The 12th Saarc Summit dominated the telecasts of all TV channels from the public as well as private sectors in Pakistan last week, which provided extensive coverage to the historic (January 4-6) international moot that took place at Islamabad.
The much hyped Saarc Summit began with fanfare in the Pakistan Capital where media persons from all over the world had converged before its inauguration to provide coverage to the three-day deliberations in which heads of state and government from seven member countries participated. Its inauguration and the pre and post Summit activities were projected on local and foreign TV networks, especially in their news and views programmes.
A kind of a race seemed to going among different Pakistani TV channels to outsmart others in providing the viewers "the latest" news about progress made in the SAARC Summit. The ARY One World and Geo channels, if a comparison was made of their activities with those of other networks, seemed to have had an edge over the coverage of other channels. However, other PTV channels should also be complimented for not lagging behind in their efforts in meeting the challenges thrown by the historic moot.
The Saarc Summit was undoubtedly a historic occasion on more than one count.
The Indian Prime Minister participated in it after a long-drawn-out behind the scene negotiations between Pakistan and India backed up by a few friends of the two countries. The success of the Saarc Summit has created hopes of improved environment in the South Asian region for peace, security and progress.
It seems to have given a new vision to the Saarc forum, which had earlier been held hostage by the Indian government.
The 12th summit concluded with the adoption of the Islamabad Declaration with its members reaffirming their commitment to work for the collective action for promoting regional peace and revitalizing the organization by tapping their economic potential through mutual cooperation. Besides this,
the Declaration, based on the draft agreed by the foreign ministers, with the exclusion of the Indian proposal for a common currency, emphatically called for combating terrorism.
Several special programmes, featuring interviews of analysts and VIPs were also telecast by different TV networks, which aired various opinions and points of view of the interviewees and the discussants. Again Geo and ARY One World took lead in this domain of TV operations.
A few words about interviews! Taking interviews or moderating discussions is an art in itself. As was observed during the coverage of the Saarc Summit, only a few anchorpersons or hosts possessed the skill to draw the interviewees out. Either they were not well versed with the subjects discussed or could not fully grasp the expertise of the persons they interviewed, or the interviewees were introvert and felt uncomfortable while facing TV cameras. Also, it was noticed that the invitees to the television studios to offer their comments on the deliberations of the Summit occasionally went astray and brought within the ambit of discussion such topics as were not relevant or directly related to the Saarc Summit.
An interview may be prepared completely with a finished script for interviewer and interviewee. It may be oriented around an outline, where the general line of questioning and answering is prepared, but the exact words to be used are extempore. It may be completely ad-lib or scripted ab initio.
The unprepared interview is too risky, with the interviewee likely to be garrulous, embarrassing or embarrassed, or just plain dull, and the interviewer likely to be faced with the almost impossible task of organizing, preparing and thinking of appropriate questions on the spot.
(That was found in several programmes aired by different networks) The prepared script usually results in a stilted, monotonous presentation except when both the interviewer and the interviewee are skilled performers, who can make a written line sound extemporaneous as was the case with the interviews conducted by Dr. Shahid Masood of ARY One World.
The written material for the extemporaneous interview is the rundown, a step-by-step outline of the programmes, which includes a list of questions and content of answers as determined in the pre-interview session.
Sometimes, of course, the interviewee will not be available for a conference before the telecast, and the interviewer and producer must guess at the probable answers to the questions- based on thorough research of the interviewer.
Geo TV's weekly stint Police, which is meant to glorify the members of this law-enforcing agency for their efforts to combat crimes and lawlessness, has failed to impress the viewers. It projects the cops as civilized and affable individuals always ready to help the victims of evil doers. This is hard to believe, especially by those citizens who have had the misfortune of visiting a police station for the registration of a FIR. There is something remiss, artificial and phony about this series, which needs to be pegged to reality and to the whims and fancies of the Police department.
On January 4, Indus Plus aired the comments of the ordinary citizens from Karachi and Lahore about oil prices, which have been raised on several past occasions. The observations made by the interviewees, which were seemingly unprompted, were relevant and reflected the agonies of the people, who are made to suffer after too many raises in oil prices.
The weekly Khuli Baat series of Indus Plus is more pungent and realistic than similar programmes aired by other channels. Conducted by experienced Shaheeen Salahuddin, it is absorbing and efficacious.
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