While standards of news and current affairs reporting are generally quite passable in Pakistan’s newspapers, coverage of music and the performing arts is frankly abysmal. Articles tend to focus either on a superficial description of the event (rather than the piece staged), or in the case of theatre, present merely a plot summary.

In the English-language press, a mere handful of writers across the country can produce a competent review of a play, dance recital or concert. Most people published in this regard do not have the knowledge that underpins a skilled discussion and, in fact, do not display even the recognition that these are technical subjects or that their articles will become resource materiel for future researchers.

Consider, for example, that crime and court reporting are generally recognised as specialised fields requiring a certain level of knowledge about the law, legal terminology and the manner in which cases are processed and investigated by the police. No person, no matter how well-educated or fluent in English, will expect to overnight become a star crime reporter without first undergoing some training.

So why is it that every Tom, Dick and Harry feels himself competent to write about a performance that involves, at the very least, an intricate interplay of subject matter, lighting, sound and music arrangements, set design, direction, movement and costume conceptualisation, in addition to the obvious aspects such as acting? Why is it that when all these facets, and more, are available for reviewers to examine, we are forced to endure article after tedious article comprising of solely a plot summary, with perhaps a few comments where the writer disagrees with the director or the playwright?

The coverage of performing arts events is no different in structure from a news story, and such articles must always carry essential information that in journalistic-speak is referred to as the five Ws and H — who, what, when, where, why and how. In addition, the writer must examine the technical aspects of the performance, in a manner sufficiently competent to hold the interest of the professionals in the field under review.

This is of particular importance in theatre and dance because there is no other documentation of them. Unlike a piece of music that may be recorded, a live performance ends when the curtain falls and can never be revisited in the same form again. Having attempted to conduct research on Pakistani theatre, I have been endlessly frustrated by articles that tell me nothing except the plot – which I could access by reading the script – and in many cases are missing basic information such as the director’s name.

There are two readily identifiable reasons for such journalistic incompetence. Firstly, until very recently, no academic or professional training was available in Pakistan in the performing arts and music. This led to the subconscious perception that these are not specialised or ‘established’ fields — because anyone can put up a play, anyone can write about them. Put another way, one does not need any qualifications to pontificate on an actor’s abilities since the actor needs no qualifications to act. In fact, one does require intensive training and its unavailability has been one of Pakistan’s tragedies.

Compare with art-related newspaper coverage. Art reviews are handled by specialist writers who nearly always have some knowledge of the technique, mediums and concepts used in the art world, and are able to review the artist’s work in the context of his own work and that of his colleagues. In fact, many of the writers have themselves studied art in some form.

Secondly, the fact that there is generally little activity in the performing arts – which is again related to the dearth of training institutions – is another reason for poor journalistic practices. The lack of a wide spectrum of performances leads to the lack of the ability to compare and contrast.

As the performing arts and music become established fields in Pakistan, it is imperative that writers – and their commissioning editors – improve standards. At the moment, English-language print publications mainly display poor journalistic acumen in these areas, while writers expose their own inadequacies.

hmumtaz@dawn.com