Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) has expressed safety concern\nover the alarming situation for Pakistani media personnel during COVID-19\npandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PPF Saturday released World Press Freedom Report on\nMedia Safety and Press Freedom in Pakistan 2019-2020 on the eve of World Press\nFreedom Day, which will be observed on May 3 (Sunday).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, the media in Pakistan, is operating under a new\nand challenging environment created by the spread of COVID-19. Since the spread\nof the pandemic in the country, two journalists have died and at least 38 media\nworkers have tested positive, said the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report has detailed the alarming situation surrounding\nCOVID-19 created for the Pakistani media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the report most media organisations as well as\nthe government have not ensured the effective implementation of safety\nprotocols nor the timely provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) to\nmedia workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key recommendation of the report is calling on Pakistan\u2019s\nmedia associations including the Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA), All\nPakistan Newspaper Society (APNS) and Council of Pakistan Newspaper Society\n(CPNE) to develop detailed workable guidelines for all media workers on how to\ncover the coronavirus safely and to monitor their implementation by their\nmember organisations.PPF has also urged the government to provide support to\nthe media in ensuring the safety of media workers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report also discusses factors surrounding press freedom\nand the safety of journalists in Pakistan during 2019-20 that has seen an\nincreased muzzling of the freedom of expression in a country that has an\nalready weak track record on press freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between January 2019 and April 2020, journalists in Pakistan\nworked under increasing restrictions with little accountability of those who\nlimit freedom of expression, continue to target journalists and aim to\ndiscredit the work of the media through a range of tools from attacking\njournalists to placing financial constraints on media outlets as a pressure\ntactic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have also been at least five arrests of journalists.\nThe most high-profile case of a media personnel arrested is the arrest of the\nJang and Geo Media Group Editor in Chief Mir Shakil ur Rehman on March 12,\n2020. Rehman was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB)\nirregularities in the purchase of his residential property 34 years earlier,\nhowever, it raised concerns about press freedom and appeared to be an attempt\nto pressurise the largest media group in the country. Despite numerous local\nand international calls for his release, Rehman remains behind bars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This already high-risk environment which journalists operate\nunder has been further made difficult by the policies and rhetoric of the ruling\nPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, which in 2019 likened critical media\ncoverage to treason. While Prime Minister Imran Khan dismissed curbs on press\nfreedom in Pakistan as a \u201cjoke\u201d, the policies and proposals of the government\nincluding media courts and social media regulations, indicate a control over\nthe autonomy of the media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority\n(PEMRA) on numerous instances provided \u201cadvice\u201d to the media which creates\ncontrols on what the media can cover and what could be unacceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newspaper: Daily\nTimes<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related links: Business\nRecorder<\/a>, Pakistan\nToday<\/a>, Dawn<\/a>, Tribune<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) has expressed safety concern over the alarming situation for Pakistani media personnel during COVID-19 pandemic. The PPF Saturday released World Press Freedom Report on Media Safety and Press Freedom in Pakistan 2019-2020 on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, which will be observed on May 3 (Sunday). This year, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[4],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8959"}],"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=8959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8959\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}