EDITORIAL: The World Press Freedom Day observed on Monday was a distressing reminder of the unsavoury pressures that media organisations face and the price many journalists have paid in this part of the world for speaking truth to power – politicians, militants, and certain other forces. The system is unwilling to allow the media to play its role as guardian of public interest, giving space to all shades of opinion and mirroring harsh realities. Sadly but unsurprisingly, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) ranks Pakistan the fifth most dangerous country for media persons. Its record shows 138 journalists have lost their lives in the line of duty between years 1990 and 2020. That was a particularly difficult time for reporters working in the militancy-infested northern areas as they found themselves between the proverbial rock and a hard place, targeted mostly by militants for filing or broadcasting unfavourable stories.
Things have not been any better in the ensuing years, however. Threats, beatings and even murders have gone on unabated. According to a recent report on press freedom issued by Freedom Network Pakistan, at least 148 incidents of attacks and rights violations against media practitioners occurred across the country between May 3, 2020 and April 20 of the current year. These resulted in six murders and seven attempted assassinations. After Islamabad the worst crimes against journalists took place in Sindh, where powerful feudal lords feel free, aided by police, to sort out anyone who dares to bring to light nasty practices they employ for the achievement of political or other objectives. Such sordid stories though are not peculiar to this country. Reports emanating from the world’s ‘largest democracy’ India speak of fast diminishing freedoms of the press. Journalists critical of the ruling BJP’s Hindutva politics are routinely harassed and summoned to police stations, where they are treated like criminals. Censorship is being institutionalized with the introduction of “Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code” notified on February 25. The move has prompted the Editors Guild of India to express its concern, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that the new rules “can fundamentally alter how news publishers operate over the internet and undermine the freedom of the press in the country.” Media persons are also berated on social media and threatened with dire consequences.
Here though there is some hope of improvement in the environment for working journalists. It’s been a while since the human rights ministry drafted a well thought-out bill titled “Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Bill.” It calls for setting up a seven-member commission with wide-ranging powers of investigation and redressal to end the impunity with which those subjecting journalists to attacks and implicating them in false cases tend to get away. But unfortunately, the proposed legislation has remained sitting where it originated. It is about time Prime Minister Imran Khan, who likes to acknowledge at every available opportunity that he owes his success to independent media, saw to it that the bill is enacted into law as soon as possible.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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