Political Talk Shows – The 3 Tiers

Political talk shows are a relatively new phenomenon in Pakistani television, they gained popularity soon after their launch in 2004 and now it is the most watched genre of programming. These shows captured the nation’s imagination because they allowed them an opportunity to observe their political leaders engage in debates and present their views on a fresh platform. These shows have had significant impact on our politics since every issue no matter how small is now raised on a national stage.
A whole new breed of television journalists has been born, the term “pseudo – intellectual“ has been introduced and understood. At the same time political parties started focusing on politicians who could articulate party positions on live talk shows, the term “talking points” was introduced and understood in Pakistan for the first time.

The news channels are engaged in rating wars and the anchors push really hard to anger the participants and get them to snap at each other, they would rephrase questions to make them as offensive as they can, and we all know it is not very hard to get a loud reaction out of us Pakistanis. I wouldn’t blame the television anchors for doing so because a controversy on the show helps with the ratings and advertising revenues. The most watched videos of Pakistani talk shows on YouTube are the ones involving Wasi Zafar, Raza Qasuri, Firdaus Ashiq Awan, Kashmala Tariq and Maj. Rashid Qureshi. Our nation seems to enjoy quasi-political cock fights.

However, watching these shows lately it is hard not to notice that the initial wave of success and interest is over largely due to the monotony of participants and inconsequentiality of discussions. On any given day almost all of the talk shows are discussing exactly the same issue with the same panel and the same rhetoric is offered each time.

The top leaders of all parties stay away from these shows because these are volatile environments and they prefer stable one on one interviews. I have noticed that the political parties have developed three tiers of spokespersons to represent them in these talk shows. It appears that the producers try to have at least one show with each of the three tiers every week to maintain revenues. Based on my personal experience of watching these talk shows the following are the arbitrary definitions of the three tiers:

Tier 1

This consists of relatively senior politicians and they participate in shows with new or important issues, they look to maintain composure and debate issues with dignity. Panelist from this tier look to avoid personal attacks on other participants. Anchors maintain a professional and controlled tone on these shows. This tier is generally seen discussing economic policy, foreign policy or national security, ratings for these shows are not very high. The following are the constituents of this tier:

Tier 2

This consists of newer politicians who tend to discuss issues of lesser significance and maintain a reasonable level of aggression. They look to be flexible with their positions and sometimes try to reconcile differences on live television. Anchors appear more relaxed on these shows as most of these discussions run smoothly. This tier is generally seen discussing governance issues and terrorism related matters, these shows have moderate ratings. The following are the constituents of this tier:

Tier 3

These are the pit bulls with no lipstick. This tier consists of people who are labeled as politicians because of their participation in these shows, these are individuals with very little credibility or track record. They try to do verbally to their opponents what Punjab police does physically  to their suspects. Their knowledge is generally limited to the talking points provided to them and on some occasions they fail to explain their own opinions. Some of these individuals are so incoherent that they make Sarah Palin look articulate. A show with tier 3 participants is most likely to have an unpleasant incident and the anchors make every effort to make it happen. Participants launch personal attacks at will and voices are raised to prevent opponents from explaining their positions. These shows have the highest ratings and are also watched internationally over the internet. This panel is generally seen discussing corruption or party issues. The following are the constituents of this tier:

There are two names, Imran Khan and Shiekh Rasheed, which appear in more than one tier largely because they are the sole representatives of their parties and have the ability to perform in different tiers.

Sometimes the producers look to mix the three tiers up and have fun with the product, especially when a tier 1 participant is confronted by a tier 3 panelist. Based on the anchor’s skills and tendencies some talk shows are more suited to tier 1 participants, and others to tier 2 and then there are shows that thrive purely on tier 3 participants, following is an arbitrary breakdown of the popular talk shows and their tier favourability:

Our newly liberated news media is evolving rapidly and while much of it is far from perfect it has been a positive influence on our national politics. Our news media can only get better with time, and when it does the following shall happen:

- the number of talk shows will reduce to a watchable level because at the moment there are way too many.

- better quality journalists will moderate these discussions.

- participants will learn to present and defend their views without getting all worked up.

- viewers will learn to draw intelligent conclusions from these discussion which will eventually have an impact on voting patterns and WWE style debates will completely lose appeal.

In the mean while I choose to remain optimistic and Passionate About Pakistan.