From special coercive law to blatant censorship, the Pakistani media has witness many forms of oppression in its 71 years of struggle-filled existence.<\/span><\/p>\n

But in 2018 the media endured an\u00a0unprecedented level\u00a0of imposed \u201cself-censorship\u201d through tactics unbecoming of a responsible state.\u00a0Those who refuse to fall in line suffer\u00a0loss of readership and viewership.\u00a0Unjustified cover-ups and\u00a0the\u00a0suppression of truth regarding crucial questions of public accountability have seriously\u00a0affected the perception\u00a0of\u00a0the quality of\u00a0democracy\u00a0in Pakistan.<\/span><\/p>\n

2018 was\u00a0a\u00a0year of elections,\u00a0overt and covert\u00a0pressures on the media in the run-up to the elections cast\u00a0aspersions\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0fairness of the electoral exercise and were widely criticized by national\u00a0as well as\u00a0international observers including the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, The European Commission\u00a0and\u00a0the US based Committee to Protect Journalists.<\/span><\/p>\n

As one of the most dangerous countries in the world for media persons, Pakistan has\u00a0witnessed\u00a0the murder of 72 journalists since 2002. Except for five cases, most of these fatalities have continued to remain\u00a0unsolved\u00a0and perpetrators\u00a0remain\u00a0unpunished.\u00a0Successive governments\u00a0have\u00a0seemed\u00a0reluctant to probe\u00a0the murders of journalists.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0report\u00a0State of Pakistani Media\u00a0in\u00a02018\u00a0<\/i>by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)\u00a0focuses\u00a0on instances of crimes against\u00a0the\u00a0media, where journalists are killed, murdered, abducted, assaulted, detained, and threatened by law enforcement agencies, militants, feudal lords, and tribal leaders.\u00a0TV channels, newspapers, websites and\u00a0social\u00a0media\u00a0are blocked and banned. Media personnel and media organizations are threatened\u00a0and pressured by state and non-state actors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Instances of\u00a0the\u00a0arrest of journalists, issuing non-bailable arrest warrants, registration of legal cases, contempt of court notices, and imposition of fines under defamation laws were also recorded\u00a0among the\u00a0pressures\u00a0used in 2018\u00a0that sent a chilling message\u00a0to\u00a0all Pakistani journalists.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During 2018, PPF investigated six cases of\u00a0the\u00a0murder of journalists. However, PPF determined that the primary causes of murders were personal or business animosities and rivalries rather than\u00a0relating to\u00a0their work as journalists.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those murdered during the year included:\u00a0Ehsan\u00a0Sherpao, Secretary General of Charsadda Press Club; Anjum Muneer Raja, sub-editor, daily\u00a0Pukaar<\/i>; Zeeshan Ashraf Butt, reporter, daily\u00a0Nawa-i-Waqt<\/i>; Abid Hussain, correspondent of daily\u00a0Naya Daur<\/i>, Multan; Saeed Butt, reporter, daily\u00a0Khabrain<\/i>; and Muhammad Sohail Khan, reporter, daily\u00a0K2 Times<\/i>\u00a0and AVT Khyber television channel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Physical assault\u00a0continued to be a chronic problem for Pakistani\u00a0journalists. According\u00a0to the PPF research, there were\u00a0at least\u00a022 cases of physical assault in which five journalists were\u00a0injured while 25\u00a0others\u00a0were beaten and manhandled\u00a0to stop them from performing their professional duties.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abducting journalists is another common\u00a0tactic\u00a0to stop\u00a0media practitioners\u00a0from expressing their views on sensitive issues. \u00a0PPF documented three cases of abduction and attempted abduction\u00a0in 2018.\u00a0They\u00a0included\u00a0Gul Bukhari, writer and columnist of\u00a0The Nation<\/i>;\u00a0<\/i>Taha\u00a0Siddiqui, reporter of the\u00a0France 24<\/i>,\u00a0New York Times<\/i>,\u00a0The Guardian<\/i>;\u00a0and\u00a0Zaibdar\u00a0Marri, President of the\u00a0Kohlu\u00a0Press Club and correspondent of the Express News.<\/span><\/p>\n

The year also witnessed the release of social media activist Samar Abbas after one year. He went missing under mysterious conditions on January 7, 2017.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The forcible intrusion\u00a0by armed personnel\u00a0into the premises of Karachi Press Club (KPC)\u00a0was the first\u00a0in\u00a0the club’s 60-year existence. KPC termed it an outcome of an ongoing campaign to subdue the press on the part of state and non-state actors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Attacking the residence of a\u00a0journalists is\u00a0also used as\u00a0pressure tactic on journalists,\u00a0as\u00a0they\u00a0become\u00a0overly\u00a0cautious for\u00a0the stake of\u00a0their\u00a0families\u2019\u00a0safety.\u00a0One such example of this in 2018 was the\u00a0attack\u00a0on the house of Manzoor Bughio, reporter of Channel 24\u00a0in Shaheed\u00a0Benazirabad\u00a0district in the Sindh province.<\/span><\/p>\n

Online harassment is increasing throughout the world, including Pakistan. One such instance noted this year\u00a0was\u00a0when\u00a0Saleem\u00a0Safi, a\u00a0prominent Pakistani journalist, columnist and anchorperson was made the target of abuse and harassment on social media\u00a0for\u00a0a comment he made in a television show.<\/span><\/p>\n

PPF also documented seven cases where journalists in Pakistan\u00a0face\u00a0legal actions.\u00a0These include:\u00a0Nasrullah\u00a0Khan Chaudhry, senior sub-editor of daily\u00a0Nai\u00a0Baat<\/i>;\u00a0Cyril Almeida, assistant editor and columnist of\u00a0Dawn<\/i>;\u00a0Sailaab\u00a0Mehsud\u00a0of Radio Free Europe\/ Radio Liberty\u2019s\u00a0Mashaal\u00a0Radio and Zafar\u00a0Wazir\u00a0of\u00a0Khyber TV; Matiullah\u00a0Jan, a journalist and host of\u00a0Waqt\u00a0TV;\u00a0Dr. Amir\u00a0Liaquat\u00a0Hussain, anchorperson of BOL TV; Mir\u00a0Shakil-ur-Rehman\u00a0of\u00a0Jang<\/i>\u00a0group; and Umar Cheema, investigative reporter of\u00a0Jang<\/i>\u00a0group.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The media industry in Pakistan also witnessed\u00a0extreme economic\u00a0pressures which resulted in\u00a0the\u00a0closure of a television channel and a number of\u00a0newspapers, which in turn led to\u00a0the\u00a0loss of employment for\u00a0hundreds of\u00a0journalists\u00a0and other media professionals.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the policy front, the newly\u00a0elected\u00a0government\u00a0of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf\u00a0announced\u00a0plans to merge\u00a0the\u00a0existing\u00a0separate regulations for print, electronic and\u00a0online media into a single powerful regulation\u00a0body.\u00a0Under the proposed regulation one mega regulatory\u00a0body\u00a0to be called Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority (PMRA) would be created with the merger of existing\u00a0regulatory\u00a0authorities including\u00a0Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA)\u00a0and Press\u00a0Council of Pakistan (PCP). \u00a0Most media bodies including The All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS), Council of Pakistan Newspaper\u00a0Editors\u00a0(CPNE) and PCP have strongly opposed the\u00a0proposed law.<\/span><\/p>\n

In September 2018,\u00a0government also\u00a0constituted\u00a0a Content Committee that would approve advertisements for\u00a0the\u00a0print and electronic media. The newly-formed body,\u00a0headed by\u00a0the\u00a0Federal Minister of Information and Broadcasting\u00a0Fawad\u00a0Chaudhry,\u00a0will work to see\u00a0that no advertisement should be released to\u00a0the\u00a0print or electronic media by the provincial or federal government without prior approval of this committee.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The government also announced a\u00a0drastic reduction in the rates of advertisements charged by television channels for government\u00a0advertisements.\u00a0The new rates will be valid for federal and provincial governments, autonomous bodies and public sector organizations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Media outlets remain under pressure from the authorities to avoid reporting on several issues\u00a0including criticism of government institutions and the judiciary.\u00a0There\u00a0were\u00a0at least 31\u00a0instances of\u00a0journalists, anchorpersons, and television channels\u00a0being\u00a0issued show-cause notices,\u00a0suspensions of\u00a0anchor persons,\u00a0blocking of\u00a0websites, and disruptions of\u00a0distribution of newspapers.<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0circulation of a number of newspapers including\u00a0Dawn<\/i>\u00a0remained\u00a0blocked\u00a0in\u00a0cantonments and parts of Balochistan, and\u00a0transmission of\u00a0Geo\u00a0<\/i>television channel\u00a0was blocked\u00a0in\u00a0many\u00a0parts of\u00a0the country. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pakistan was among\u00a0the\u00a0countries that had made the largest number of requests for content\u00a0restrictions on leading social media platforms. \u00a0\u00a0According to\u00a0Facebook Transparency Report<\/i>\u00a0released on November 16, Pakistan emerged as\u00a0the\u00a0number one\u00a0country in the world with 2,203 requests to Facebook for content restriction.\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0Twitter Transparency Report<\/i>\u00a0ranked Pakistan on third highest with 3,004 profiles to the social networking site for inciting violence and spreading hate material.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From special coercive law to blatant censorship, the Pakistani media has witness many forms of oppression in its 71 years of struggle-filled existence. But in 2018 the media endured an unprecedented level of imposed “self-censorship” through tactics unbecoming of a responsible state. Those who refuse to fall in line suffer loss of readership and viewership. Unjustified cover-ups and the suppression of truth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[17,1866,4,328,123,3038,446],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7427"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7427\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}