Ejaz Haider: Unbridled Power of the TV Media

Ejaz Haider has speculated over the unbridled power of the electronic media. I was reminded of this when some hours earlier I watched Kamran Khan read aloud P M Gilani's address to the nation from the press copy furnished prior to airing the speech.

imho, Kamran crossed ethical, moral and journalistic "benchmarks" with that act. ~~~~t

This is a different kind of journalism. Newspaper editors had reaction time, not only to the story but also to their own responses to the story. Much time was spent discussing the dos and don’ts of what could be put out. Live coverage has deprived everyone of the necessity of taking a deep breath and counting to ten, even bouncing ideas off each other in the editorial room. We have ended up with rookies firing from the hip.

Pure objectivity has never really existed, but benchmarks are important. Psychologists are not supposed to get involved with their subjects; neither should reporters allow the charged atmosphere to influence their aloofness. That detachment is now a story of the past. Reporters are getting swayed, and a reporter with a camera, broadcasting live into people’s living rooms means the editor has little control over the content. (Ejaz is wrong...good organisations have editorial control and know how to keep the reporters in check and how to switch or kill a transmission from the control desk. That they have inexperience in that area, or the editor is not senior or cowed down is something that should be looked into ~~t)