Safety laws, unsafe journalists

EDITORIAL: The findings of Freedom Network’s report, “From Safety on Paper to Safety in Practice”, highlight a yawning gap between Pakistan’s legal commitments to protect journalists and the realities confronting media professionals.

The report rightly identifies weak complaint mechanisms, inadequate resources, limited outreach and institutional constraints as major obstacles to effective protection.

Yet the problem goes beyond administrative shortcomings. At its heart lies a growing intolerance among those in power towards dissent, criticism and independent journalism.

The enactment of special laws in 2022 to protect journalists and combat impunity for crimes against the media was an important step. However, legislation alone cannot guarantee safety when institutions lack the capacity or resolve to enforce it effectively. The finding that 65 per cent of the journalists surveyed in Sindh did not know how to access the provincial protection commission points to a serious failure of outreach and accountability. More alarmingly, 65 per cent reported experiencing work-related threats or interference since 2021, underscoring the risks they face in performing their professional duties.

Strengthening the federal and provincial commissions is essential. They need adequate funding, trained personnel, confidential and accessible complaint channels, clear procedures for assessing threats, and effective means of securing timely action by law-enforcement agencies. But even the most efficient complaint mechanism will have limited value if journalists fear that reporting threats could expose them to further harassment, surveillance or retaliation. Protection cannot be meaningful unless those responsible for intimidation are held accountable, regardless of their position or influence.

The more fundamental challenge, however, is the shrinking space for dissent in Pakistan. Journalists, who question official narratives, investigate allegations of corruption, scrutinise the conduct of powerful institutions or report on politically sensitive issues, risk being branded disloyal, unpatriotic or hostile to the state. Such attitudes undermine the principle that a free press is indispensable to democratic accountability. Criticism of those in authority is not an attack on the state; it is a legitimate and necessary function of journalism. When dissent is treated as a threat rather than a democratic right, legal safeguards alone cannot protect those who exercise it.

Intolerance in the exercise of power can manifest itself not only through direct threats, coercion and violence, but also through legal harassment, pressure on media owners, restrictions on distribution, and the suppression of critical reporting. These practices create a climate of intimidation in which self-censorship becomes a means of survival, depriving citizens of their right to information.

The effectiveness of Pakistan’s journalist protection laws must be measured not by the number of commissions established or meetings held, but by whether journalists can work without fear of reprisal. Authorities must demonstrate through action, rather than assurances, that criticism will not be punished and that those who threaten journalists will face the consequences. Pakistan needs more than accessible complaint mechanisms and adequately resourced commissions; it needs a political and institutional culture that recognises dissent as a democratic right rather than a threat to authority. Until that change occurs, the promise of journalists’ safety will remain largely on paper, while the chilling effect on independent journalism continues to deepen.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026