Quake emboldens Pakistani TV

News producers say they were just answering the call. Mohsin Raza Khan has covered wars in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq for ARY One, a leading private television channel. But he says they hardly compare to the emotional intensity of covering the earthquake. "Weeping children, the dead bodies under the debris of schools - being a human, it is very hard to report."

Khan and others argue that such devastation warranted an intense and uncensored approach. So they began broadcasting live just hours after the quake, portraying a picture of disaster the government was slow to acknowledge.

"If we don't show the people crying, the viewers will not be able to understand the gravity," argues Mir, who credits the coverage with motivating volunteers to rush off to the quake zone.

The camera lens couldn't hide, however, a sense of simmering anger against the government. "We heard so many complaints, it was very difficult for us to hide those facts," says Mir.

The candid approach wasn't one the government entirely favored. "Instead of helping the people, the government is calling me, saying that I'm trying to instigate the people against the government," alleges Mir.

The negative coverage has helped the government learn that it's better to try to use the private TV channels to its advantage than trying to control them, analysts say. But the damage has already been done, they add, paving the way for more negative reviews.

The result has been unthinkable, Rehmat says, with a stream of programs critically evaluating the performance of the government, particularly the military. That criticism existed before, but not to this extent, he adds, and not backed by powerful visuals.

Some say it has proven more relevant and powerful than Parliament. Khan stood commandingly over his production team on a recent evening in Islamabad, where ARY One was about to broadcast live. Ruling and opposition members of Parliament sat in a small studio outside, debating the government's response to the earthquake. "He is criticizing the government, he is defending the government," explained Khan, pointing to the politicians. "Whatever questions you can't raise in the Parliament, you can raise here."

Media analysts say shows like this have set a precedent for the future, one that can strengthen democratic impulses here.

"People are talking now. They have a forum to discuss the delays, the incompetence," says Zarafullah Khan, director of the Center for Civic Education in Islamabad. He and others say the legacy will be more openness, more scrutiny of the way government acts.

But media analysts also see in the scrutiny an opportunity for the military. "It's helping the Army to seem more human," Rehmat says, adding that coverage of the Army's losses has helped win them sympathy. "For the first time we saw a military officer cry on television."

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