Dwindling freedom
Reporters Sans Frontiers has released the World Press Freedom Index 2021. According to its findings, two of the four deadliest countries for journalists are from South Asia: Afghanistan and India. Though it says the situation in Pakistan has slightly improved, things are obviously not all rosy in the country. The index evaluates the situation for journalists each year in 180 countries and territories. But South Asia is just one part of the story; the report notes that a total of 46 journalists became victims of deadly attacks and lost their lives across the globe. This figure is slightly lower than it was in 2020 when attackers killed 50 journalists in the world. Still on average, such attacks are claiming nearly one journalist’s life every week. All these deaths are directly related to the daring work these journalists have done or were trying to do.
An alarming finding of the report is that the number of journalists detained in connection with their work has touched the highest point in history since the RSF began its annual round-up in 1995. In the past quarter of a century, the number of such detentions have been rising steadily and it has never been as high as it was in 2021. A total of 488 journalists and media workers were logged in prisons by mid-December 2021. This number is 20 percent higher than it was in the same period last year. Nearly two-thirds of the journalists killed in 2021 lost their lives in deliberately targeted attacks. Such attacks are increasingly becoming common to eliminate dissident journalists, or those journalists who expose corruption and criminal activities by non-state and state actors. In addition to Afghanistan, Mexico stands out as the deadliest country for journalists: both countries saw seven and six journalists murdered respectively in 2021. In India and Yemen four journalists each were killed in the outgoing year. Pakistan witnessed one journalist killed in 2021.
Another alarming figure is about female journalists who are increasingly becoming targets of attacks, harassment, and intimidation across the world. There are 60 female journalists currently detained in connection with their work, this number is 33 percent higher than at the same time last year. Pakistan retains its unenviable 145th position out of 180 in 2021, as it did in 2020. In 2017 it occupied 139th position, so in the past three years it has gone down by six points. The report has clearly highlighted the fact that Pakistani media have become a priority target for powerful quarters within the country. There is a need to take this report seriously, and reduce the level of unannounced censorship that the media is experiencing. In fact, the danger really is that be it the state or extremist groups, the media has decided for the most part to remain silent rather than face retribution – whether individually or as media houses. Journalists who have displayed independence and courage in the past have often been threatened, and we have seen just this year how media houses are forced into making the difficult choice of informing the public and keeping their staffers safe physically as well as financially. This is not only a threat to press freedom but also to a democratic existence – denying citizens their right to information automatically taints our democracy at all levels.
Source: The News Editorial
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