Media in the crosshairsThe media remained the target of attack through 2014, caught in the crosshairs of guns wielded by militants, political and criminal elements and even professional rivals throughout 2014. The country was declared the world’s most dangerous place for journalists by the International Federation of Journalists, ahead of war-torn Syria. Fourteen journalists were […]
2014 has been one of the most difficult years for the Pakistani media. Due to the alarming, yet familiar, threats from militant groups, law enforcement agencies, and political parties, the Pakistani media remained bitterly divided. The annual press freedom report released here by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) said that 2014 saw media professionals paying a […]
The amazement started around the fall of 2010. The venue was Bangkok. The event was the International Anti-Corruption Conference, the annual Woodstock of whistleblowers and due diligence die-hards. I was there because I had been nominated as a Young Journalist Fellow for Transparency International, the IACC’s host and the world’s most respected and powerful transparency […]
In March 2014, Pakistani columnist Raza Rumi was injured in a gun attack that killed his driver. Weeks later, Hamid Mir, star journalist of Geo TV, Pakistan’s biggest TV station, was shot six times. Luckily, both survived, and managed to avoid becoming part of a bleak statistic. Since 1992, 30 journalists have been murdered in […]
KARACHI: Senior journalist and anchorperson Kamran Khan on Thursday night announced that he is leaving Geo TV, where he used to host nightly show “Aaj Kamran Khan Ke Sath”. Sources belonging to journalist fraternity said that Khan has joined Bol Network – an upcoming private media group. He is one of the several senior staffers […]
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) in strongly condemning the bomb attack on the home of a journalist in Peshawar, Pakistan on July 2, 2014 – the third attack on the journalist’s home this year. This week’s incident saw unidentified attackers placed a bomb in […]
A Pakistani journalist escaped unhurt when a bomb exploded outside their home in Peshawar on Wednesday (2 July). It was the third attack on Jamshed Baghwan, the bureau chief of Express News, in four months. He saw men who arrived on a motorcycle planting the bomb, enabling him and his wife enough time to take […]
ISLAMABAD: A National Assembly committee gets a detailed briefing next Wednesday on investigations into all attacks and killing of media persons over the past three years. The one-point agenda of the sub-committee of the Standing Committee on Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage is: detailed briefing on the investigation of all attacks/martyred/killing on media persons since […]
LONDON: Founder of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Altaf Hussain has expressed concern over threats made against journalists. He has demanded that the government should take a serious notice of the threats and provide protection to senior journalists and anchor-persons. In a statement issued from London, Hussain said, “It is on the record that the […]
The murderous attack on Raza Rumi in Lahore in which his driver died was claimed by militant extremists, as was the subsequent threat to veteran media personality Imtiaz Alam. While the motive and responsibility for the dastardly assault on Hamid Mir in Karachi is still a matter of speculation, the threat to the freedom of […]
“… when Taliban gunmen killed nine people at the Serena Hotel, among them a member of the Kabul press corps, Sardar Ahmad, along with his wife and two of their young children… (the) attack shocked journalists here and they issued a collective statement saying they would boycott coverage of all Taliban statements and news releases […]
Islamabad: Senior Pakistani analyst and writer Raza Rumi, who was shot at allegedly by sectarian extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), has left the country “for a few months”. Rumi, a vocal critic of the Taliban and religious extremists groups, was shot at in Lahore on March 28 in which his driver was killed and a guard […]
After the shameless attack on our senior colleague Hamid Mir last Sunday, the entire narrative on the media is now about Mir’s employer versus the ISI, the spy agency that Mir had suspected would attack him long before the attack happened. The usual suspects that are normally made to come forward whenever spy agencies or […]
Raza Rumi is alive. It appears Hamid Mir will survive. Shan Dahar is dead. For CPJ, most of this weekend was taken up learning about and responding to the assassination attempt on Geo TV’s most prominent anchor and commentator, Hamid Mir. CPJ quickly released a statement after the attack and fielded questions from international and […]
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