The accusation that English media in Pakistan harbours a bias against the right wing is the subject of an ongoing debate. In a recent podcast on Off The School, journalist Zia Ur Rehman, who currently writes for The New York Times and has extensively covered Madaris and religious organisations of the country, provided valuable insight into the issue, noting that media biases are one of the most pressing concerns in Pakistan today.
Zia agreed that while portraying the right-wing politics, Pakistani English media often skews the narrative in a negative light. He argued that the media houses or reporters should not let their personal or ideological biases shape the coverage, particularly when dealing with contentious political groups.
However, Zia also highlights that these biases are not simply a matter of individual media outlets but are ingrained in the larger societal discourse.
Journalist Najam Soharwardi, who hosted the podcast, critiqued the English media for its tendency to vilify the right wing. According to Najam, the media often portrays madrassas in a negative light, associating them with extremism and intolerance, despite the fact that many madrassa students come from families that do not support extremism and violence.
Zia concurred with Najam pointing out that not all individuals in the right-wing spectrum share the same values. He emphasised that while the media often generalises the right-wing, there was significant diversity within this group. “Not all five fingers are equal,” he remarked.
The journalist asserted that such broad generalisations not only misrepresent the reality but also create an unjust narrative that unfairly paints an entire group with a single brush.
Adding to this point, journalist Ebad Ahmed said that often the bias against religious groups in the English media reports comes not from the reporters but the desk that edited their stories and gave them the final shape. Ebad opined that many desk members of the English media who edit the news stories do not go out in society and meet diverse groups, due to which they are biased against religious groups.
The participants of the podcast agreed that the English media’s portrayal of the right-wing in Pakistan is overly simplistic and biased. Instead of offering a nuanced understanding of right-wing politics, the media tends to perpetuate stereotypes, demonising a large and complex political group based on a few isolated incidents. This approach, they argued, fails to grasp the multifaceted nature of the right-wing in Pakistan and does little to encourage a constructive, balanced dialogue on the nation’s political landscape.
It can be concluded from the discussion that took place in the podcast that the criticism of English media’s bias against the right wing in Pakistan is not without merit. The media needs to adopt a more nuanced and objective approach when covering political ideologies, especially those that challenge the dominant narrative. Only through fair and balanced reporting can the media help foster a more informed and open discourse on the nation’s political issues.