Joint efforts vital to tackle threats against media, says Marriyum

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb in a message on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, on Thursday, has said that media faced multiple challenges and threats and tackling them required joint efforts by democratic forces, civil society and media organisations.

She said some of those challenges were structural, institutional, personal and transient. The minister said only a joint front could defeat the enemies of press freedom. She said the freedom of press was no longer a luxury or a choice, but it was the foundational stone of all modern societies without which they could not function.

The minister said on the one hand World Press Freedom Day was being celebrated and on the other hand the media faced many restrictions. Marriyum said in a country where independent media was drifting towards censorship and it was not independent in the true sense, it depicted a very regrettable situation.