Pakistan’s media landscape has expanded at a fast pace ever since the liberalisation of electronic media; which led to issuance of license to different private entities in 2002 and onwards. Prior to this, there were the state-owned Pakistan Television and Radio Pakistan that mostly ruled the airwaves. This was the era when journalism was mostly about print and newspapers, periodicals etc, which were published in large numbers. One can recall several names of high-quality publications along with the names of their editors who were known as legends for their outstanding writing styles, editorial judgement and adherence to noble journalistic values.
Soon after the issuance of TV licenses to private parties, there was a sudden surge in the demand for media workers who could run these channels. What followed was quite fathomable. Within no time, students started enrolling in journalism courses in universities and colleges and even taking short courses in order to secure jobs there. This extraordinary demand also gave opportunity to people with education and training of journalism to join the workforce. The pace of work was such that they could not get on-job training but instead had to start working right away.
Nowadays, the media is quite vibrant and present across the length and breadth of the country. However, at the same time, there are risks and threats for the journalists who dare to speak and write truth and challenge mafias even at the cost of their lives. No doubt, the journalists working in big cities and metropolitans are better off and somewhat secure compared to the situation of journalists working in smaller cities and towns; whereas the remote areas of the country and conflict zones conditions are pathetic. These are the areas from where stories of abduction, torture, disappearances and even murder keep pouring in. These potential targets may belong to any type of media – print, electronic or online who stay committed to the cause for which they entered this profession.
Just like every year, May 3rd is being celebrated as World Press Freedom Day and it is binding on us to pay tribute to these heroes who stood upright in face of threats and risks of all types. World Press Freedom Day serves as an occasion to inform citizens of violations of press freedom as, in dozens of countries around the world, publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered.
According to a report by Freedom Network – an organisation working for the rights and safety of journalists – at least 33 journalists were murdered for their journalistic work in Pakistan during the last six years, including seven in the past one year (November 2018 to October 2019). But, unfortunately, none of them received justice as not one of the killers of these journalists was punished. This shows the state of insecurity that our journalists face and the impunity with which people target them. This figure is about the murders; the number of those injured, threatened, abused or implicated in false criminal cases is much larger.
The situation of working journalists in Pakistan in terms of work-related violence is so bad that the international organisation Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has counted Pakistan among the top 10 most dangerous countries for journalists in the world year after year.
While we talk about the problems of journalists in general, there is a need to discuss the plight of female journalists who perform their functions in non-ideal conditions majority of times. By this, one does not mean that the female journalists are harassed or targeted everywhere. In several organisations, there are zero tolerance policies towards people who harass female journalists or subject them to verbal abuse. However, where such disciplinary guidelines are missing the female journalists are constant subjects of harassment.
A female TV journalist, who wants to be identified with her initial S, tells the scribe that her ultimate boss wants her to sit next to him for no reason and joins her at lunches and dinners outside office. “Sometimes, he comes to the place where I am sitting and drags discussions around different topics needlessly. I have not complained to anybody because I think there is hardly anybody would believe me and I will be putting my job at risk,” shares S.
Though she feels a bit uncomfortable on these occasions, she says she enjoys her work outside office especially when it involves interviewing and talking to women. “My male colleagues including the crew that accompanies me to shoots provide me protection, which is very heartening. There was time when I was assigned to cover flower shows, mina bazaar or cultural events, but today I cover huge political gatherings, interview celebrities and even follow up crime stories. Although there are problems for women journalists, there are also opportunities to avail, which you can do once you overcome such hurdles,” she adds.
Mobility is another major issue for female journalists who cannot move as freely as their male counterparts and depend on public transport. Very few of them own cars and those who do not have to use uber or Careem, which are quite expensive. Their problems have increased further in the times of Covid-19 because these ride services have been suspended due to the ongoing lockdown. It is also a fact that women journalists who can find jobs in the evening or night shifts refrain from doing so, because in most cases their organisations do not provide them pick and drop services. It is worth questioning that if a female journalist has newsroom duty, how will she get home if she does not own a personal vehicle.
These are perennial issues which often come in the way of female journalists. These issues need redressal so journalists can perform their professional duties with a peace of mind. Otherwise, amid many restrictions and a discouraging environment, freedom of expression will become an elusive dream.
If we go back to the Impunity Report 2019 released by Freedom Network, we find that it makes four recommendations to successfully combat impunity of crimes against journalists in Pakistan. It suggests (i) enactment of special federal and provincial laws for safety of journalists to obligate the legal system to protect journalists; (ii) appointing special federal and provincial prosecutors on safety of journalists to improve prosecution of cases; (iii) enacting safety policies and protocols and annual safety audits in-house at media houses aimed at pre-empting and preventing risks and threats to their journalists and other staff and to pool resources for prosecution of crimes against journalists; and (iv) Decriminalising dissent in the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) law, including abolishing Section 11 (dealing with hate speech) and Section 20 (dealing with defamation) and Clause 37 (dealing with prerogative of Pakistan Telecommunications Authority to arbitrarily block websites) while vagueness around the phrases included in Section 9 (dealing with glorification of an offense) and Section 10 (dealing with cybercrimes) should also be removed to prevent journalists from being targeted for journalism.
The same report identifies the most dangerous regions. The data for 2013-19 shows Pakistani journalists are at most risk of being murdered if they are based in KP – 11 were murdered here in this period (33.3 per cent), Punjab – 9 were murdered here (27.2 per cent), Sindh – 7 were murdered here (21.2 per cent), Balochistan – 5 were murdered here (15.1 per cent) and Islamabad – one was murdered here (3 per cent).
Last, but not least, the issue of online harassment, trolling and abuse is something that female journalists have to face quite often. Some sick-minded people use wrong words for them and abuse them online while enjoying anonymity. The organisation, Media Matters for Democracy, studied these issues and released a report in November 2019, titled, ‘Hostile Bytes – a study of online violence against women journalists.’ The report says 95 per cent of the country’s women journalists face online violence which has an impact on their professional work. It adds 77 per cent of Pakistani women journalists self-censor in order to counter online violence.
Many promising female journalists have deleted their social media accounts and keep a low profile. There have been incidences where the faces of women journalists were superimposed on vulgar images by people to ridicule on the basis of disagreement. The cybercrime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) does take cognizance of such incidents but it takes a long time to track the criminals. Many a time, they remain untracked which further instils hesitation and fear in most women, discouraging them to express their opinions or even state a fact. It is important to mention here that while there are formal measures being taken to combat this, there is a need to educate people and preach patience. Having an opinion is one thing and going berserk over a difference of opinion is another.
According to Muhammad Amir, a journalists’ worker union leader, the non-existence of working editor in today’s newsroom is a major reason why journalists have to compromise on professional values. “The editors of the past were dead honest and highly professional. They would resist any move that could harm their integrity as well as that of their profession. But what is happening today is that working journalists are asked to perform tasks assigned to them by their owners, and in case they fail to do that they are punished. It has become quite common that journalists are asked to continue their work for longer shifts without paying them any salaries. Is it possible that a person can keep on working when he is unable to feed his family? He laments.
The issue of press freedom is a universal issue; as proved by studies by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and other organisations working on press freedom. The media nowadays has a vital role to play in an age when technological advances have made it easy to mislead, misinform and fuel hatred on social media. Responsibilities come with media freedom. It has never been more important for media organisations to pursue the truth and strive to ensure that their reporting is accurate, fair and unbiased. In order to do that, it is imperative that journalists and people in the media have enough security, so they can pursue the truth.