The Politics of Media Economy in Pakistan

Media plays a critical role as opinion-shaper in Pakistan. The burgeoning forms of media in the form of electronic, print, and social media, shape national narratives about politics, society and culture. Also, with respect to economy, the role is becoming more pronounced when factors such as commercialization, advertisements, political economy, TRPs, media as an avenue for culture industry, and digitization are brought into light. In the light of this debate, the current webinar is an attempt to: 1. Understand Pakistan’s media economy (Media industry numbers in revenue, Media measurement tools in the past and in present and what media generally covers?), 2. Explain functional regulatory and legal frameworks of media economy in Pakistan., 3. Articulate if Pakistan’s media content, especially televised contents reflective of socio-economic and political realities prevalent in the country, or not., 4. Reflect on the quantity vs. quality control of electronic media in Pakistan., 5. Decipher if there is political economy dimension through which media economy can be understood., 6. Understand the process entailing TRPs of televised contents in Pakistan., 7. Respond to a question, “Is media economy politicized in Pakistan?”