Do the electronic media promote an interest in politics and related matters or is it possible that the cumulative effect is a dissipation of the public’s energy to participate actively in the political process?

Apparently, the former — but appearances are sometimes deceptive.

The most obvious indication of people’s interest – be it support or opposition – is street presence. There is no shortage of instances when the citizens of Pakistan have, to a greater or lesser extent, publicly demonstrated their stance on a person or issue by literally standing up to be counted. While many factors are involved in such demonstrations of public interest, two are seminal: people come out on the streets when, firstly, their belief in the given cause is very strong and secondly, when emotions reach boiling point.

It is possible that in certain cases, the media may actually dissipate the energy that would otherwise draw citizens out on to the streets. Given that in the current situation, every conceivable permutation of a matter is covered in great depth through news bulletins, talk shows, discussion fora etc, the people of Pakistan could be moving towards vicarious rather than active participation in the political process.

Just as television coverage of war has been observed to blur the boundaries between fact and fiction and render real conflict akin to an action film, so a surfeit of political shows could reduce the actual process to an on-screen drama that is two steps removed from the people.

The most obvious negation of this argument lies in the massive public support afforded to the legal fraternity’s recent efforts in support of CJ Chaudhry. By all indications, the media played a valuable role in publicising and raising popular support for the issue. The extensive coverage served to stir the citizenry’s interest and draw ordinary people into the battle and on to the streets.

By this logic, however, hundreds of people ought to have been on the streets to welcome Mr Nawaz Sharif when he attempted to return to the country a few days ago. It is true that large numbers of party workers had earlier been arrested by authorities that were in no mood to allow the man any sort of reception, least of all the hero’s welcome he appears to have expected. But leaving that aside, the citizenry’s interest was conspicuous by its absence, even in the province considered his prime constituency.

The public’s lack of interest may well be the result of exhaustion brought on by media overkill in the past weeks and months regarding the decisions and revisions of the major political players. The interested viewer has access to innumerable discussions on all shades of opinion. It is not impossible to imagine people switching off the television with their head spinning, rendered incapable of deciding what they ought to or wanted to support and what to oppose. In effect, they opted for a soothing glass of water over a hectic demonstration.

Furthermore, media exposure cuts both ways. It can raise public support and even occasionally create interest where none initially existed. But it also allows public figures to commit gaffes and expose their inadequacies under the full glare of the cameras. Pakistanis, meanwhile, are not only long in the tooth but cynical to boot. To follow the ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ logic, one of the effects of sustained media exposure would be to show that the men pacing the corridors of power are far too human to be afforded unquestioning loyalty and render the viewers less likely to forgive their failings.

Seen in this manner, the lawyers got public support because they exploded on to the screens out of virtually nowhere, and the cause they espoused was rather unprecedented. The politicians do not because they suffer from over-exposure — and their causes are old hat.

It is possible that, unbeknownst to themselves, the media are handing politicians the rope with which to hang themselves. Disclaimer: Pakistani politics cannot, of course, be so simply explained — there is much Machiavellian manoeuvring afoot. In this argument, however, only the media angle is pertinent.

— hmumtaz@dawn.com