Curbs damage credibility of Press
ISLAMABAD- Arif Nizami, the Editor of daily The Nation said that media in Pakistan is, and had always been, exposed to a number of curbs and pressures from not only the government but from the society as well.
Mr Nizami was speaking at a seminar on ‘Conflict Reporting’ organised by the British High Commission at the Pearl Continental Hotel, Bhurban.
These curbs and restrictions, Mr Nizami argued, adversely affected the credibility of the media, both print and electronic, as these led to the situation where people started doubting the authenticity of what is being presented or written.
He said that reporters in Pakistani media not only faced these curbs but they have always found the basic requirement of objective reporting, access to information, a most difficult and tricky business which always hindered their professional performance. “Reporters and Editors in our newspapers not only faced the official curbs on their working but they had been frequently exposed to most irrational and oppressive attitude from various segments of the society including the political panics, the religio-political parties and religious groups.
“There have been repeated incidents in which the newspaper establishments or individual Editors or Reporters have faced physical violence or threats of ‘serious consequences’ for what they have carried or reported in their newspapers or periodicals. “We have come across the incidents where most reputed journalists have been blatantly murdered, reporters tortured to death, picked up and kept in confinement with nobody knowing their whereabouts for days on. All these acts were aimed against the freedom of press and these people suffered only because they wrote or published the truth which was not acceptable to those people,” Mr Nizami said.
He said that the media in Pakistan started facing these curbs with the introduction of the Press and Publication Ordinance (PPO) and the conditions continued to worsen with successive Martial Laws, the imposition of precensorship, compulsion of following the Press advices, the government on the newsprint and advertisements, the National Press Trust (NPT) and the Wage Award for the newspaper employees.
In addition to these things the abuse of state machinery against newsmen and newspaper establishment was also a common experience. He cited the examples of Jang Group and the arrest of Najam Sethi, the Editor of The Friday Times during the Nawaz Sharff government which were clear attempts against the freedom of press.
Regarding the role of the Information Ministry, Mr Nizami said that this is one Ministry, which the country doesn’t need at all. “The role of the Information Ministry seems to be to control the print and electronic media. This Ministry spends all of its time in the activities which are in direct conflict with the freedom of press in the country and at the end it ends up creating confusion and chaos instead of being any help,” Mr Nizami pointed out.
He said that the officials in Information Ministry spend most of their time to protect and promote the governments and its ministers. He also said that the culture of precensorship introduced during the times of late Gen Zia’s Martial Law government and issuance of Press advices by the Information Ministry also distorted the face of media in the country.
He said that people talk about ‘Lifafa journalism’ a most outrageous allegation against the journalists but nobody mentions those who offer those ‘Lifafas’ to the journalists. He said that the ‘secret funds’ provided to various departments of the government are used for this purpose at official level. “So, if the journalists are corrupt and they accept these ‘lifafas’ then those who offer these are as culpable,” Mr Nizami said.
While making a comparison of the past and present governments, Mr Nizami said that the present Military government so far appears far more liberal in its approach towards the press in the country and there are fewer restrictions being faced by the media people as compared to what they were exposed to during the p political governments.
Source: The Nation
Date:10/26/2000
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