• March 3, 2023
• Freedom of Expression

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting on Thursday decided to consider the bill on protection of journalists in its next meeting. The committee met here under the chairmanship of Javeria Zafar. The meeting sought a detailed briefing on senior anchorperson Arshad Sharif’s murder. The committee chairman observed that so far, no […]

• March 2, 2023
• Freedom of Expression

TOBA TEK SINGH: Faisalabad journalists and press photographers boycotted the press conference of former PTI minister Farrukh Habib at his office in Samanabad on Wednesday after party activists tortured some reporters and cameraman. Habib had invited the media to hail the ‘party victory’ in the Punjab and KP polls case after the apex court ordered […]

• February 18, 2023
• Freedom of Expression

KARACHI: The Commission for the Protection of Journalists and Other Media Practitioners (CJMP) will strive for tackling impunity for crimes against journalists and the media in Sindh, Rasheed Rizvi, a retired judge, said on Thursday. In his concluding remarks at a meeting of the Pakistan Journalists Safety Coalition’s (PJSC) Sindh chapter in Karachi, retired Justice […]

• February 16, 2023
• Freedom of Expression

Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) condemns the online trolling campaign against woman journalist Javeria Siddique. Siddique is the wife of the late journalist Arshad Sharif, who was killed in Kenya on October 24, 2022. Such a campaign reflects the gendered nature of attacks that women journalists in Pakistan are subjected to online, often based on personal […]

• February 16, 2023
• Freedom of Expression

Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) commemorates the life of journalist Aziz Memon who was found dead on February 16, 2020. Memon’s murder was ruled a “well-planned murder” and represented the danger journalists face for their work. Despite the passage of three years and multiple arrests, Memon’s case is still ongoing in court. On February 16, 2020, […]

• February 15, 2023
• Freedom of Expression

KARACHI: Reporters Sans Frontiers has ranked Pakistan in 157 out of 180 countries with a score of 37.99 on account of severe constraints in media freedom. It said the country ever since Independence has oscillated between civil society’s quest for greater press freedom and the political elite’s constant reassertion of extensive control over the media. […]

• February 4, 2023
• Access to Information, Freedom of Expression, Information Technology

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) blocked Wikipedia services in Pakistan on Friday after their refusal to withdraw blasphemous content. Earlier, the Authority had degraded its services in the country. When this reporter contacted PTA spokesperson late on Friday night and inquired about blocking of Wikipedia, she confirmed that “yes” it had been blocked. On the instruction of the […]

• February 4, 2023
• Freedom of Expression

LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Friday discharged a case of “hate speech” registered against TV anchor Imran Riaz Khan by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and ordered his immediate release. The FIA produced the BOL News anchor before Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Virk to seek his physical remand. Advocate Mian Ali Ashfaq, on behalf of the […]

• February 3, 2023
• Freedom of Expression, Media and Governance

ISLAMABAD: The special Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed to probe the murder of senior journalist Arshad Sharif on Thursday has returned to Pakistan after completing its inquiry in Kenya and UAE, ARY News reported. Senior journalist and former ARY News anchor was killed in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on October 23 where he was living […]

• February 3, 2023
• Freedom of Expression, Front Page, Media and Governance

ATTEMPTS to police the internet by states, often by giving opaque justifications for the action, are never a good idea. It should be recalled that this nation was deprived of YouTube in 2012 for three years after a crude anti-Islam film was uploaded on the platform. The video-sharing giant has also been blocked briefly more […]

• February 2, 2023
• Freedom of Expression

Anchorperson Imran Riaz Khan has been arrested by the Federal investigation Agency (FIA) for his controversial statements, sources told Geo News. FIA officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the anchorperson was arrested from Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport as he was leaving for the United Arab Emirates. The sources said that Riaz will be […]

• February 1, 2023
• Freedom of Expression, Front Page, Media and Governance

Islamabad: Member states of United Nations Human Rights Council recommended Pakistan to strengthen human rights intuitions, protect the rights of vulnerable groups, abolish capital punishment, sign the international convention on enforced disappearance and investigates all reports of intimidation and violence against journalists and human rights defenders. The recommendations were made in the Pakistan’s Universal Periodic […]

• February 1, 2023
• Freedom of Expression, Information Technology

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Wednesday “degraded” the services of the expansive online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, in the country claiming that the censorship was on “account of not blocking/removing sacrilegious contents”, and warned of blocking the site if it fails to comply with the directions. In a statement, the telecommunication authority said that it had approached […]

• January 27, 2023
• Freedom of Expression, Media and Governance, Media Safety

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday issued notices to respondents in a case regarding legislation for the protection of journalists’ rights. Chief Justice Aamer Farooq heard the cases filed by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), and Islamabad High Court Journalists Association (IHCJA). At the outset of […]