Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
The News International, Wednesday, April 14, 2010 AN INITIATIVE OF THE TIMES OF INDIA AND JANG GROUP OF PAKISTAN
A meeting of Pakistani and Indian anchors and editors, Karachi, April 6-7, 2010
Talking Peace, a two-day meeting of prominent editors and anchors from India and Pakistan concluded in Karachi last Wednesday, featuring a day of closed-door deliberations between the delegates followed by an extensive interaction with Pakistani media and civil society the next day. The meeting was organised by Aman ki Asha, a joint peace initiative of the Jang Group of Pakistan and the Times of India Group. Pakistani and Indian editors have met at such conferences before. What made this event significant was that the organisers were mainstream media houses rather than non-government organisations. This is what gave this meeting more weight than previous such initiatives, commented S. Panneerselvan, Executive Director Panos South Asia, who kicked off the first days discussion with a presentation based on the findings of nine years of meetings organised by Panos between Pakistani and Indian media gatekeepers. Participating journalists from India were Arindam Sengupta (Editor in Chief, Times of India), Diwakar Asthana (Bureau Chief, Times of India), Swaminathan S. Aiyar (Consulting Editor, Economic Times), Siddharth Vardarajan (Deputy Editor, The Hindu), Barkha Dutt (Group Editor, NDTV), Rajdeep Sardesai (Editor in Chief CNN-IBN), Shravan Garg (Editor in Chief, Dainik Bhaskar), and Bharat Bhushan (Editor, Mail Today). From Pakistan, editors and anchors included Rehana Hakim (Editor, Newsline), Arifa Noor (Editor, Herald), Ejaz Haider (Editor Newsweek Pakistan) Shaheen Salahuddin (Director News, Indus TV), Mehmood Shaam (Group Editor, Jang), Arif Nizami (former editor The Nation), Hamid Mir (Executive Editor, Geo News), Imran (President Geo TV), Azhar Abbas (Managing Director Geo News), Kamran Khan (Group Editor Investigations, Jang Group, Geo TV), Talat Aslam (Editor, The News Karachi), and Mohammad Malick (Editor, The News, Islamabad). The closed-door discussion took place in a frank and open atmo-
Peace
Talking
sphere. Participants agreed on the need to create more empathy for each others country, and for more cross-border information. Many of these points were underscored in the following days lively interaction. Kanak Mani Dixit, Editor of Himal Southasian, Kathmandu, moderated both discussions, bringing a much-needed regional perspective to bi-lateral issues. Editors made several suggestions to improve coverage leading to heightened understanding of each others country, including the need to reinforce journalism best practices, like not avoiding singlesource reports, or questioning reports originating from government agencies. Visa restrictions and financial constraints have perhaps con-
tributed to greater understanding as editors have had to draw upon commentators and reporters from across the border, leading to diverse points of view being broadcast or published in their channels and publications. Some suggestions that came up have been made before at various platforms, like easing visa restrictions and restrictions on each others media, allowing journalists easier access, and ending the bar on cell phone roaming between Pakistan and India (a restriction unique to these two countries). Editors suggested broadening the coverage of India-Pakistan issues beyond geopolitics, ensuring a more rigorous reportage of economic, infrastructural and cultural issues. Training workshops for re-
porters on specific issues like Kashmir, water, and terrorism, for example would help raise the level of reporting in general, and on India-Pakistan issues specifically. There was a suggestion to develop a code of ethics on issues of mutual concern or guidelines between Indian and Pakistani media practitioners, and a website to allow editors and media practitioners to engage with each other across the border and help defuse tensions. Drawing up and sharing a large database of media commentators would provide a wider pool of analysts to draw from and allow for more circumspection at times of crisis. A related suggestion was to monitor television talk shows to analyse how often hawkish voices
are invited on air compared to more nuanced, complex views. Another suggestion was to facilitate more exchange and interaction among junior and mid-level reporters, editors and producers from the media in each country. While the session on Day 1 evolved a blueprint for peace and more responsible reportage on matters concerning the two neighbours, Day 2 focussed on the role of media in a nuclear South Asia. Imran Aslam of Geo Network said that sometimes, the media was influenced by the public, and at other times, it moulded public opinion. It is important to look at things from a learning approach, rather than a perspective to score points against each other, he argued.
s senior journalists and anchorpersons from India and Pakistan argued over the role of the media in creating harmony or discord between the two countries, the audience impatiently waited to throw questions at some of the stars up on the stage. The venue was a large room at Avari Towers, Karachi, converted overnight into a studio by the Geo team filming this interaction. What the people sitting in the jampacked hall wanted to know was, what type of Pakistani content is present in Indian newspapers and TV channels, and why the Indian media rarely focuses on other issues besides terrorism that concern Pakistani society.
s r e t n u o c a i Med s r e t n u o c n and e
and covered all angles thoroughly. One editor commented that the daily suicide bombings and terrorism in Pakistan get less play because of their everyday nature. This statement triggered off comments from the audience who said that the daily violence should not detract from its significance, but at the same time, positive aspects of Pakistan should also be covered.
thoughts. Someone asked why the media doesnt focus on issues such as case of fishermen languishing in jails in both the countries. This is something that actually gets quite a lot of media attention, responded the panelists. Shaheen Salahuddin of Indus TV said she had in fact interviewed Indian fisherboys imprisoned in
Of course we focus on sensational issues, my newspaper, for instance, is a tabloid, responded Bharat Bhushan, Editor of the Daily Mail Today (a joint venture between India Today Group and Associated Newspapers of UK, publishers of Daily Mail). But it would be wrong to say that there isnt any news related to Pakistan. We have a Pakistani correspondent who reports regularly on issues of the society, mostly subjects he chooses to write about, added Bhushan. Also, every week, we have a page devoted to Pakistan, in which columnists from Pakistan write on matters of their choosing. When major incidents take place in the neighboring country, we dedicate sufficient space for those stories too. For example when a suicide bomber struck the Marriot hotel in Islamabad, we gave it prominent display
There were questions pertaining to the exchange of inter-cultural issues and the vibrant traditions of both the countries, which the editors agreed should receive more coverage. Arindam Sengupta, Executive Editor of the Times of India pointed out that when the Aman ki Asha campaign was launched on Jan 1, 2010, his newspaper published the words Love Pakistan in a full page ad on the front page, a move that many Indian readers appreciated and supported. There were plenty of comments and suggestions from the audience for media coverage that can help to promote peace between the two countries. Zain Hasan, one of the administrators of the Aman ki Asha Facebook group, commented that some people seem to derive some strange satisfaction from being nasty or expressing violent
Pakistan and they told her they didnt know when they were following the fish on the high seas, whether the fish was Pakistani or Indian. We need to transcend our national identities and sit as South Asians, suggested Karamat Ali of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research who was in the audience. Pakistan is never going to hand over criminals to India and vice versa, so why dont we us the Saarc framework and establish a tribunal in Nepal where we can try criminals wanted by the other country. One reporter questioned the editorin-chief of the IBN Network Rajdeep Sardesai, about a story his channel did on the demolition of a temple in Karachi. The reporters investigations revealed that it was a matter of encroachment, not demolition. Sardesai admitted to the mistake. He and others on the panel expressed their resolve to be less lazy as Barkha Dutt of NDTV put it, about fact-checking and to draw on resources on the other side of the border particularly when it came to potentially inflammatory material. Everyone knows that terrorism doesnt define Pakistan, said Dutt. There are many Pakistans, and we need to remember that. We were one once. We may not be one again, said moderator Kanak Dixit, concluding the session. But there can be peace and harmony between us. Rabia Ali Photos by Zahid Rehman
A peace initiative whose time has come... Destination Peace: A commitment by the Jang Group, GEO and The Times of India Group to create an enabling environment that brings the people of Pakistan and India closer together, contributing to genuine and durable peace with honour between our countries.