Media's Role in Pakistan's Power Politics
Pakistan has been set on fire by audio-visual leaks of sorts. While the politicians and the civil-military bureaucracy are at each other's throats, there is a dark horse in this scramble for power which, as they say in the cricket terminology, is playing on both sides of the wicket. This often underestimated player in the game of thrones is none other than Pakistan's print and electronic media. There is a third contender though – the so-called social media that is challenging the dominance of the traditional media conglomerates that have played the role of power manipulators since 1947. Nothing jilts the Pakistani media houses more than the free-flying rocket known as social media. Just imagine the frustration of Pakistan's leading newspapers and news channels! Social media has robbed them of their monopoly on scandal, sleaze, and sizzling news. A leading English-language newspaper, headquartered in Karachi, now publishes only 1500 copies from its Islamabad office. The r...