ROs who work for government departments and ministries in Pakistan still seem to be living in the 1970s and 1980s.
To be honest, I wasn’t even a journalist then, but given the way they work, I had to give that analogy.
In today’s digital and social media age, you don’t have to be working for a particular newspaper, news channel or news website to be a journalist.
As for myself, I have actually worked at five leading newspapers and news websites in leadership roles, and currently write columns for two leading English news publications. But even I don’t qualify as a journalist — not, at least, in the eyes of PROs who work in government departments and ministries.
Let me give two examples.
The first relates to a former PRO of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Since my last job with a particular news organisation was in 2018, I was on the email list of the said PRO, and this was handy because any press releases related to the highest court of the land would land in my email inbox.
And, since I am active on social media, these would come in handy for tweets, posts and so on. The increasing use and popularity of social media in recent years has meant that I now get more eyeballs, readers and impressions on my social media posts than I would if I were to write only in print.
And this means that your reach and influence as a journalist and commentator is not going to be much unless you’re also posting on social media platforms. Of course, you can have a column in print and then post the link to that column on your social media handles, and that augments the reach considerably.
The impression one gets is that it’s part of their job description to restrict the flow of information from their organisations to the media as much as possible
Not to digress from the main point, which is how today’s PROs at government ministries and organisations live in the Stone Age to them, I apparently don’t qualify as a journalist.
And, going back to the Supreme Court PRO (I believe he was transferred some time ago), after some time I stopped receiving these emails. So I emailed him asking why, and he said that I needed to let him know what channel or newspaper I was working for; unless I did that I would not be added back. Clearly, the gentleman — who claims to be quite a scholar in his own right — did not understand how journalism works now.
Of course, I didn’t try to reason with him, and, thankfully, all press releases that were sent to journalists on the email list were also uploaded on the Supreme Court’s website, so it didn’t make much of a difference. However, what was telling was how out of date the PRO’s understanding was of what it means to be a journalist in today’s media landscape in Pakistan.
And now for the second example.
This relates to Sui Southern, which has a broadcast list for journalists and reporters. I had asked their PROs to add me some time ago, but I wasn’t added, and it was more because of the outages and shutdowns that SSGC nowadays carries out. So it’s a good way to be informed of such actions.
Besides, as a journalist, it is essential to be on the email or broadcast lists/groups of essential service providers that are owned by the government. In the case of Sui Southern, this makes even more sense, since its account on Twitter/X has been inactive for over a year.
In this case, too, the PRO asked me which newspaper or TV channel I was working for. Instead of explaining to her that I have worked in media for over 25 years and served in leading supervisory positions, and currently write two columns for leading English-language newspaper publications (including this one), I told her to leave it.
And that, in a nutshell, is how many PROs (public relations officers) understand journalism and journalists. The impression one gets is that it’s part of their job description to restrict the flow of information from their organisations to the media as much as possible. And that’s also pretty much how the government sector works in Pakistan, even to this day.