Dear Pakistani Media,
Imran Khan’s divorce is not headline news so don’t make it one!!
It hasn’t even been 24 hours since Reham Khan and Imran Khan announced that they have filed for a divorce and already Pakistani media is spending all its time and energy is searching for possible reasons for the divorce. Some are saying that it was for political reasons and others are saying that Reham Khan took a large amount of money from someone Imran Khan knew but did not inform him. It is the duty of the media to report everything but the insensitivity with which these reporters and anchor persons report the news is not something that sets out a good image of Pakistan.
All the news channels are covering the divorce like it will have some kind of an impact on the political, social or economic condition of the country although this is something completely personal which will only effect the two people who were in this relationship. Like Hyenas who feed on the dead bodies of animals, our media lives on negative news. They do not take into consideration how their attitude will effect the families involved.
Like always, the woman is being made the main focus of attention. The media is making sure that one by one they point out all the negative things that have ever surfaced about Reham Khan in order to malign her image. Does that mean that only bad people get divorced? Does anyone want to get divorced or plans to do so? It is common sense that when someone gets divorced it is a very unfortunate happening. People are free to talk about it as much as they want sitting with friends and family but media has a bigger responsibility because the parties involved and the whole world is watching them.
Imran Khan requested the media to not blow this incident out of proportion and to not speculate but Pakistani media is competing to dig dirt and every single channel has made it its mission to bring out all the possible speculations. The media also talked to the mufti who conducted the nikkah and his statement is being promoted on every page. Speculations have taken a crazy turn where some channels are getting “expert” opinion on whether Imran Khan will marry Jemima again now.
Some channels are busy finding out what the haq mehr was which is even more ridiculous. They are showing old interviews in which Reham and Imran both talked about divorce as a joke in public to rub it in! The memes and jokes circulating on social media are also very insensitive. Are we so deprived of entertainment and so ignorant that we think it is alright to laugh on people’s personal tragedies?
Political Parties however have taken a more mature approach. All the leading parties like PPP and PML (N) have told their workers to refrain from even commenting about the divorce. The media should take inspiration from these political leaders and refrain from making this time even more difficult for the parties involved because it is not just about the couple but their children and families are involved in this too. PTV is the only channel which is not treating this divorce as headline news. Here is why,
Once Reham Khan said in a interview, “The Pakistani media is like a wild child who has grown up on the streets without the benefits of achi tarbeyat !!” We could not agree with her more!
