The sorry state of journalistic freedom in Pakistan
There is a general perception that the press in Pakistan enjoys much more freedom than it ever did. There are also some circles that believe freedom of speech and freedom of expression are rights enjoyed by a broad spectrum of society and have touched levels never seen before. There is no doubt that the number of newspapers, radio stations and television channels has seen unprecedented growth in the last couple of years and with the number of radio stations and television channels still in the pipeline this trend will continue in the coming months. But this can be misleading if used as a standard to gauge the levels of journalistic freedom. The government is the main source of these misleading perceptions.
The number of journalists, print or otherwise has certainly increased but the improvement in their working conditions is debateable. For example police arrested two radio journalists Farhat Abbas Shah and Afaq Shah, working for the radio station FM Radio 103 on 10 November earlier this year at their radio's studios in Lahore, Punjab province in the east of the country. It is true that they were released on bail the next day but two days later the police raided the station and seized equipment, making it impossible for it to continue broadcasting.
According to the Lahore Press Club, the two radio journalists were arrested for broadcasting a report on a scandal at the Punjab cardiology institute. They were reportedly maltreated in the first hours of their detention.
In another incident, on 6 November, also this year, Qazi Muhammad Rauf, correspondent for the Urdu-language daily Express in the north-eastern Khyber Agency tribal zone, was seized by armed men and held for 24 hours by members of the Sheikhmalkel tribe angry at what they saw as a biased article.
Rauf had reported on clashes between the tribe and a religious organisation Amr Bill Maroof Wa Nahee Anil Munkar in the tribal area. Around a dozen armed men abducted Rauf and took him to a private detention centre where they beat and then chained him.
The authorities intervened following a tip off from his colleagues in the Tribal Union of Journalists and persuaded the tribal leaders to release him, on 7 November.
In yet another incident, police in Skardo in the north-east arrested the editor of a banned magazine Kargil International, Ghulam Shehzad Agha, on 4 November. The authorities accused the journalist and of backing autonomy for the Pakistani part of Jammu and Kashmir. The Pakistani interior ministry banned the magazine that he ran on 8 September 2004, charging that it carried seditious and unpatriotic news.
Elsewhere, Sarwar Mujahid, correspondent for the Urdu-language daily Nawa-I-Waqt in Okara district in the east of the country was freed on 12 October 2004. He was arrested and detained on 31 July 2004 at Sahiwal prison in Punjab province.
Mujahid was held under the Maintenance of Public Order law. His detention appeared to be linked to his articles about a conflict between Pakistani paramilitaries and tenant farmers who have for years farmed land belonging to the army.
All these incidents were widely reported by the local press and I say this to clarify that atrocities against journalists are not carried out in a clandestine manner or with any fear of reprisal. These are just a few examples of violence against of journalists that takes place every year. And these are not the worst. Journalists have also been killed.
The frequency of such events is linked directly to the fact that the number of publications, radio stations, and TV stations in the country, and consequently, the number of journalists is at an all time high. But is is also an indication of the fact that the wielders of power have not yet reached the state where they believe they are beyond reproach or scrutiny. They act like the lords of the lands, and they citizens are their serfs, and any voice or cry that is raised against them is to be silenced.
Having said that, it is also wrong to say that the press in third world countries like Pakistan is unable to play its due role as the fourth estate simply because of undue interference from the government or other state machinery. There are many other factors that play a crucial role in undermining the freedom of the press and create obstacles in the dissemination of information. These can range from external pressures like state control and the influence exerted by political groups to increasing commercialisation in the media industry and dishonesty on the part of some journalists. In one way or the other, they have all acted as major impediments in the fair and objective coverage of events and issues.
The right to know is a fundamental right of every human being and heavy responsibilities lie on the shoulders of the press as we are supposed to ensure timely dissemination of facts without distortion, no matter what the circumstances.
And in most cases, this is being done; the press is playing a vital role in spreading awareness and in supporting causes like human rights, democracy, free speech and this has led to the general feeling that the press enjoys increased freedom, but in the true sense of the word, more than 50 years on from independence the masses are yet to taste the benefit of freedom.
The right to know can only be ensured if there is a sense of accountability and transparency in the workings of the government and the authorities feel that they are answerable for their actions, that they have a responsibility to the masses. And since the institution of democracy has never been able to develop properly in Pakistan, a truly representative and accountable form of government has never materialised in Pakistan. Hence the primary ingredient to the right to free speech has always been missing, and still is.
However, as I said, the censorship affecting press freedom does not emanate from the state alone. There are some forces and groups, distinct from the federal and provincial governments, which force the dailies to resort to self-censorship.
Ethnic and other militants groups regularly come up with demands or warnings to which the newspapers have to concede more often than not. Then there is also the issue of greatly increased commercialisation in the industry, newspapers organizations must remain solvent at all times otherwise they were liable to be sold out. Hence this leads to the killing of stories that may be detrimental to the reputation of a sponsor, regardless of how valid it may be. Or it can lead to the insertion of stories that are in the interest of certain sponsors. This is not ethical journalism and is a form of self-censorship exercised by newspaper owners and their marketing departments.
While it cannot be denied that a newspaper would be unable to survive without finances, there has to be a balance, and a policy needs to be drafted to ensure the effectiveness of content. The idea of a proper, functioning press council is yet to materialize but there are fears, and rightly so, that the authorities would aim to use the same as an instrument against the media.
The presence of some working journalists and representatives of the masses on such a body would increase its credibility. However, the government can only be stopped from creating such a body, and imposing its authority on the media in Pakistan, if the journalists take the lead and impose a strict code of ethics upon them. Moreover, it is sad but true that the people and institutions seeking press freedom have failed to strengthen themselves for the purpose.
The Council of Pakistan Newspaper editors, (CPNE) for example comprises newspaper owners, not professional editors. There is also the need of a press complaints commission, an accountability body, which might be established under the CPNE to ensure a fair and healthy industry, he said. It is also apparent that the credibility of the press has been just as severely damaged by the commercial interests of the owners as by any other external force.
Another factor that has led to a weakening of journalistic ethics and falling standards is the fact that the institution of the professional editor is under threat as many media owners have become their own editors. Ideally, a professional editor should be the only person taking decisions on editorial policy and journalistic content. The professional editor has a social conscience, the owner is first and foremost a businessman. But of course, that is being said, keeping in mind the fact that journalism is supposed to be a mission, not just a profession, and certainly not a business.
But the sales and marketing department is a very potent, and growing force in today’s newspapers, with perhaps no truly altruistic journalistic organization surviving this capitalist regime. Newspapers or journalistic bodies do not really help the situation much by accepting donations from the authorities.
Recently, there was an interesting situation where journalists in Islamabad had staged a walkout from the press gallery during the proceedings of the Senate in protest of the closure of the Islamabad and Rawalpindi Press club by the District administration as well as the registration of criminal cases against several journalists.
At first glance, this may seem to be just another act of state terrorism against the media. But there is more to the picture. The pressmen had accused the Punjab government of becoming a party to the dispute between the two journalist bodies, which was obviously not be acceptable to them. They also claimed that the press club had been sealed by the district administration on the direct intervention of Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and Law Minister Raja Basharat.
But the key factor in this dispute was the allegation that the district administration had closed the doors of the press club to journalists when a losing candidate, also a journalist, used his influence.
Now, here is a prime example of, when journalists, resort to using their connections and then use the state machinery for their private gains, they do more damage to the institution and give the administration a chance to dominate them. There is no excuse for this, and journalists should constitute a self-regulatory body to ensure three things; that a code of ethics is formulated, implemented, and followed.
Eventually, the Minister of State for Overseas Pakistanis and Information Secretary of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) Senator Tariq Azeem assured journalists that the federal government would ask the provincial authorities not to become a party to the matter. This is utterly shameful and an embarrassment to the profession.
The government persists in making claims about increased press freedom in the country but, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans Frontières) in their report for 2004 announced that Pakistan's position has dropped by 20 places as compared to its standing in previous year 2003. Pakistan stood at 120 in 2003.
It is clear that there are two sides to the coin. It would be unfair, and inaccurate to simply blame the state machinery for suppression of a free press, or say that government censorship is the only factor undermining press freedom. It would also not be completely accurate to say that journalists are following ethical norms and conduct themselves with due dignity and respect.
In Pakistan, which is a new country, not yet 60 years old, democracy is still in its fledgling state, so the concept of free speech and expression is also not fully developed, and similarly, journalistic norms and ethics are also in their infancy and have not yet matured.
The formation of a press council, by the journalists to regulate themselves, to educate themselves about ethical reporting is one step in this direction. Increased awareness and education among the population so that they are also aware of their right to know is another step. The introduction of true democratic norms and a valid democracy in the country is also imperative if the press is ever to be free.
But most of all, what we need is the will to report what is happening with honesty, with no personal bias and with the aim of dispensing the truth because people have a right to know the truth.
The number of journalists, print or otherwise has certainly increased but the improvement in their working conditions is debateable. For example police arrested two radio journalists Farhat Abbas Shah and Afaq Shah, working for the radio station FM Radio 103 on 10 November earlier this year at their radio's studios in Lahore, Punjab province in the east of the country. It is true that they were released on bail the next day but two days later the police raided the station and seized equipment, making it impossible for it to continue broadcasting.
According to the Lahore Press Club, the two radio journalists were arrested for broadcasting a report on a scandal at the Punjab cardiology institute. They were reportedly maltreated in the first hours of their detention.
In another incident, on 6 November, also this year, Qazi Muhammad Rauf, correspondent for the Urdu-language daily Express in the north-eastern Khyber Agency tribal zone, was seized by armed men and held for 24 hours by members of the Sheikhmalkel tribe angry at what they saw as a biased article.
Rauf had reported on clashes between the tribe and a religious organisation Amr Bill Maroof Wa Nahee Anil Munkar in the tribal area. Around a dozen armed men abducted Rauf and took him to a private detention centre where they beat and then chained him.
The authorities intervened following a tip off from his colleagues in the Tribal Union of Journalists and persuaded the tribal leaders to release him, on 7 November.
In yet another incident, police in Skardo in the north-east arrested the editor of a banned magazine Kargil International, Ghulam Shehzad Agha, on 4 November. The authorities accused the journalist and of backing autonomy for the Pakistani part of Jammu and Kashmir. The Pakistani interior ministry banned the magazine that he ran on 8 September 2004, charging that it carried seditious and unpatriotic news.
Elsewhere, Sarwar Mujahid, correspondent for the Urdu-language daily Nawa-I-Waqt in Okara district in the east of the country was freed on 12 October 2004. He was arrested and detained on 31 July 2004 at Sahiwal prison in Punjab province.
Mujahid was held under the Maintenance of Public Order law. His detention appeared to be linked to his articles about a conflict between Pakistani paramilitaries and tenant farmers who have for years farmed land belonging to the army.
All these incidents were widely reported by the local press and I say this to clarify that atrocities against journalists are not carried out in a clandestine manner or with any fear of reprisal. These are just a few examples of violence against of journalists that takes place every year. And these are not the worst. Journalists have also been killed.
The frequency of such events is linked directly to the fact that the number of publications, radio stations, and TV stations in the country, and consequently, the number of journalists is at an all time high. But is is also an indication of the fact that the wielders of power have not yet reached the state where they believe they are beyond reproach or scrutiny. They act like the lords of the lands, and they citizens are their serfs, and any voice or cry that is raised against them is to be silenced.
Having said that, it is also wrong to say that the press in third world countries like Pakistan is unable to play its due role as the fourth estate simply because of undue interference from the government or other state machinery. There are many other factors that play a crucial role in undermining the freedom of the press and create obstacles in the dissemination of information. These can range from external pressures like state control and the influence exerted by political groups to increasing commercialisation in the media industry and dishonesty on the part of some journalists. In one way or the other, they have all acted as major impediments in the fair and objective coverage of events and issues.
The right to know is a fundamental right of every human being and heavy responsibilities lie on the shoulders of the press as we are supposed to ensure timely dissemination of facts without distortion, no matter what the circumstances.
And in most cases, this is being done; the press is playing a vital role in spreading awareness and in supporting causes like human rights, democracy, free speech and this has led to the general feeling that the press enjoys increased freedom, but in the true sense of the word, more than 50 years on from independence the masses are yet to taste the benefit of freedom.
The right to know can only be ensured if there is a sense of accountability and transparency in the workings of the government and the authorities feel that they are answerable for their actions, that they have a responsibility to the masses. And since the institution of democracy has never been able to develop properly in Pakistan, a truly representative and accountable form of government has never materialised in Pakistan. Hence the primary ingredient to the right to free speech has always been missing, and still is.
However, as I said, the censorship affecting press freedom does not emanate from the state alone. There are some forces and groups, distinct from the federal and provincial governments, which force the dailies to resort to self-censorship.
Ethnic and other militants groups regularly come up with demands or warnings to which the newspapers have to concede more often than not. Then there is also the issue of greatly increased commercialisation in the industry, newspapers organizations must remain solvent at all times otherwise they were liable to be sold out. Hence this leads to the killing of stories that may be detrimental to the reputation of a sponsor, regardless of how valid it may be. Or it can lead to the insertion of stories that are in the interest of certain sponsors. This is not ethical journalism and is a form of self-censorship exercised by newspaper owners and their marketing departments.
While it cannot be denied that a newspaper would be unable to survive without finances, there has to be a balance, and a policy needs to be drafted to ensure the effectiveness of content. The idea of a proper, functioning press council is yet to materialize but there are fears, and rightly so, that the authorities would aim to use the same as an instrument against the media.
The presence of some working journalists and representatives of the masses on such a body would increase its credibility. However, the government can only be stopped from creating such a body, and imposing its authority on the media in Pakistan, if the journalists take the lead and impose a strict code of ethics upon them. Moreover, it is sad but true that the people and institutions seeking press freedom have failed to strengthen themselves for the purpose.
The Council of Pakistan Newspaper editors, (CPNE) for example comprises newspaper owners, not professional editors. There is also the need of a press complaints commission, an accountability body, which might be established under the CPNE to ensure a fair and healthy industry, he said. It is also apparent that the credibility of the press has been just as severely damaged by the commercial interests of the owners as by any other external force.
Another factor that has led to a weakening of journalistic ethics and falling standards is the fact that the institution of the professional editor is under threat as many media owners have become their own editors. Ideally, a professional editor should be the only person taking decisions on editorial policy and journalistic content. The professional editor has a social conscience, the owner is first and foremost a businessman. But of course, that is being said, keeping in mind the fact that journalism is supposed to be a mission, not just a profession, and certainly not a business.
But the sales and marketing department is a very potent, and growing force in today’s newspapers, with perhaps no truly altruistic journalistic organization surviving this capitalist regime. Newspapers or journalistic bodies do not really help the situation much by accepting donations from the authorities.
Recently, there was an interesting situation where journalists in Islamabad had staged a walkout from the press gallery during the proceedings of the Senate in protest of the closure of the Islamabad and Rawalpindi Press club by the District administration as well as the registration of criminal cases against several journalists.
At first glance, this may seem to be just another act of state terrorism against the media. But there is more to the picture. The pressmen had accused the Punjab government of becoming a party to the dispute between the two journalist bodies, which was obviously not be acceptable to them. They also claimed that the press club had been sealed by the district administration on the direct intervention of Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and Law Minister Raja Basharat.
But the key factor in this dispute was the allegation that the district administration had closed the doors of the press club to journalists when a losing candidate, also a journalist, used his influence.
Now, here is a prime example of, when journalists, resort to using their connections and then use the state machinery for their private gains, they do more damage to the institution and give the administration a chance to dominate them. There is no excuse for this, and journalists should constitute a self-regulatory body to ensure three things; that a code of ethics is formulated, implemented, and followed.
Eventually, the Minister of State for Overseas Pakistanis and Information Secretary of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) Senator Tariq Azeem assured journalists that the federal government would ask the provincial authorities not to become a party to the matter. This is utterly shameful and an embarrassment to the profession.
The government persists in making claims about increased press freedom in the country but, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans Frontières) in their report for 2004 announced that Pakistan's position has dropped by 20 places as compared to its standing in previous year 2003. Pakistan stood at 120 in 2003.
It is clear that there are two sides to the coin. It would be unfair, and inaccurate to simply blame the state machinery for suppression of a free press, or say that government censorship is the only factor undermining press freedom. It would also not be completely accurate to say that journalists are following ethical norms and conduct themselves with due dignity and respect.
In Pakistan, which is a new country, not yet 60 years old, democracy is still in its fledgling state, so the concept of free speech and expression is also not fully developed, and similarly, journalistic norms and ethics are also in their infancy and have not yet matured.
The formation of a press council, by the journalists to regulate themselves, to educate themselves about ethical reporting is one step in this direction. Increased awareness and education among the population so that they are also aware of their right to know is another step. The introduction of true democratic norms and a valid democracy in the country is also imperative if the press is ever to be free.
But most of all, what we need is the will to report what is happening with honesty, with no personal bias and with the aim of dispensing the truth because people have a right to know the truth.
posted by lone-ranger at 6:12 PM
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