigger nation than Media-as-of-today represents it to be.
