Pakistan faces tough questions on media's existential crisis, journalists' security
Jan 31, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], January 31 : Media freedom is under increased scrutiny in Pakistan as it's facing increased intimidation from the establishment and so are the issues related to journalists' safety and security.
The Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE) has released the "Pakistan Media Freedom 2021" at just the right time detailing how journalists, as well as media houses, faced increasing censorship, harassment, threats, intimidation, even murders and financial strangulation throughout the year alongside the government's continued attempts to exercise complete control, according to Daily Times.
On the other hand, the report coincides with the broad daylight murder of a crime reporter in Lahore in front of the press club. It has buttressed the fact that journalists in Pakistan are getting increasingly prone to losing their lives amid the rising threat against them.
Earlier, Hasnain Shah, a journalist, was shot dead by unidentified assailants on a motorcycle while sitting in his car outside the Lahore Press Club in January this year. He died on the spot.
A total of 2,658 journalists have been murdered in Pakistan from 1990 to 2020. They have been targeted for exposing corruption, crime, reporting on environmental pollution and such.
Pakistan remains among the five countries in the world most dangerous for journalists and last year, nearly 63 journalists were killed in Pakistan, as reported by media.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Media Freedom 2021 report mentions that the government has not taken any notice of the problems of this industry. It is involved in spreading lies and fake news besides pursuing the very controversial Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA).
The report also very rightly notes that the pandemic alone is not responsible for the severe financial crunch faced by the media industry. This problem started long before it, and the government played a central part in this as well, as reported by Daily Times.
The most important theme in the report, other than the deaths, is the government's treatment of the media. It names journalists whose shows have been blocked halfway, who've been issued notices by state institutions for their critical coverage of landmark projects, who've been taken off-air altogether because their programmes and articles offended those in power, and also those who've been issued contempt notices just for reporting the news, as reported by Daily Times.
Meanwhile, though the report is to be appreciated, it would do no good for CPNE to just sit on it, so to speak, now that it has been released. Since it can reach the very top of the food chain in Islamabad, it must now press for answers, as noted by Daily Times.
