COMMITMENT TO ETHICAL AND PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS
Amir Jahangir’s bold outlook and his abilities as a creative and transformative thinker are ably demonstrated through his channel’s expose on the activities of terrorists and their agenda. Despite receiving death threats and ransacking of SAMAA bureau offices, he chose to stick by the integrity and values of SAMAA editorial policy.
He communicated to his management that SAMAA TV was an independent news channel working for the national progression and sustainability and that no pressure from extreme groups should influence the working of the channel. Through his strong leadership and convincing communication skills, he kept the management together and ensured that SAMAA TV’s editorial policy remain liberal, fair and factual. This has also enabled the channel to become one of the leading channels working towards the exposure of Tehrik-e Taliban and Al-Qaeeda as the true threat to Pakistan and the global peace.
This commitment to ethics also means that SAMAA’s reporting style, while being factual and credible, does not pander to petty sensationalism and yellow journalism for public consumption on which Mr. Jahangir’s policy is very clear. While Pakistan undergoes one of the worst periods in its history, it is outright condemnable to witness the situation being manipulated for publicity and ratings by some media houses. Violent and bloody images are constantly flashed on TV channels at the pretext of “breaking news”. Populist talk shows thrive on provocative confrontation between warring politicians and the sole criteria for choosing discussion panels on such programs seems to be the extraction of maximum mudslinging. Mr. Jahangir has time and again condemned such shenanigans as eclipsing the actual essence of dialogue and debate. As CEO SAMAA, he has employed credible names from the world of journalism to highlight issues that merit attention and elicit a process of constructive dialogue.
It is also part of his editorial policy to refrain from sensationalizing news stories and exercise utmost discretion in depicting scenes of murder and mayhem. One such example of this policy’s contrast with the general trend occurred recently when every major news channel dedicated their airwaves to the alleged ‘wedding’ of a leading film heroine which the lady in question vigorously denied. Pictures of the said heroine and her purported ‘husband’ set to a background of crowd pleasing film songs were a common sight on channels that pride themselves on the so called ‘credibility’ of their news reporting. The coverage of the whole affair was unprofessional, unethical and downright condemnable. For SAMAA it was only natural to dedicate that time and space to programs that educated, questioned and dealt with issues that impact the lives of its viewers more than frivolous celebrity gossip.
While such an approach risks making the channel uninteresting to the casual viewer, in the long run it has helped SAMAA gain a loyal following and steady rating amongst serious viewers of news and current affairs. Mr. Jahangir and his team choose to standby their commitment to social responsibility and a pledge to employ media as a tool for educating millions of illiterate people. In this regard no one in the media industry will have any doubts to the Samaa team’s commitment to the highest ethical and professional standards.
