AFTER the occurrence of Jarranwala tragedy and in view of the country’s current situation, media needs to play an important and pivotal role in preserving social and cultural harmony in the society. On media especially the social media state sensitive and blasphemous posts and comments are being effectively posted. Such materials instantly infuse all over hitting every android device. In this digital age, a segment of the media reports and publishes news on the basis of opinions rather than presenting facts, which is a big challenge to social harmony and national unity in our country.The media’s ability as a force multiplier and a means of war like situation must be understood. Failure to identify and combat enemy, media use could lead to unparalleled military and national failures. It must be understood that today’s decisions are no longer focused on facts, but on how things are being portrayed. Propaganda-based mass media is very strong way of transmitting disinformation from a mischievous source to the weak receivers.
The entry of disinformation by mass media has an effect on social change throughout the culture. Propaganda-based social media is active everywhere and obviously, no one can escape its impact. Poisonous social media has alluded itself into politics, work, homelife and everywhere else. The very existence of social media is a part of the fabric attached to our lives now and tends to be an integral part of our life come what may. Media works as powerful medicine, if the medicine is used properly it can heal many ills, if the medicine is misused it can become poison and this is what is happening in Pakistan. Consciously or unintentionally, mass media has become an integral part of everyday life. News about events that have taken place abroad and at home are known quickly and easily through the mass media. Being most sensitive the blasphemous and anti-state material spread more speedily than any other. This is because the mass media has the capacity to deliver disinformation and propaganda effectively.
The role of media in promoting communal harmony means information dissemination which combats propaganda for riots, intolerance and racism. Inflammatory material is more or less the food or the main nutrient of life used to weaken the fabric of the society. This is why it tends to leave behind huge effects in our day-to-day social and psychological relationships. This is because social media cannot always be used as a positive way and understanding the potential dangers of social media is extremely necessary and beneficial because it tends to affect you as an individual and aids in promoting social disharmony.
The mass media consists of print media, like the newspapers, magazines and electronic media like the social networking agencies, traditionally consisting of the Television and Radio along with the recently added social media apps and the internet itself. In a so-called democratic society like ours the media plays very major role by giving disinformation to the citizens and by reflecting their opinions at a large scale impacting different communities. Regardless of the age, we live in, newspapers still continue to pursue a profit-making job and keep their readers fully informed providing space to a plurality of views. Media acts as a fourth pillar of the society but sometimes it can even outsmart the rest of the pillars which are the judiciary, executive and legislature which in turn creates an imbalance in the system. There are two main areas in which media institutions and judiciary have a conflict with each other, first is the media trial which means the impact of media coverage on a person’s reputation by creating a widespread perception of guilt or innocence before, or after, a verdict in a court of law. The second is, “Prejudge” which means judge prematurely without having proper information regarding the facts.
A large section of the media, especially the national print and electronic media, stood firmly as one block, criticising the violence and exposing its perpetrators and collaborators. Some used compact digital video recorders to document, broadcast or disseminate through accounts of the targeted violence. There were also initiatives to use the media to spread messages of peace, communal harmony and to provide life – saving information about relief. Thus, the media and its role in communal peace and harmony are like a “double-edged sword.” Media should be used as a potent tool to promote Communal Harmony. The media should widen the horizons of thought. Many people who live in traditional cultures believe the media to have magical power when you first encounter it, as the media can make a person see and encounter places they have never been and people whom they have never met. The media make people understand others in developed countries so that they gain a new perspective. In Jarranwala tragedy disinformation spread by a person on loudspeaker left deep devastating impact on how we think and react. Our polarised and confused society is being badly deeply influenced by the disinformation spread all over.
—The writer is editor, book ambassador political analyst and author of several books based in Islamabad.
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