Falling freedom

According to assessments for 2019 published by global organizations monitoring the world’s media, Pakistan has lost a little more freedom compared to the previous year, sliding down the list of 180 countries assessed by the Paris-based Reporters without Borders (RSF). On the RSF index for the year 2019, Pakistan stands at 142nd place, three spots below its place during 2018. This brings it a little closer to countries like China and Vietnam which figure towards the very bottom of the index. The organization points out that there has been growing control over what the media in Pakistan was able to publish and report during the year, as well as an environment of fear created for journalists. The Vienna-based International Press Institute has also noted that around the world journalists faced more and more pressures during this year, even though a number of them bravely carry on with investigative reports.

RSF reports that this year the country saw more measures towards greater censorship and restrictions on what could be reported by the media. The government has been mostly silent on this issue, but Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent statement – alleging ‘mafias’ operating within the press – does point to the distrust between the press and the government. Instead, as a democratically elected government, the PM and his cabinet should consider why the RSF index, considered an accurate measure of press freedom around the world, places Pakistan lower on its list than before. This is not good for the country, not good for its government and not good for its people.

The IPI has also mentioned the growing role of social media, notably in South Asia, and manipulation of the news which appears on it, leading to an increase in the number of fake reports and manufactured stories. This is a difficult problem to resolve. However, it is worsened by the fact that in Pakistan the mainstream electronic and print media face restrictions which block access to news for citizens. In such an environment, falsified news has a greater impact, while the fear experienced by journalists around the world raises concern about the structures of democracy and basic freedoms in many countries around the globe.