In Pakistan, Radio Producers Fight Back Against Propaganda

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
 
ISLAMABAD, Jul 27 (Asia Media Forum) – Tired of fear-based propaganda coming over the airwaves used by extremist militants in Pakistan’s volatile regions near Afghanistan, radio producers are working on ways to reclaim this medium and relearn the skills to make it relevant to residents’ daily lives.

    "We want to utilise FM radios for raising awareness among the rural population about social, health, culture, economic and gender issues," said Aurangzeb Khan, media director of Intermedia, an independent Pakistani media support organisation specialising in advocacy, research and training on media issues.

   He was speaking about a training workshop held earlier in July here for radio producers from 60 stations, including four FM stations from the violence-wracked northwestern region of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), who brushed up on their skills at effectively managing programmes for local listeners.

   Participants ranged from university campus stations, government- and independently-run stations, as well as community stations like the Islamabad Traffic Police FM channel.
 
   A follow-up to the Declaration of Radio Summit, issued at the Jun. 19 National Radio Summit, the capacity-building training session aimed to use radio as a medium for peace building at the community level.
 
   In late 2001, after the end of the Taliban’s rule in neighbouring Afghanistan, militants crossed over Pakistan's porous 2,400-kilometre border with it and took shelter in FATA. Soon after, according to the Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), about 300 illegally operated FM channels set up by militants sprouted in the region.
 
   Called ‘FM mullahs’ (male religious teachers), these broadcasters used radio to aggressively campaign for 'jihad' (holy war) against people engaged in what they called 'un-Islamic' activities, including music, the arts and even vaccination, and recruited young militants through this popular medium.

   The FM mullahs would even broadcast details of the execution of those who violated these restrictions.

   Today, FM radio producers say the need of the times is for radio to help in post-conflict recovery and keep people away from extremism.

   "We have a key role to play in the promotion of peace in local communities. We pledge to promote empowerment of communities by being a voice of peace, education and development," said Khan.
   This is especially important in rural areas, because mainstream media are already concentrated in urban areas, Khan says.

   FM radio has been shown to play a crucial role in cases such as in the aftermath of the 2005 massive earthquake in Pakistan, which killed 85,000 people and left 3 million others homeless.
 
   Setting up a portable FM radio transmitter system, which costs less than 300 U.S. dollars, is not a problem. According to broadcast engineer Azizur Rehman, one simply needs to have "a transmitter, an amplifier and a battery" to make one. "It can be installed on a bicycle and can (even) be shifted from one place to another," he added.
 
   In fact, people do not even have to buy an FM radio as some cellphones have built-in FM radios in them. Pemra has issued 130 licences for FM radio stations so far.
 
   But getting access to radio is much easier than designing and carrying out quality programming.

   Khan says that the country's Political Parties Order of 2002, which does not allow FATA to form its own political parties, has prevented "prompt community-based interventions via the airing of programmes" that could have helped local residents".
 
   "Thus, it deprived its five million population access to information," added Khan.
 
   The FATA's lack of representation in the Pakistan government, as well as the Publications Act that prohibits anyone in the province to publish a newspaper or journal as part of authorities’ security concerns, are two good reasons why FM radio is urgently needed, said Tayyab Afridi, head of the four-year-old Radio Khyber, one of the more popular stations in FATA known for its anti-Taliban programmes.
 
   "We feature programmes about water, health, education, women and sanitation, as well as news bulletins and talk shows that aim to prevent conflict. Listeners are invited to speak their minds," Afridi said in an interview.

   There is also a need to reach out to listeners by using local dialects and discussing issues that affect their daily lives.

   "Commuters listen to music and news in the local dialect while on their way to and from work, and many others listen to the radio even while at work," added Khan.

   Likewise, programmes on farming, local trade and business, education and employment re just some of the topics that could be discussed on-air, added Afridi.
 
   Admittedly, Afridi says that radio producers need more training in creating programmes that focus on women and youth, as well as on topics like health care, folklore, fashion, poetry, comedy, drama, traditional sports and quiz competitions.
    But the more significant result of the July training, says Afridi, is that producers "have learned how to resolve local conflicts through radio and identify issues that could potentially snowball to a major conflict if left unresolved.” (END/AMF/IP/DV/HD//AY/LLC/JS/10)