Isn’t it shocking that in Pakistan, we have no system in our media to propagate science information and knowledge among general public or even among those who take interest in science. Today, not a single newspaper is willing to devote even a page to science news and reports. Those editors who once did it have stopped doing it under one pretext or the other. Only the top guy in any media—press or electronic—has the authority to do it. And no one at present seems to have the vision or willingness to do it. The state media, especially the television once used to broadcast excellent scientific documentaries to appeal general viewership but now there are no more interested. You can watch channels like Discovery, NatGeo and Animal World with Hindi translation. But in Pakistan, we can only watch love stories translated in Urdu. In the sixties, we also had the state radio air interesting education programmes for school students but their interest too dwindled with time. When AIOU television broadcasts were launched, it could have planned and aired science programmes but it had never been on its agenda. A private television channel began programmes on health since a few years back but its contents deteriorated in quality soon. In seventies, Pakistan Science Foundation helped sustain a few quality magazines but after a few years, the Foundation lost interest and capable people. Some others came up with good periodicals but financial constraints did not let them continue with their ventures. They closed down because they could not generate enough revenue to sustain. What we need in our country is some independent institutions and a group of scientists and science journalists having the will and dedication to support and promote science journalism. Besides, we need good media research to identify and classify the readers and understand their interests. In a country where reading habits are gradually dying, it is likely to be a difficult task but it is worth some sincere and sustained effort with a good budget. What we desperately need now is someone to take the initiative and some state or international institutional support. M Khalid Rahman, Former Senior Sub Editor in charge, Dawn SciTech World
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 02:30:33 +0000
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