KARACHI: The number of requests made by Pakistani authorities to Twitter for removal of accounts and information has doubled since last year, according to a bi-annual transparency report of the social networking website. Between January and June 30, the government asked Twitter to remove 24 accounts, and over 80 accounts were reported, with zero compliance. […]

Media capture is the result not just of technological and market forces, but of political choices made by political and business leaders. It is a complex problem, but not inevitable. Exacerbated by the economic weakness of the traditional news business and the growing concentration of ownership of media industries, media capture has become one of the […]

ISLAMABAD: Advocating the right to freedom of speech through digital mediums, Bolo Bhi – a not-for-profit geared towards advocacy, policy and research in the areas of gender rights, government transparency, Internet access, digital security and privacy – has called on the government of Pakistan, and especially institutions responsible for governance of the Federally Administered Tribal […]

LAHORE: Journalists and workers of different observatory bodies have alleged that they were refused entry into polling stations to monitor the election process despite having accreditation cards issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). “This is tantamount to curbing freedom of media and put the whole election process into doubt,” Rai Shahnawaz, a reporter of […]

THE framing of laws and the ambit of their application is always a delicate balancing act. After the media managed to see off the threat posed by a draft law targeting the press, another, albeit somewhat less worrisome, challenge has come up. It appears that the draft Sindh Press, Newspapers, News Agencies and Books Act, […]

KARACHI: With the concurrent list abolished in the wake of the adoption of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, the Sindh government has drafted a law to regulate registration of newspapers, news agencies, printing presses and books that on paper appears to be tougher than the existing laws. “By regulating printing presses in the province, […]

ISLAMABAD: Transparency of trial of high profile references against deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and others will be severely marred if Islamabad’s accountability court barred the media from covering it as per its professional calls to inform the public at large about it. Judge Mohammad Bashir did not permit reporters to be present in the […]