Geo draws criticism!

Geo TV, a subsidiary of the Jang group of newspapers, is an Urdu Pakistani television network which was established in May 2002. In Urdu the word “geo” means to “live on”. Geo was the 1^st private local channel of Pakistan thus developed a huge viewership instantaneously. Even now a staggering number of people rate it as the most credible news channel of the country.  However, Geo TV has been criticized by the Pakistani government as well as the masses who believe the channel promotes sensationalism in order to increase its returns and gain popularity. Moreover, the channel is seen as a major reporter of negative news regarding Pakistan, causing general depression and pessimistic viewership experience. Pakistani government criticized the channel’s coverage of the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir, as GEO’s coverage of the tragedy included disturbing scenes of victims and disaster zones.

A noteworthy target of criticism for the channel is Dr. Shahid Masood, whose anti-government point of views are seen as extreme and ignorant of positive advances the government has ever made. Masood and the GEO News program were the reasons cited when the government banned the transmission of the channel during the Emergency of 2007.

Hamid Mir, anchor person of one of the most popular GEO political talk show Capital Talk, confirmed in an interview with the CBC his strong political views. It further raised doubts and questions in the eyes of the masses regarding Mir’s ability to present fair and balanced news matters. Still he is well liked by the viewers for his straight forward questioning.

During the temporary ban of the channel, GEO launched a web page, Support GEO, for viewers to write messages of support, which would further be approved for public viewing. Negative comments about the channel’s practices, or justification of its removal from Pakistani television, were not accepted and were constantly rejected. Given the channel’s claims of mastering democracy, GEO’s denial to recognize its own criticism was seen as hypocritical. A blog, by the name of Musharraf Supporters, was started in response to adjust those whose opinions were rejected on GEO’s website and wanted their criticism to be published.

Keeping the above points in view comes the opinion that Geo has become a tool of anti-Pakistan elements, the government at times going as far as claiming that its top notch anchors and journalists have sold themselves to foreign spy agencies. This view is shared by a large number of the educated class as well but sadly, the literacy rate being less then 60%, we in Pakistan cannot boast of having a large well educated segment in our populace, hence Geo and its alleged propaganda machine enjoy much fan following in the masses.

Author :Shiza Nisar