A quarter of the world consists of young people between the ages of 10-14 years. Of these 86 percent, live in developing countries. Pakistan currently has the largest cohort of young people in its history (25 million aged 15-24) and subsequent cohorts are projected to be even larger.
Young people face a number of critical life decisions between the ages of 15-24 that relate to a series of transitions to adulthood. A recently published national representative survey on adolescents and youth in Pakistan has unveiled many unexplored dimensions of their lives. Briefly speaking, most of the issues related to young people are gender issues.
Gender is a social construction whereas sex is a biological accident. Accidents happen but constructions are planned. Amidst many gender issues, gender-based violence is a globally accepted issue. The human, social, economic and political costs of gender-based violence are incalculable.
Gender-based violence is not only a global but a South Asian concern, too, which has one of the highest incidence of gender-based violence in the world.
Pakistan, the Land of the Pure is no exception. Like elsewhere, women and other disadvantaged segments in Pakistan are a subject of violence of all forms. Pakistan is characterized by regrettably low scores of development indicators, constant political instability, cultural heritage and traditions reflecting centuries-old patriarchy and selective male-friendly application.
Pakistan is a signatory to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Beijing platform of Action and Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). In terms of implementation, the ideals of all such treaties are yet to be realized to cast an impact.
Empowerment, access to equal rights and emancipation are yet only distant dreams for a vast majority of Pakistanis. However, there are now a number of efforts underway in Pakistan to promote the empowerment of women. Although there is escalating attention by the Pakistan Government to gender issues including violence, and there is some movement in this direction, but there is no palpable, heedful and steadfast attempt geared to the understanding of the relevance of youth and gender based violence. This is valid for all service delivery, advocacy, research and communication interventions.
Gender-based violence is a very complex issue. There is none and there cannot be any instant recipe to solve this issue. However, according to the Centre for Communication Programmes at John Hopikns University, US, various research studies have shown that ending violence requires strategic coordination among many sectors of society, and also at community and national levels. An agenda for change must include empowering women and girls, raising the stakes for abusers; providing for the victims; coordinating institutional and individual responses; involving youth; reaching out to men and changing community norms. This cannot be done without creative communication.
People communicate even without any modern communication media, exchange ideas and alter their behaviour. But the astonishing growth of the mass media first print, then radio and now television and computer communication-has raised new possibilities for rapid global communication and thus the new theories about how people may react and change as a result of mass media.
In the Platform for Action, Beijing, 1995, the media were identified as one of the twelve critical areas of concern in which priority action was needed for the advancement and empowerment of women.
The media, advertising and entertainment industries, collectively known as mass media, are powerful because they penetrate every segment of modern-day society and effectively influence how consumers view themselves, their neighbors, communities and the world. Although the mass media denotes outlets beyond newspapers, radio and television, and the scope of media influence now extends to digital spectrum, cable and satellite technology and the internet, it remains a fact that the TV is the single major and foremost communicator of our times.
Television has changed the way teachers teach, government, religious leaders preach and even the demeanour of madness and love. It has the capacity of saying the unsaid even in a selectively traditional society like Pakistan.
Entertainment has been used for educational purpose since the beginning of human history. Greek tragedies, parables in the holy books, songs and stories in every religion and culture present the conflicts and values of different societies in vivid, dramatic and above all, entertaining terms. Modern mass media carries on this tradition, reaching millions with popular radio and TV shows that entertains and educate simultaneously.
In much of south Asia, TV is the most accessible media form. In Pakistan, the coverage of TV is between 87-90pc. The average Pakistani youth is the most enthusiastic consumer of entertaining TV programmes (not the state controlled Pakistani TV channels). Besides, TV has become the main target for pressure groups and CSO`s concerned with human rights in the media.
Nowadays, the media has emerged as the essential player in granting priority to the issue of any origin. The ruling elite of Pakistan, like elsewhere, are also aware that information is power. Therefore, their prime objective is to keep the illiterate, unemployed and malnourished youth powerless through controlling the state media as well. Their general attitude towards the media is obviously dictating and opposing. The net impact of this desire to control the right to information is that educated individuals are not instructed with development issues and contemporary debates.
Although with new technologies, satellite influx and private sector media, the magnitude of this control has decreased, the general situation in connection with youth programmes on TV is abysmal. Irrespective of all the odds, more and more civic actors are concentrating on advocacy through media. Where a lot of thinking and efforts are noticeable on gender and the gender sensitive portrayal of women in the mainstream media of south Asia, including Pakistan, it seems that the status of the youth have been ignored. This ignorance becomes even more obvious when one explores the degree of attention given to an issue like violence in context of gender and youth by the media, including television. It is needless to point out how predominant the theme of violence is on TV and films, and how propitiously the same media is selling violence to youth.
Pakistan, like all other developing countries entrapped in debt, dictation and democracy crises, has no dearth of problems. Our country is characterized by patriarchy and its implications. Illiteracy of the teeming millions just accelerates the vicious circle of problems. In the current situation, our country not only needs political stability, gender responsive governance and strong economic growth, but a socially responsible media equipped with the ability to meet the challenges of our new world.
Global experiences have validated that preventing problems during adolescence is more practical, resource efficient and cost-effective rather that addressing problems once they occur. Programmes/projects that work with adolescents and young people benefit everyone.
It is the time to invest in young people and in their futures. And it is the time to live up to the commitments to young people the countries of the world have repeatedly made in international agreements.
Communication programmes play an essential role in educating, understanding, informing and motivating young people. Since young people are the passionate consumers of popular culture and entertainment, therefore entertainment through TV is an ideal channel to reach the youth.
Regrettably, television in Pakistan has failed to provide the brand of entertainment that would address the contemporary needs of Pakistani youth. With the dawn of new channels in the private sector and a softened censor policy even for the state-owned and controlled PTV (as compared to Ziaul Haq`s regime) one finds breaking visual communication, but the commitment of all TV channels towards youth and sensitive gender issues is questionable. What Pakistani TV is communicating today can be summed up as mindless adoption and confused interpretation of globalization. As a result, young people are highly informed about fashion models, silver screen celebrities and other things which seldom have any relevance and usefulness in their practical lives. What is remarkably missing form our TV screens is the common youth , the rural youth, the unemployed youth, the uneducated youth ( do I need to recall that 40pc of our 144 million live below the poverty line below the poverty line drawn by the world bank and 70pc is the rural population). If there is any representation of this kind of youth or people in general on TV, it is done in a decidedly tedious technique.
Looking beyond the intricate details and long-winded politics of the electronic media productions, in my view what really matters is to deliberately prioritize youth needs and interests. Television, in this regards, can and does play a vital role in making a difference through well-researched, gripping, participatory and realistic productions that articulate youth concerns and needs. It is about time that the decision-makers seriously review collective responsibilities. A TV channel dedicated to the youth of the country may be an attractive and profitable venture for a private enterprise. It is time to take up this challenge.
Young people face a number of critical life decisions between the ages of 15-24 that relate to a series of transitions to adulthood. A recently published national representative survey on adolescents and youth in Pakistan has unveiled many unexplored dimensions of their lives. Briefly speaking, most of the issues related to young people are gender issues.
Gender is a social construction whereas sex is a biological accident. Accidents happen but constructions are planned. Amidst many gender issues, gender-based violence is a globally accepted issue. The human, social, economic and political costs of gender-based violence are incalculable.
Gender-based violence is not only a global but a South Asian concern, too, which has one of the highest incidence of gender-based violence in the world.
Pakistan, the Land of the Pure is no exception. Like elsewhere, women and other disadvantaged segments in Pakistan are a subject of violence of all forms. Pakistan is characterized by regrettably low scores of development indicators, constant political instability, cultural heritage and traditions reflecting centuries-old patriarchy and selective male-friendly application.
Pakistan is a signatory to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Beijing platform of Action and Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). In terms of implementation, the ideals of all such treaties are yet to be realized to cast an impact.
Empowerment, access to equal rights and emancipation are yet only distant dreams for a vast majority of Pakistanis. However, there are now a number of efforts underway in Pakistan to promote the empowerment of women. Although there is escalating attention by the Pakistan Government to gender issues including violence, and there is some movement in this direction, but there is no palpable, heedful and steadfast attempt geared to the understanding of the relevance of youth and gender based violence. This is valid for all service delivery, advocacy, research and communication interventions.
Gender-based violence is a very complex issue. There is none and there cannot be any instant recipe to solve this issue. However, according to the Centre for Communication Programmes at John Hopikns University, US, various research studies have shown that ending violence requires strategic coordination among many sectors of society, and also at community and national levels. An agenda for change must include empowering women and girls, raising the stakes for abusers; providing for the victims; coordinating institutional and individual responses; involving youth; reaching out to men and changing community norms. This cannot be done without creative communication.
People communicate even without any modern communication media, exchange ideas and alter their behaviour. But the astonishing growth of the mass media first print, then radio and now television and computer communication-has raised new possibilities for rapid global communication and thus the new theories about how people may react and change as a result of mass media.
In the Platform for Action, Beijing, 1995, the media were identified as one of the twelve critical areas of concern in which priority action was needed for the advancement and empowerment of women.
The media, advertising and entertainment industries, collectively known as mass media, are powerful because they penetrate every segment of modern-day society and effectively influence how consumers view themselves, their neighbors, communities and the world. Although the mass media denotes outlets beyond newspapers, radio and television, and the scope of media influence now extends to digital spectrum, cable and satellite technology and the internet, it remains a fact that the TV is the single major and foremost communicator of our times.
Television has changed the way teachers teach, government, religious leaders preach and even the demeanour of madness and love. It has the capacity of saying the unsaid even in a selectively traditional society like Pakistan.
Entertainment has been used for educational purpose since the beginning of human history. Greek tragedies, parables in the holy books, songs and stories in every religion and culture present the conflicts and values of different societies in vivid, dramatic and above all, entertaining terms. Modern mass media carries on this tradition, reaching millions with popular radio and TV shows that entertains and educate simultaneously.
In much of south Asia, TV is the most accessible media form. In Pakistan, the coverage of TV is between 87-90pc. The average Pakistani youth is the most enthusiastic consumer of entertaining TV programmes (not the state controlled Pakistani TV channels). Besides, TV has become the main target for pressure groups and CSO`s concerned with human rights in the media.
Nowadays, the media has emerged as the essential player in granting priority to the issue of any origin. The ruling elite of Pakistan, like elsewhere, are also aware that information is power. Therefore, their prime objective is to keep the illiterate, unemployed and malnourished youth powerless through controlling the state media as well. Their general attitude towards the media is obviously dictating and opposing. The net impact of this desire to control the right to information is that educated individuals are not instructed with development issues and contemporary debates.
Although with new technologies, satellite influx and private sector media, the magnitude of this control has decreased, the general situation in connection with youth programmes on TV is abysmal. Irrespective of all the odds, more and more civic actors are concentrating on advocacy through media. Where a lot of thinking and efforts are noticeable on gender and the gender sensitive portrayal of women in the mainstream media of south Asia, including Pakistan, it seems that the status of the youth have been ignored. This ignorance becomes even more obvious when one explores the degree of attention given to an issue like violence in context of gender and youth by the media, including television. It is needless to point out how predominant the theme of violence is on TV and films, and how propitiously the same media is selling violence to youth.
Pakistan, like all other developing countries entrapped in debt, dictation and democracy crises, has no dearth of problems. Our country is characterized by patriarchy and its implications. Illiteracy of the teeming millions just accelerates the vicious circle of problems. In the current situation, our country not only needs political stability, gender responsive governance and strong economic growth, but a socially responsible media equipped with the ability to meet the challenges of our new world.
Global experiences have validated that preventing problems during adolescence is more practical, resource efficient and cost-effective rather that addressing problems once they occur. Programmes/projects that work with adolescents and young people benefit everyone.
It is the time to invest in young people and in their futures. And it is the time to live up to the commitments to young people the countries of the world have repeatedly made in international agreements.
Communication programmes play an essential role in educating, understanding, informing and motivating young people. Since young people are the passionate consumers of popular culture and entertainment, therefore entertainment through TV is an ideal channel to reach the youth.
Regrettably, television in Pakistan has failed to provide the brand of entertainment that would address the contemporary needs of Pakistani youth. With the dawn of new channels in the private sector and a softened censor policy even for the state-owned and controlled PTV (as compared to Ziaul Haq`s regime) one finds breaking visual communication, but the commitment of all TV channels towards youth and sensitive gender issues is questionable. What Pakistani TV is communicating today can be summed up as mindless adoption and confused interpretation of globalization. As a result, young people are highly informed about fashion models, silver screen celebrities and other things which seldom have any relevance and usefulness in their practical lives. What is remarkably missing form our TV screens is the common youth , the rural youth, the unemployed youth, the uneducated youth ( do I need to recall that 40pc of our 144 million live below the poverty line below the poverty line drawn by the world bank and 70pc is the rural population). If there is any representation of this kind of youth or people in general on TV, it is done in a decidedly tedious technique.
Looking beyond the intricate details and long-winded politics of the electronic media productions, in my view what really matters is to deliberately prioritize youth needs and interests. Television, in this regards, can and does play a vital role in making a difference through well-researched, gripping, participatory and realistic productions that articulate youth concerns and needs. It is about time that the decision-makers seriously review collective responsibilities. A TV channel dedicated to the youth of the country may be an attractive and profitable venture for a private enterprise. It is time to take up this challenge.
