Asif Akhtar is bemused by the Pakistani media's ability to rustle up a political crisis whenever it suits powerful interests.

Over the recent past I've noticed an interesting trend in this newly free media of ours, who seem to float new issues every now and then which are suspiciously reflective of the mood in parliament, the military establishment, and other high echelons of power.

If we go back just a few weeks, the media was railing about how the Kerry-Lugar Bill (KLB) – which grants Pakistan US$7.5 billion of US non-military aid over five years, conditional on stringent military and economic checks – puts the country's sovereignty at stake, about how our politicians are in cahoots with the US and how the military wants the KLB but without conditionality.

If I were to pick a source for the views that seemed to be emanating from our media establishment, then my best guess would be that this was the military's take on the KLB, and an effort to build public consensus against the bill.

Well the buzz hyped up to a climax as Hillary Clinton came and went. The US State Department essentially said that no changes needed to be made to the bill even before Hillaria had broadcast her Hillariaty into the airwaves. And less than a week later - poof! No more whining over the KLB; the issue suddenly went to rest, almost magically.

Now the TV channels obviously need to sell airtime to their much loved corporate sponsors so they need viewers like you and me, and since lounge-room politics-bashing is pretty much our national sport, they can't really afford (in the strictest sense of the word) to have an issue-less vacuum suffocating the longish sets of their talk-show hosts. So what do they do?

The issue factory churns and grinds, and boom! A new issue is produced for the masses to lament on, curse at the government, and whine their dismay - behold the National Reconciliation Ordinance!

Now the NRO, an amnesty protecting certain politicians from corruption charges, has been kicking around since the Musharraf era. It's interesting that the media decided to pick up on it in sync with the movement against it in parliament. Now everyone's railing and ranting about the NRO – the media establishment conveniently switched focus from US legislation to Pakistani legislation without even a hiccup to mark the transition. I'm sure if we give this a week or so, even this will disappear from popular discourse without any closure or reconciliation offered by the media.

These issues seem to be produced and then vanish without any cause-effect relationship, almost like clouds on a sunny day.

Look at the Long March for instance – remember that sudden burst of euphoria that gripped the masses, accompanied by commercials of desi ghee? What happened to that sentiment? It's all a matter of keeping a captive audience – as long as the audience is interested, the theatre of madness continues to broadcast whatever nonsensicalities its higher-ups can concoct, and as soon as that interest wanes, ta-da! Another issue appears out of nowhere like a rabbit from a hat.

Such media behaviour doesn't liberate, or promote independent thought; it just thrives upon mass emotions, and has developed a science to tickle those emotions whenever it's politically and commercially convenient to do so.

Honestly, I don't think these talk show hosts would care if the awam started rotting in front of their television sets as long as they're tuned in to the right channel.