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Views & Opinions

Impunity

No country for journalists

Pakistan continues to be one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists, an uncomfortable truth highlighted by yet another murder of a mediaperson on November 22. Television journalist Hafeezur Rehman was shot dead by unidentified people in Kohat, only weeks after a fellow professional, Zaman Mehsud, was ambushed in a similarly ghastly manner by gun-toting thugs in

Unequal responses

The aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo Paris attack reignited the debate around freedom of expression. Numerous conversations ensued on the horror of the attack, the condemnations it elicited, the debate on the motives of the attackers and the justifications offered and repulsed. However, while no degree of coverage provided to such atrocities can suffice when pitted against the methodical brutality

Gauging media freedom

THE report released on Thursday by Reporters Sans Frontières reminds us that politics around the world today has inevitably taken a heavy toll on media freedoms, squeezing both the public’s right to know and journalists’ duty to inform. “Press freedom … is in retreat in all five continents,” said the RSF 2015 World Press Freedom Index. The head of the

Tweeting terror

By Syed Talat Hussain “It is a message for the coalition…your men will end up in videos that are even more horrific and will do lasting damage to public opinion in your countries”. This is how Romain Cailet, a militant movements’ expert, has explained the motive behind Islamic State’s release of an over 22-minute long video showing the burning alive

Trained war correspondents

By: M Ziauddin Pakistan has been at war now for almost 35 years at a stretch. It all began with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan around 1979-80. A call went around the so-called Islamic world for recruits for jihad against the infidel Soviets. Our religio-political parties, led by the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, not only answered this call with

The goldmine of free expression

By: Zaair Hussain We come into this world crying, and by that we are marked as healthy. We leave it with our last words imparting whatever final wisdom they can to those who matter to us. In those moments, expression is free and fearless. All our lives, the desire to express what we feel even if — sometimes especially if

Media in the crosshairs

By: Kamila Hyat Media in the crosshairsThe media remained the target of attack through 2014, caught in the crosshairs of guns wielded by militants, political and criminal elements and even professional rivals throughout 2014. The country was declared the world’s most dangerous place for journalists by the International Federation of Journalists, ahead of war-torn Syria. Fourteen journalists were killed during

Media: the threat of co-option

AROUND this year’s World Press Freedom Day (May 3) the Pakistani media received considerable attention at home and abroad, and it must calmly address some of the issues raised concerning its rights and responsibilities, and the challenges it is facing. The Amnesty International report on attacks on journalists in Pakistan released last week offered a precise summing up of the

A sad spectacle

“… when Taliban gunmen killed nine people at the Serena Hotel, among them a member of the Kabul press corps, Sardar Ahmad, along with his wife and two of their young children… (the) attack shocked journalists here and they issued a collective statement saying they would boycott coverage of all Taliban statements and news releases for 15 days. In that