WITH reference to your editorial ‘ Pak-India media war’ (Sept 22).

The editorial rightly criticises the ‘unhinged war-mongering’ of the media, specially the Indian media ( with all the flaws they have, the Pakistan TV news media are far more mature than most of their vicious Indian counter-parts ) and goes on to note the “increasingly provocative” role they are rendering. It then concludes with the advice to the government of Pakistan: “... it is in this country’s interests to try and get the focus back on the plight of the people of Indian-occupied Kashmir ...” .

How can the focus be brought back ( in any case , the focus by Pakistan on the travails of the Kashmiri people has always been there , despite the Kashmir-fatigue felt by some, not all , of Dawn’s columnists ) without the media changing their practices and their content for the better ?

The editorial makes not even a brief reference to the dire need for reform of the news media and their accountability . The Media Commission, appointed by the Supreme Court in 2013, has proposed several measures by which , through a combination of new laws, citizen activism, credible and publicly accountable media self-regulation, it will be possible to make some fundamental improvements . Despite initial assurances of accepting the recommendations, the government has taken no tangible action on required actions.

The virtual silence of the news media about their own responsibilities speaks volumes about their own culpability as much as it does about the obligation of parliament and the judiciary to boldly initiate media reform measures instead of being intimidated by the dubious excuse of ‘threats to freedom of expression’.

Senator (r) Javed Jabbar

New York

Published in Dawn September 25th, 2016