Mainstream Media hegemony and new media environment Essay

(Ex- Deputy Controller, Head of current Affair National Broadcasting Service Radio Pakistan, Bureau chief mediacon international, member CMA,, Community Media Association, UK), published author ezine and upublish.com) Pakistan’s mainstream media outlets have perhaps misunderstand the meaning of free flow of information under the freedom of press law. Perhaps they are not aware of the consequences which are being faced by top notch mainstream media across the so-called civilized word. In Pakistan many media groups reporting without realizing its impact on our socio-economic environment and deep rooted cultural impact. We have seen in past that misreporting by print and electronic mainstream media regarding shia-sunni conflicts created anger and anxiety amongst different sects led to horrible sectarian violence. Beside, reporting regarding terrorist attacks and rape case are arrogantly presented. Lack of trusted networks for reporting or contribution the most sensitive issue in fair manners and due to less reliance on what traditional media portray in daily business of dissemination of audio video contents, the literate society has started believing on what new media presents in various forms. Equipped with the power of abundant sources of news and information ((via broadband, G3, G4 and web3) about any country or region the new media is rapidly making its footing worldwide. Mainstream media are the most important source, but not the only one. With the development of communication technologies, people now have access to a huge amount of information that was unthinkable 20 years ago. People can watch live proceeding of parliament, or read a transcript of it within hours. One can see press releases from newsmakers published on hundreds of websites, providing submission and distribution services on internet. New-style electronic formats, such as Internet discussion groups and chat rooms, create new public spaces and provide unprecedented opportunities for cultural and political discourse. Ecology of news and the style of passing on information have been changed dramatically. Geographical separation is not a big problem due to network linkage. Using FTP format you can transfer files anywhere in the word it was not possible for main stream media 2 decades ago. Second important characteristics its digital platform which has  enormous space to store audio, video, and Text. In new media environment distance makes little difference in the time, cost or speed of getting information. : Society has changed into families. People can get lot more quality and creditable information using news aggregators. In fact less gated social media have changed the ecology of News, thinking, behaviour and socio-economic environment Social media technologies take on many different forms including magazines, Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, micro blogging, wikis, social networks, podcasts, photographs or pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking. The wall of fortress journalism is demolishing but Pakistan print and electronic mainstream media is not ready to adopt the new changes being taken place every passing day in communication technologies. People of Pakistan are swiftly moving toward social media aggregators than ever. This new tool provides reader/ viewers to obtain all required news and analysis on one simple point. The reason for this shift is that mainstream media is violating by keeping the important news with them and deliberately hiding facts from public eyes. Sensationalism in news and to be first in breaking news is considered as pride without knowing its impact on nation al security and integrity. Pakistani media regulators and broadcasters perhaps not aware what the west is doing through media. They must watch reports of PRESS TV.COM AND RT.COM. The West is swiftly and successfully achieving its targets one by one by to destabilize the situation in Syria, recently in Gaza. Author and investigative journalist Webster Tarpley has pointed in an interview at Russian Television (RT.COM) first English language TV that US Intelligence has announced the partition of Pakistan. Another report revealed in foreign media that US Special Forces have conducted secret raids inside Pakistan’s border regions. The operations were conducted between 2003 and 2008, but only one was ever made public. The mainstream media of Pakistan kept quite on these issues. In many cases Taliban refused to take responsibility for some explosions in public places in Pakistan than who is behind these brutal acts. Our investigative reporters are not well equipped to search the truth and report. Our media is highlighting issue base politic and projecting their allocated parties. Critical issues of society which should be the prime priority at present stage are not being suitably covered by any media outlet. Strong reaction in recent past has been seen in UK and USA where  people registered their protest and strongly criticize the biased, planned and narrow coverage of world affairs by the established media giants like Fox News, the BBC and NBS. Media regulators are seems to be helpless and may be part of this wrongdoing. Situation in Pakistan is changing rapidly and people have lost trust on the directed coverage of Pakistan’s media. Pakistan electronic media are being run by the print media journalists with no experience of working in electronic media and producing substandard and distorted facts. Broadcasters are making billions in profits while using the public airwaves. In return, they are not producing programmes that fulfill community needs. Because of above cited problems and the attitude of media groups of Pakistan people have started march against mainstream media using social media as a viable, quick and authentic source. This shift seems to be picking up the pace in near future. ***