All but safe | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

All but safe

Pakistan Press Foundation

 

Pakistan is one of the world’s deadliest countries for journalists. According to the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) Pakistan Press Freedom Report 2022, four journalists were killed in the year while performing their duties.

The passion most journalists exhibit for their work, at times even risking their lives, does not get enough attention. In the early 2000s, with the US invasion of Afghanistan and the rise of local militancy, journalists from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were left fending for themselves. With no professional training in how to report from a war zone and little to no understanding of the constructive role of narratives of various state and non-state actors, they were left on their own to navigate their way through the process of composing stories for a wide range of audiences.

 

After two decades of rapid change in the means of mass communication, where journalists have had to learn and work with the latest technology, most of them now understand the various threat levels while covering proscribed organisations.

With digital platforms entering the media landscape, the intensity and diversity of attacks on journalism has increased over the recent years. According to Freedom Network, in 2021-2022 there were 86 attacks against the media and journalists in Pakistan.

Benefiting from a tech revolution, many militant organisations have upgraded their networks and expanded their reach in the society to propagate their narrative. In the past, they have bombed media houses, and homes of reporters and bureau chiefs. They have even kidnapped journalists who reported or did not report in a certain way. The last big attack on a media house happened in 2014 when Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan – a proscribed organisation – carried out a suicide attack on a digital satellite newsgathering unit (DSNG) of Express News. Three people lost their lives in the incident. The reason for the attack was their coverage of the militant outfit. The media house had already been threatened with ‘retaliation’ for their reporting.

Kamal Siddiqi, a former newspaper editor, says: “I recall the time when our news staff was under attack. For us, the actual pressure point was our Peshawar office because the reports being published in the newspaper or those being aired on television used to have a great impact there.”

Explaining the group’s strategy to handle the challenge, he says that on many occasions the editors had to tone down stories, especially those covering the militant outfits.

“Recently one of our colleagues said that he wanted to cover the operation in the Punjab (the Punjab Police have launched an operation against bandits in Rahim Yar Khan). But if they go there to investigate, they may face certain risks. We had to say… that we could not risk our reporter’s life for a story,” says Siddiqi.

Source: The News on Sunday


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