SAMAA TV Fights Sensationalism in Pakistani Media

Interview by Maia Lazar CIME Staff SAMAA TV is the first private, live satelite news channel in Pakistan. Their programs include political analysis, news bulletin, and programs that cover everything from social issues to health and technology. CIME's Maia Lazar interviews Hina Akhtar, SAMAA TV's Senior Manager of Strategic Communications, on the channel's new educational programming and social responsibility. CIME: SAMAA TV recently partnered with WWF, promoting conservation. How has this benefited SAMAA's reputation when it comes to media ethics?
Hina Akhtar

Hina Akhtar: SAMAA TV believes that creating valuable and tangible content is essential to its role as a partner in education for sustainable development. As a developing country, Pakistan needs to enhance its socio-political and economic system in order to become a competitive and progressive nation and improve the lives of our people. For that we need solutions for our prevailing issues and challenges, and this we believe can only come from the input of experts, stakeholder engagement and forward moving solutions. The media has a pivotal role to play in this regard, as one of the most important pillars in the establishment of democracy. SAMAA TV initiated a partnership with the WWF as a strategic partnership to create educational content on the environment. This will increase awareness among our viewers on the real environmental issues in Pakistan and how we as citizens need to play an active role. This partnership also includes specialized trainings for journalists to enhance their knowledge and expertise on the subject. This will improve Pakistan's environmental reporting and create content that needs to be addressed on both national and international levels. Creating dedicated programs on the subject is also part of the learning process for our society and its sensitization to the main challenges. With the increasing competition in the media market, we want be distinguished as a broadcaster that spends airtime and resources on quality content and focuses on solutions rather than problems. We want our stakeholders, especially our viewers, to recognize SAMAA TV as an ethical, fair and transparent news channel, which strives for the truth and facts rather than sensationalizing news. CIME: The U.K has a Corporate Responsibility Index for Businesses and is developing one for outside the U.K. Does SAMAA know about this, and if so, are there plans to join this Index?

HA: We do know about the index however since Corporate Social Responsibility is a new phenomenon in Pakistan and is often associated with the multinational operations, we still have a long way to go as far as basing our CSR programs on the Global Reporting Initiative. SAMAA TV has however taken the first and very important step towards introducing, implementing and highlighting the role of a responsible media for the social development of Pakistan. We feel that the media has previously been chasing high viewership rates and strongly ignored the role of our citizens and the social impact of its content. The CSR aspects for a media channel mostly lay in its code of business conduct, however we want to take it even further and integrate it into our content and business strategy, so that each news report on SAMAA reflects our commitment to support democracy and empower vulnerable communities for a better tomorrow. CIME: What challenges has SAMAA had to overcome concerning a possible lack of social responsibility, and how has this helped/improved SAMAA's current status? HA: SAMAA TV's commitment to ethics also means that SAMAA's reporting style, while being factual and credible, does not pander to petty sensationalism and yellow journalism for public consumption. While Pakistan undergoes one of the worst periods in its history, as a center of terrorist activities, we do see the situation being manipulated for publicity and ratings by some media houses. Violent and bloody images are constantly flashed on TV channels under the pretext of "breaking news". Popular talk shows thrive on provocative confrontation between warring politicians and the sole criteria for choosing discussion panels on such programs seems to be eliciting maximum mudslinging. SAMAA TV has a strong policy against such an operational approach and we only promote the actual essence of dialogue and debate. Our editorial policy refrains from sensationalizing news stories and exercises utmost discretion in depicting scenes of murder and mayhem. For SAMAA it is only natural to dedicate that time and space to programs that educate, question and deal with issues that impact the lives of its viewers more than frivolous propaganda and gossip. While such an approach risks making the channel uninteresting to the casual viewer, SAMAA TV's management has chosen to stand by their commitment to social responsibility and pledged to employ media as a tool for educating millions of illiterate people. In the long run, this has helped SAMAA gain a loyal following and steady ratings amongst serious viewers of news and current affairs. Another endorsement of our work is that in a very short span of time SAMAA's CSR program has achieved landmark results - initiating and successfully completing many first-of-their-kind ventures, which have been internationally commended as "role models for other media entities to follow and contribute to". Despite a

challenging work environment and political instability, we have managed to build trust among our stakeholders, retain viewership and sustain projects aimed at public goodwill while standing uncompromised in our organizational integrity. CIME: What are the easiest ways that a journalist can become more socially responsible? HA: I don't think there is an easy way to become more socially responsible as a journalist. It is a constant process in which it is essential to strongly integrate work ethics into one's personal and professional approach to work. The media is no different, rather I would say that the ethics of media are even more important as whatever content is delivered on-screen impacts the minds of millions and can change the entire socio-political development of a country. I believe that striving for the truth and facts is what creates a responsible product and that is what needs to be communicated to our viewers so that they make their decisions based on facts rather than being influenced by a certain prevailing mindset. CIME: With SAMAA receiving awards and possible role-model position as described in the media for "highlighting responsibility of media for social development" of Pakistan, what originally prompted/inspired SAMAA to take measures to be more socially responsible? HA: Looking at the recent media boom in Pakistan and the ensuing race to launch new channels in an increasingly competitive market, we felt that what was seldom discussed or documented was the active role media can play in fostering social change and establishing new attitudes. This shift in existing societal attitudes can only come about through the education and awareness of the individual and community in which electronic media can play a pivotal role. We found it to be very unfortunate that even big media houses were compromising journalistic ethics and propagating unabashed sensationalism in the race for increased ratings. Believing strongly that the media occupies a privileged position in modern society as educators, watchdogs and change agents, SAMAA TV took on the responsibility of making the industry remember and realize its true role. When SAMAA was launched in December 2007, it was envisioned as a channel that would change the paradigm of media in Pakistan by giving its viewers an honest and objective view of the world, and build its name as a news channel of credibility and integrity. The various awards conferred upon SAMAA by both national and international organizations encourage us to keep moving and implementing more initiatives that will help create an educated and aware nation. CIME: Are there training programs for young Pakistani journalists in media ethics and responsibility? If so, what do they comprise and how long have they been in place? HA: There is no targeted or specialized training on the subject for working

journalists. The universities do teach the subjects briefly for students of journalism and mass communication, however we strongly lack training and capacity building for our journalists so that we can benchmark our media and news with international standards. In my opinion, ethics and responsibility need to integrated into the daily operations of a media organization and should be reflected in all of the communication content that is created today - be it broadcasting, advertising or anything aimed at public orientation. We are their key access to information so it needs to be balanced, fair and transparent; otherwise we would be compromising on our deliverables as a responsible stakeholder of our country.