IFJ wants government to ‘overturn dangerous climate for journalists’
PESHAWAR: The International Federation of Journalists — the world’s largest organisation of journalists and an affiliate body of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists — has called on the government to urgently take “action to overturn the dangerous climate for journalists”.
To address the “sickening crisis” facing the Pakistani media, the IFJ released a report, ‘A State of Denial: The Crisis of Press Freedom and Journalists’ Safety in Pakistan’, on Wednesday containing findings by an international mission that visited the country from February 22 to 25. Representatives of the IFJ, the PFUJ, the National Union of Journalists of the UK and Ireland, Reporters Sans Frontiers, the International News Safety Institute (INSI) and an editor from Indian media visited Pakistan as part of the joint mission.
It said the abduction and beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002 provided “a horrific snapshot to the world of the dangers journalists face while reporting in Pakistan”. “However, while Pearl’s death made international headlines, Pakistani journalists face the harrows of life and death everyday barely noticed,” it said.
“From the mission’s findings, we are calling for immediate local and international action to address this terrible crisis,” said IFJ President Christopher Warren. “Reporting in Pakistan is now more dangerous than ever. Urgent action is essential to overturn the dangerous climate for journalists and uphold press freedom and the freedom of expression in the country.”
Findings from the report reveal the increasing horror faced by journalists in Pakistan, where “media restrictions, government intervention, low wages and even violence and murder are strangling the press freedom”. “Nineteen journalists are believed to have been killed since 2000, with four murdered in the last year alone. And not only journalists, their families are also paying the price for the press freedom, with the murder of two journalists’ brothers sending a harrowing message,” read the report.
“The lack of justice is creating a dangerous culture of impunity. Of the 19 cases, only Pearl’s murderers have been convicted. Urgent action, including finding and convicting the killers of journalists, implementing the legally binding wage board decisions and the development of a culture of safety and security for journalists, is imperative to uphold the IFJ motto: ‘There can be no Press Freedom if Journalists Exist in Conditions of Corruption, Poverty or Fear,” said Warren. “Journalists, through their collective efforts, have been leading a brave struggle against impossible odds,” he added.
Source: Daily Times
Date:4/5/2007
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