IPS-English MEDIA-PAKISTAN: TV Talk Shows Take to the Streets - Literally Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 15:20:51 -0800 Zofeen Ebrahim KARACHI, Nov 28 (IPS) - The question on the TV talk show was simple. Celebrity anchor Hamid Mir asks guests from various political parties if they are prepared to participate in a general election under emergency rule. As the cameras roll, the guests squirm uncomfortably in their seats and make non-committal noises. But it was a show that is never going to be aired. For Mir's popular ‘Capital Talk' has been banned along with Geo TV, the private channel that showed it on weekdays until President Pervez Musharraf clamped emergency rule on the country on Nov. 3. Never one to give up, Mir has persisted with 'Capital Talk' through what he calls his ‘road show', simulating on the streets a studio and conducting a talk show with all the trappings of live broadcast minus the commercial breaks. Mir has seen worse during the days when he did street theatre during the military dictator Zia-ul-Haq's 11-year regime (1977-1988). Mir says he finds the experience exhilarating, especially the large live audiences, even if they are unruly and brimming with emotion that often burst into paroxysms of slogan-shouting against Musharraf. As emergency rule was imposed, the burgeoning Pakistani television industry with some 30 news channels came to a halt with their transmission blocked. Musharraf went to the extent of prevailing on the Dubai government to stop Geo TV uplinking from that country. While the other channels have since been allowed to resume transmission, with some degree of censorship, Geo is still off the air. Owners of channels that have resumed operation deny having negotiated with the government or agreed to follow the ‘code of conduct' imposed on them. ”Road shows constitute a new tactic for informing people (and winning their support) of the media-gag policy of the regime. Other parts of the strategy are hunger-strike camps at press clubs and a 24-hour vigil at the Geo office in Lahore. The people are thus continuously reminded that media has been chained,” explained I.A. Rehman, director of the independent rights body the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). ”There is a symbolic relevance” to Mir's rebellion because it ”underlines the difficulties the electronic media is facing from the government policy of restraining the media,” said Hasan Askari, a Lahore-based defence analyst. ”It is also a poignant reminder that the government is denying its people the fundamental right of freedom of expression.” ”One experienced a feeling of solidarity with the media,” said A.H. Nayyar, eminent physicist and peace activist who was one of the guests on Mir's road show. ”It has left us with no option but to come out and scream. And scream we will.” With five street shows behind him, Hamid Mir now has a huge fan following. From just a few dozen people gathered for the first show held outside Geo's Islamabad office, last week, the audiences now run into the thousands. The venues are as diverse as the Rawalpindi Press Club, the Quaid-e-Azam University, or Islamabad's busy market at the Aabpara Chowk. Information on timing and venue is spread through text messaging. ”Now the city traders' association has requested us to do a show at the Liaquat Bagh, a huge ground in Rawalpindi, where they will arrange for 15,000 spectators,'' said Mir. He has also been asked by the Karachi and Lahore press clubs to set up his 'studio' on their premises. ”I do the show not from the platform of Geo, but under the aegis of the Rawalpindi/Islamabad Union of Journalists. And my biggest supporters are members of civil society, my own fraternity and students,” asserted Mir, despite the banner behind the makeshift stage displaying the Geo logo prominently. ”Geo is not backing me in this nor is the programme advertised by its sister newspapers -- the daily Urdu language ‘Jang' and English ‘The News'.” But while the shows are crowd-pullers, they are no substitute for regular shows. ”Today's road shows do not compare with talk shows. The latter were far more forthright and outspoken,” said Rehman. That view is endorsed by Syed Talat Hussain, host of another talk show from Aaj TV. The channel is back on air but without its best-known face and his ever-popular ‘Live with Talat' show. Following Mir's footsteps, Hussain, too, did a show at the Rawalpindi District Bar Association. ”These have great agitational value and contribute to the rebellion,” he said, adding that he enjoyed the immediate response he received. When his show was put on YouTube, there were 6,000 hits on the first day, he said. ”The outreach may be only local and very limited, and may even be short-lived, but the symbolism of taking a principled and visible stand by popular anchors and intellectuals is significant,” said Najma Sadeque, a senior print media journalist who has been at the forefront of the resistance movement against the emergency. ”It gives courage and inspiration to others. People elsewhere may not know what exactly the speakers are saying at these outdoor events, but they already know what they are talking about. That's what counts.” ”I think the road shows are a great form of political-cultural debate and dissent, even if they're reaching small audiences,” said Zohra Yusuf, a senior member of the HRCP. ”They prove that dissenting voices cannot be silenced. Also, these are quasi-cultural events that so enrich the cities in which they are held.” Those channels that have resumed their telecast have become increasingly milder both in content and discourse. ”There are fewer such shows and those that are shown have something missing,” said Nafis Bano, 70, a housewife, who follows political debate from the comfort of her bedroom. ”I now prefer the plays shown on TV.” Fozia Mapara, 45, a magazine editor, has tuned in to plays too. ”I miss Kamran Khan (current affairs programme host attached to Geo) and Hamid Mir's shows and was hooked to the sensationalism, like a drug.'' ”Definitely the talk shows have been blunted... those that are being aired,” said Faisal Siddiqui, a client service manager from an advertising agency. ”They have become so docile that you have to rub your eyes to find out whether they are being aired by a private TV channel or by PTV (state-owned Pakistan TV). This is all the more painful when you take into account what's behind the ‘softness' of the show hosts or anchors,” he said. Sadeque argues that while they are ”understandably tame” compared to the shows in the past, it also eans ”ferreting out even more hard facts that are indisputable, and that have historical and other linkages that make sense of how events have degenerated to such a pass today.'' However, unlike the muzzling of the electronic media, the print media is relatively free. ”I feel censorship less than what I had braced myself for,” said Zubeida Mustafa, a senior journalist at English daily ‘Dawn' who had seen the harsh treatment of journalists under Gen. Zia's regime. ”Having been through such terrible times under Zia-ul-Haq when pre-censorship was in force, I find that what we have today is like heaven. But initially we were cautious, not knowing exactly what the government was up to. Now we know it is the electronic media that is having to bear the brunt. That is inexcusable,” said Mustafa. Rehman sees fine lines of ”self censorship evident in all papers”. He attributes it to the scare of the imposed emergency and the new rules that allows military courts to prosecute civilians suspected of terrorist or subversive activities. ***** + PAKISTAN: Media Under Siege (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40184) + Trouble in Pakistan - IPS Special Coverage (http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/pakistan/index.asp) (END/IPS/AP/IP/PK/PF/IC/DV/HD/CS/ZE/RDR/07) = 11281904 ORP017 NNNN