Trolling being used as weapon on social media: media bodies

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), Karachi Press Club and Reporters Without Borders Monday regretted a vicious campaign being run through the PTI’s official twitter handle against senior journalists, including Ansar Abbasi, and Geo TV CEO Mir Ibrahim Rahman.

In a statement, the PFUJ condemned the vicious campaign in unequivocal terms and demanded that the PTI leadership withdraw its statement against the journalists which was being circulated through its social media accounts.

A joint statement of PFUJ President Afzal Butt and Secretary General Arshad Ansari said such an irresponsible attitude could jeopardise the life of targeted journalists as it appeared from the hate-filled comments in which PTI supporters hurled threats of serious consequences.

The PFUJ leaders deplored the rising trend of weaponising social media for trolling and imposing censorship on dissenting views.

They said the PFUJ had been struggling for civic rights, freedom of expression and strengthening of democracy for the last 70 years with the support of lawyers, political parties and civil society organisations.

The PFUJ said it believed in a responsible journalism and urged that the legal course be followed if someone had any objection to anyone’s news report. Meanwhile, the Reporters-Without-Borders (RSF) Pakistan chapter said the tweet through the PTI’s official handle was disturbing.

In a tweet, RSF country representative Iqbal Khattak said, “Did media report a false affidavit? Did the court find media guilty of reporting factually incorrect? No. Trolling media will not help the party. It is better the party joins us to strengthen media.”

Meanwhile, the Karachi Press Club (KPC) urged the PTI top leadership to take back the statement against Mir Ibrahim Rahman, Ansar Abbasi and other journalists. The statement said the Karachi Press Club always emphasised promotion of responsible journalism.