Media

Meida is not just a conduit of resistance but as precursor of politics of resistance in Pakistan. It gave articulation to the deviant voices which have long been submerged in to oblivion and whose annihilation has been a strong popular perception. The information revolution is leading people to the discovery how power tries to sustain itself through galvanizing and structuring the centers of powers. But as Focault has said the very power is processed through problematisation and normalisation which also include “"incitement to discourse" and which contains the opportunity for resistance. Thus using the same vocabulary and the same discourse the “deviants” or centers of resistance are galvanized and structured which help to change the perception of “truth”.

Not every bit of media can be analyzed in a short space. For convenience one can mention a few dominant deviant voices which have been articulated through the media.

1. Restoration of Chief Justice: One of the major contributions of media to construct the discourse of resistance is to support the restoration of chief justice of Pakistan after he was made dysfunctional by the then president of Pakistan General Pervez Musharaf. What actually media did initially was to give a massive coverage to the same Chief Justice who had taken oath under the PCO and provided legitimacy to the government of General Pervez Musharaf. The bottom line was to galvanize the discourse of justice as the burden of responsibility would always fall on the shoulder of the judges of the superior courts for validating “the doctrine of necessity”. The discourse of justice turned against the status quo when it started constructing the discourse of resistance through justice. The Lawyers Community who has been proactive sine the coup d'etat and the subsequent promulgation of PCO and who have been somehow silence down by the 17th amendment came to the surface. Followed by the journalist, civil society and political parties it helped overthrow a usurper and ultimately forced the civilian government to recognize and “independent Judiciary.”

It should be noted that the “perceived truth” is always unstable and unpredictable and might take a new relationship with power—power which itself is not some fixed identity but which takes the form of discourse and in turn makes the personalities who exercise this power.

2. Anti-Talibanization:
Media in Pakistan has started supporting military operations quite recently. Previously Pakistani media mostly perpetuated pro-terrorism discourse and people like General Hamid Gul, Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif and leadership of the Jumat-e-Islami and JI were given a huge chunk of the prime time on different TV channels; and newspapers were filled with their articles and reports no matter how trivial and out of place they would sound. The popular discourse on media at that time was “dialogue”, a vague term reflecting only the apathy of the Pakistani intelligentsia and nobody bothered whether the militants were butchering the local population or forcing them to accept their medieval religious obscurantism. FATA had almost no coverage on the media and Swat was largely covered by armchair journalists who would not tire to bring the most far-fetched way of theorizing about the plight of millions of people.

This shift in media is a complex interplay of diverse factors especially the discourse of war against terror supported by the international community. A refreshing concern in Media is helping constructing indigenous discourse regarding the war against terror.

3. Democracy, pluralism and federalism:

Media has been very vocal regarding democracy and political parties. Political discussions on different TV channels are trying to deconstruct some of the established discourses and the process of restructuring of the discourses is underway.

In addition to these media is covering a diverse range of discourse from social issues to historical perspectives.