There is journalism, there is objective journalism and then there is Pakistani journalism. Apparently, the
ation was ombed by petrol bombing (not the petrol bomb by the way) by the regulatory-turned-terrorist organization, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority.
The story goes that Ogra notified an increase in petroleum product prices that ranged between Rs4.2/litre to Rs7.1/litre for different POL products. The move came after a massive surge in international oil prices during the reference period of October, when international crude oil prices touched $82/bbl from an average $74/bbl during September.
That it managed to make the top headline story in the newspapers and electronic media across the board is quite surprising in itself. Monthly price revision in petroleum products is a years old phenomenon and generally considered routine business and not a deadly attack on the nation by Ogra.
And it is not as if local media does not know that the monthly price revisions are a direct consequence of changes in global oil prices. Case in point? Rewind to June 2010, the international oil prices during the reference period had dipped considerably to make a case for a significant downward revision in petroleum prices. Unsurprisingly, Ogra did the required.
But the media back then, failed to find ig news in that development and took it as routine day business and reported it in the manner it should always be. The 8 percent reduction in June 2010 was not headline news; it got a single column space in many newspapers, despite that the price cut was of a higher magnitude than the recent hike.
Naturally, nobody came up with headlines such as Ogra blesses the nation or Ogra drops the petrol sweetener, it was rather the international-oil-price-drive-down-the-petrol prices type of headlines.
The electronic media too, seems to be on the same boat, rather on a bigger boat when it comes to petrol prices and Ogra. As soon as the clock ticks 12 and the day changes to the 1st of a month, the news channels begin their live coverage on petrol price hike from major cities simultaneously.
Nothing of this sort happens when the case is reverse, it only gets a brief news ticker that runs for a few minutes and the show moves on. The lack of sensitisation in a price decrease keeps the TV cameras at a good distance from the petrol pumps.
Yes, the government does not deliver at many fronts, but it should not be blamed for petrol price increases. Ogra is just a notifying body in this case with a relatively simple and transparent pricing mechanism, and therefore it shouldn be blamed for a price hike.
Instead, if there must be any government bashing on fuel prices, it should be on the flaws in the fuel pricing mechanism. The media should inform the customers about the anomalies in the pricing mechanism and the heavy part of indirect tax in the retail price that they pay.
But, at the same time, customers should understand that they have to pay any price hike of a product that is imported; it should not be treated as a bare necessity that requires government subsidies.
The masses also need to know that Pakistan does not get any free petrol from Saudi Arabia anymore, a point that media tries to sell through the opposition politicians. It is time to get more objective.