Media monitoring body urges Pakistani TV channels to avoid politicising coronavirus

A media monitoring and research body on Wednesday urged Pakistani TV channels to stop politicising the coronavirus and be responsible in covering the impact of the pandemic in the country. 

"Uks has monitored a new spate of war on the media and barring a few, most of the TV talk shows are busy in pitting a province against the other or Centre against a province," read a statement from the body. 

Read more: Coronavirus updates, April 15: Latest news on the COVID-19 pandemic from Pakistan and around the world

The Uks mentioned that it had noted how guests from various political parties are invited to talk shows and then, discussions on COVID-19 are 'tailored'. 

"This is incredibly bad for outbreak control – it can drive our public away from acquiring information on prevention and updates to fall for who’s right and who’s wrong," it said, adding that the debate on social media had been mostly racist, sexist, ethnic and sectarian. 

Keeping in mind the fact that talk shows are driven by politics, the Uks made three appeals to media practitioners, the public and advertisers. It urged media practitioners to refrain from taking up issues with a "premeditated agenda of political score setting" and avoid calling guests who will indulge in political arguments. 

It called on advertisers to be more responsible and not support content that incites the public, hinges on hate speech and creates national and regional divisions. "Losing a little money is better than losing human lives," read the statement. 

The Uks called on the public to ignore mundane political debates and instead, demand reports from professionals in infectious diseases. "Although the numbers are of interest to you, it’s also important for you to see the story behind the numbers, of success stories, of best practices," it said. 

The remarks from the Uks came after coronavirus cases in Pakistan crossed the 6,000 mark and more than 100 deaths were reported in the country. Globally, more than 2 million people have been affected by the virus and an estimated 120,000 have died from the infection. 

The Sindh government and centre have been trading barbs over the past couple of weeks on measures being undertaken across the country to tackle the novel coronavirus. 

While the provincial government thinks the centre should take strict measures and has called for a complete lockdown across the country, the federal government insists on refraining from a complete lockdown so that the daily wage earners can survive during the pandemic.