I usually spent an hour or two daily reading online newspapers of Pakistan, mostly Urdu like Jang (www.jang-group.com), Nawa-e-Waqt (http://www.nawaiwaqt.com.pk), Khabrain (http://www.khabrain.com) and Ummat (http://www.ummatpublication.com), the only English newspaper for which I am a subscriber and frequent visitor, is Dawn (www.dawn.com). I go to Urdu newspapers, because of my thirst for reading in Urdu, and because I want to know what news and views ordinary Pakistanis are provided with. It is not unreasonable, because newspapers also provide a picture of society, as well as their readership, for argument’s sake there is a stark difference between Dawn and any other Urdu newspaper. Here I want to write in brief about the scholarly level of the columns of Urdu papers and the opinion they are creating and how this opinion contributes to make over of our already miserable and improgressive society.
Those who write for these papers are journalists, and they are supposed to have a certain level of scholarship along with specialization in the field they write about, for example history, public relations or politics. I usually refer online dictionaries for searching the meaning of words, here I have consulted www.dictionary.net:
Meaning of the word ‘journalist’:
Journalist \Jour"nal*ist\, n. [Cf. F. journaliste.]
1. One who keeps a journal or diary. [Obs.]
--Mickle.
2. The conductor of a public journal, or one whose business it to write for a public journal; an editorial or other professional writer for a periodical. --Addison.
(source: http://www.dictionary.net/journalist)
Meaning of word ‘scholar’:
Scholar \Schol"ar\, n. [OE. scoler, AS. sc[=o]lere, fr. L. scholaris belonging to a school, fr. schola a school. SeeSchool.]
1. One who attends a school; one who learns of a teacher; one under the tuition of a preceptor; a pupil; a disciple; a learner; a student.
I am no breeching scholar in the schools. --Shak.
2. One engaged in the pursuits of learning; a learned person; one versed in any branch, or in many branches, of knowledge; a person of high literary or scientific attainments; a savant. --Shak. Locke.
3. A man of books. --Bacon.
4. In English universities, an undergraduate who belongs to the foundation of a college, and receives support in part from its revenues.
Syn: Pupil; learner; disciple.
Usage: Scholar, Pupil. Scholar refers to the instruction, and pupil to the care and government, of a teacher. A scholar is one who is under instruction; a pupil is one who is under the immediate and personal care of an instructor; hence we speak of a bright scholar, and an obedient pupil.
(source: http://www.dictionary.net/scholar)
Meaning of word ‘specialist’:
Specialist \Spe"cial*ist\, n. One who devotes himself to some specialty; as, a medical specialist, one who devotes himself to diseases of particular parts of the body, as the eye, the ear, the nerves, etc.
(source: http://www.dictionary.net/specialist)
Here I got another word ‘devotion’, we must look at its meaning as well:
Devotion \De*vo"tion\, n. [F. d['e]votion, L. devotio.]
1. The act of devoting; consecration.
2. The state of being devoted; addiction; eager inclination; strong attachment love or affection; zeal; especially, feelings toward God appropriately expressed by acts of worship; devoutness.
Genius animated by a fervent spirit of devotion. --Macaulay.
3. Act of devotedness or devoutness; manifestation of strong attachment; act of worship; prayer. ``The love of public devotion.'' --Hooker.
4. Disposal; power of disposal. [Obs.]
They are entirely at our devotion, and may be turned backward and forward, as we please. --Godwin.
5. A thing consecrated; an object of devotion. [R.]
Churches and altars, priests and all devotions, Tumbled together into rude chaos. --Beau. & Fl.
Syn: Consecration; devoutness; religiousness; piety; attachment; devotedness; ardor; earnestness.
(source: http://www.dictionary.net/devotion)
There are other words we must look at when we want to verify attributes of a writer specially a journalist, for example career, education, school of thought, affiliations etc. All these attributes will help us understand the credibility of a writer. Yes, another important word for us is credibility, actually this is the real word I want to emphasise being looked upon before any one start to believe a writer of mass media.
Credibility \Cred`i*bil"i*ty\ (kr[e^]d`[i^]*b[i^]l"[i^]*t[y^]), n. [Cf. F. cr['e]dibilit['e].]
The quality of being credible; credibleness; as, the credibility of facts; the credibility of witnesses.
(source: http://www.dictionary.net/credibility)
I think this is enough for us to look for before we start to get our brain affected by what we are reading. We must understand that the credentials of a writer are very important, specially when writer is writing for the public.
Without any prejudice and without being agreed with their thoughts and opinions, I am sure one can be easily satisfied on credibility of Ibrahim Jalees, Majeed Lahori, Raees Amrohavi, Ibn-e-Insha, Faiz, Nadeem Ahmed Qasmi, and in contemporaries Jameel Aali, Farooq Qaiser, Hassan Nisar and few others. My list is too short as I do not want to emphasize on names, but my motive is to emphasize on character and credibility.
And why is this so important? How the credibility of writer is important and how it affects the mass opinion? Well writers do reflect the society they belong to, and as such they are mirrors, they are part of the society and can not be separated from it, still they play an important role in opinion building and changing the mood of society, they are the recruiters for the school of thought or interest they belong to, and in this capacity they are responsible and their credibility is important. If we have writers who are corrupt, a commodity in the market, or so much biased and prejudiced that they do not want to listen to others and can not bear disagreement; then we shall be cautious.
I will give one example from the current affairs and columns appearing in newspapers these days without giving a specific name or example. It is a common thread among most of writers and it is written repeatedly that Taliban are supported by India and USA. Well, it can be true but this is not the whole truth, remaining truth which shall be equally emphasized and it is being emphasized by very few, is that Taliban are a product of Pakistan’s establishment, and for sure they represent a faction of our society as well and as such they are still supported from amongst us, we can not blame others for our mistakes, others will come to take advantage but it is us who are responsible to clean the mess and undo the mistakes. My question, how many of our writers, scholars and journalists are conveying this message? And forming public opinion to be critical of our own regime and establishment?
And as such, where shall we classify them?
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