i recently started working at express news 24/7. it’s the only english channel in pakistan and i work on the morning show as an associate producer/scriptwriter. my job entails researching stories and writing up about them, and compiling national and international headlines. i also do some research on the guest we feature and write introductions for them. i know that before i left amreeka, i really wanted to work with news media and learn/live the production of news stories. largely b/c news in pakistan is depressing (focusing mostly on everything going wrong in the country - played on a loop) and there’s horrendous coverage of global events - stories are pulled from reuters and CNN and replayed without being reframed or analyzed. when i first interviewed with express, i told them that was one of my main aims in wanting to work with broadcast journalism, to try to build intersections between art/culture/politics/literature and to build from alternative news sources and make them accessible. the folks from HR just hmm-hmmed and spoke to me about viewer ratings and how they have to maintain their audience and don’t want to try new tricks. after i walked out, i knew they weren’t calling me and i wasn’t calling them.
a couple months later…i was still unemployed and a mix of events made me re-apply for the position above, which i got. so yay i can make monies. yay i get paid to read the news and research stories that i want. my work hours are both amazing/awful. my shift hours are 5am to 1pm. waking up is hard and sleeping early means i don’t get to go out at night. but being off from work at 1pm is WONDERFUL! i can see the sun and feel its warmth, i can spend time in daylight, see people, do things, make films. it’s kind of perfect for winter.
what i didn’t account for was the show’s conservatism. its complete lack of critical thinking. its mistrust and avoidance of meaningful debate. its shallow and frivolous agenda. its subscription to jingoism and to media stereotypes.
so i am trying in my own subversive slant way to change things slightly. to talk politics through art and of art, to speak of cultural preservation and climate change and occupation. to remind ourselves of marginalized communities. to participate in projects and initiatives that want to recover traditions of pluralism and comradeship. most of all to step outside of ourselves and look around.
sometimes i succeed and i celebrate. other times, my stories get pulled out and i despair ever so slightly. so i’m going to start compiling a list of alternative headlines and news stories that didn’t get reported on from the morning show. and archive this for relevance.
