Political Talk (WWE) Shows

Political talk shows started in the country in 2004. They gained crazy amounts of attention because for the first time, the nation could see their leaders live on tv engaging in debates, arguments and even fights. This has given the political issues a new face because now, every issue no matter how small it is, is discussed on these platforms.

A whole new breed of journalists has been introduced. Many though were involved in the print media but gained popularity after coming on the television for these talk shows. The news channels of the country have since the launch of these shows, been engaged in rating wars. The anchors try their level best to push the guests to such limits that they end up snapping at each other. They also try to ask questions which may be personal and sometimes offensive which angers the guests and they end up screaming or giving the response the initially did not want to give. This leads to the headlines when some leader of a political party would give statements like, “Corruption is my right!”. I don’t entirely blame the anchors. Though they try to act like they’re concerned about the country but let’s face it, we all know all they care about is the ratings and the money they make out of it.

Our nation seems to ‘enjoy’ these shows just like they have started enjoying the news. They see the leaders engaging in fights and debates and to be honest, it really is quite entertaining. The rating wars are such that on the same day and the same time, almost every news channel discusses the same issue and for a viewer it becomes really hard to decide which channel to watch.

We can see that the top leaders stay away from such shows because they’re so unpredictable and clearly affect one’s image.

I get that media should be ‘free’ and leaders must get involved in debating but this increasing trend of purposely provoking leaders from parties to say something offensive or fight on national television like the one that recently happened on a Business Plus talk show is wrong. Anchors like Jasmine should also be banned because there should be a decorum which all these people including the guests should follow. Just because a woman knows how to scream and yell at leaders does not mean she’s a good anchor. For someone who is not a Pakistani, shows like these would appear rather funny because it looks like a bunch of illiterate people are yelling at each other. These WWE style debates do not contribute to the public opinion in a good way. This is clearly an unhealthy way of presenting issues to public.