An airplane of "Bhoja Airlines" crashed near Rawalpindi, the twin city of the federal capital Islamabad. 127 people were on board that airplane, each one with a different story. Each one with loved ones waiting for their arrival at Islamabad or praying for their safe landing at the Islamabad International Airport. But alas somethings are just not meant to happen, no matter what might we wish. You can read all about this unfortunate accident here.
The real reason I decided to write this blog entry is because of two things that I found "alarming" to say the least, about the whole ordeal.
Numero uno, the plane that was used for the flight a Boeing 737-200. This very plane has been banned in all countries of the world, but for God knows what if ever explainable reason Bhoja Airlines, decided to purchase this plane and allowed it to be part of its commercial fleet. Even more concerning to me is the fact that the so-called CAA or Civil Aviation Authority gave this plane, the same plane which was grounded and retired by Shaheen Airlines (another Pakistani private airline) for several months, after which it was acquired by Bhoja Airlines in a commercial transaction months ago, a flying permit. I am deeply concerned about the future of the Pakistani airline industry if such mishaps continue to increase day by day.
The second thing that concerns me deeply about this whole event is the attitude that our beloved media showed towards the whole event. the moment the news channels got to know about the whole event they went berserk. It was like the "hunger games" that one sees at any local wedding in Pakistan. Every news channel wanted to be the one with the latest update, but in doing so they forgot all ethics of reporting. they were interviewing (read: shoving microphones into the faces of) the loved ones who had arrived at the Karachi airport in an emotional daze, to get more knowledge about those traveling aboard the plane. It was a sad and at the same time a pitiful sight to see how anxious reporters were to get the latest scoop, that they crossed all boundaries and even had the raging audacity to show the dead bodies, no, remains of the dead people recovered from the crash site, on live television, possibly being watched by thousands, no millions of people in Pakistan and the world over. Imagine what would have gone through the hearts and minds of those people whose friends and relatives were on that very plane, seeing their friend's dead remains would not be a very pleasing sight I suppose.
I am not an expert on media and mass communication, hell I do not even know a bit about how the media is supposed to operate or what rules and regulations it has to follow, but I do know one thing and that is that every organization and institute in this world, follows some sets of moral and ethical rules of broadcasting, like not showing dead bodies being one of those rules, even if that might not be an imposition but according to moral values I believe the "sansani khez khabar" (sensational news), that the Pakistani media so loves, should be more sensitive to issues such as oh I don't know, death, maybe?
Nobody likes to see dead bodies especially on live television when that body might be of their very own loved one, I guess I will just have to wait and see that day when Pakistani media choses morality over high ratings. But I guess that is just wishful thinking because this attitude is not knew, rather it is one that has been bred and brought up throughout the years because of the peoples want to see the truth, to see more and more. But like they say curiosity killed the cat, in the same way one day people will wake to see how empowering and more of a bane than a boon, our media has become.
I am sorry if this article was not up to the mark, but I am writing this at four in the morning so yeah, hope this raises some thoughts into your mind, share this so that everyone knows what do we really need to learn from this crash.
