• May 2, 2014
• Freedom of Expression, Front Page

KARACHI: To mark the World Press Freedom Day, Pakistan Press Foundation today conferred the 2014 PPF Press Freedom Award on Shan Dahar. Shan Dahar, reporter of “Abb Takk” TV channel was shot on the night of December 31 in Badh, in Larkana district of Sindh province of Pakistan. He was shot in his back and […]

• April 30, 2014
• Freedom of Expression, Front Page

Journalists in Pakistan live under the constant threat of killings, harassment and other violence from all sides, including intelligence services, political parties and armed groups like the Taliban, Amnesty International said in a new report today. ‘A bullet has been chosen for you’: Attacks on journalists in Pakistan, describes how the Pakistani authorities have almost […]

• April 30, 2014
• Freedom of Expression, Front Page, Media Ethics

KARACHI: The launch of the media commission’s report at a local hotel here on Tuesday assumed considerable significance particularly due to the current debate over the stand-off between a media group and the intelligence services and an intense competition among various media groups to outdo each other in the ratings war. The report was introduced […]

• April 30, 2014
• Freedom of Expression, Front Page

LONDON: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Tuesday that his government had no intention of banning Geo and the Jang Group as requested by the Ministry of Defence. Asked by The News about the attempts by some quarters to persecute Geo and the Jang Group, Nawaz Sharif said that the media was playing a positive […]

• April 29, 2014
• Freedom of Expression, Front Page

KARACHI: The three-member judicial commission, constituted by the Supreme Court to investigate the murder attempt on Geo News senior anchor Hamid Mir, on Monday initiated in-camera proceedings at the Karachi Registry of the apex court. Headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, the commission, which has to ascertain the facts, identify culprits and fix responsibility for […]

• April 29, 2014
• Freedom of Expression, Front Page

KARACHI: Top police and intelligence officials on Monday recorded their statements before a three-member judicial commission constituted to probe the attack on senior TV anchor Hamid Mir. The commission comprising Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Iqbal Hameedur Rahman and Ejaz Afzal conducted the in-camera proceedings at the Karachi Registry of the Supreme Court. Those who attended […]

• April 29, 2014
• Freedom of Expression, Front Page

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court issued on Monday a notice to the provincial prosecutor general to file comments on an application seeking transfer of the murder case of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl from an anti-terrorism court in Hyderabad to Karachi. Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar, who headed a single-judge bench, was hearing the application […]

• April 28, 2014
• Freedom of Expression, Front Page, Media and Governance

KARACHI: Ordering strict security for the injured Geo News senior anchor Hamid Mir at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Sunday directed the police and law enforcement agencies to find those involved in the attack. He was chairing a meeting at the Chief Minister House here to review […]

• April 26, 2014
• Freedom of Expression, Front Page

ISLAMABAD: Justice Riaz Ahmad Khan of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) here on Friday dismissed the petition of a local journalist, seeking ban on Geo television. The petitioner named the Federation of Pakistan through secretary Ministry of Defence, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) Mir Ibrahim Rehman, chief executive officer Geo TV, Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman, Amir […]

• April 25, 2014
• Freedom of Expression, Front Page

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned a request from the Pakistan Ministry of Defence for the government to shut down the country’s largest television news station, Geo. According to media reports, on Tuesday, 22 April, in the first action of its kind, the Ministry of Defence requested that the government invoke media regulations […]

• April 25, 2014
• Freedom of Expression, Front Page

KARACHI: Geo News senior anchor Hamid Mir has said that he stands for national sovereignty, supremacy of rule of law, democracy and freedom of expression, and his voice could not be silenced. Hamir Mir issued his first official statement on Thursday after regaining consciousness. In his statement, Hamid Mir thanked the Pakistani people and said […]

• April 25, 2014
• Freedom of Expression, Front Page, Print Media

Hameed Haroon, the President of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), has expressed concern that the freedom of press envisioned in Article 19 of the Constitution of Pakistan is now facing the gravest threat it has encountered in the past decade, and if press freedoms are allowed to deteriorate further, an irreversible damage will be […]

• April 24, 2014
• Freedom of Expression, Front Page

In the aftermath of allegations and counter allegations following the April 19 attempted murder of popular anchor Hamid Mir, Pakistan government sought to ban the country’s largest television channel on the complaint initiated by the country’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. On April 22, 2014 the federal Ministry of Defence filed a reference with Pakistan […]

• April 24, 2014
• Freedom of Expression, Front Page

ISLAMABAD: Geo TV has been blacked out in all cantonment areas and hawkers are not being allowed to distribute daily Jang and The News to subscribers. It appears as if the ghost of General Ziaul Haq is still haunting the freedom of the press like it had done during the worst dictatorship during the late […]