Pakistani Television Politics in the 1990s

Abstract

This article describes the flawed attempts of successive governments in Pakistan to respond to the proliferation of satellite television during the 1990s. The popularity of Indian programming on satellite television is particularly galling, since it challenges the notion of a distinct Islamic identity in the subcontinent - the very ethos of Pakistan's existence. In spite of this challenge, neither the Nawaz Sharif nor Benazir Bhutto administrations were willing to allow news and current affairs on the national broadcaster to move away from their traditional role as the prime promotional vehicle for the government of the day. The availability of permissive programming of satellite television has heightened the sensitivities of conservative Islamic organizations, leading to a backlash against liberal experiments in the depiction of women and gender issues on national television under the Benazir Bhutto government, and a deeply conservative broadcasting agenda under the Nawaz Sharif government.