Media safety Archives - Page 5 of 71 - Pakistan Coalition on Media Safety

July 26, 2019

Government to set up media courts in the country

The Government of Pakistan on July 24 proposed to establish media courts to resolve issues related to the media industry and ensure timely justice to the victims of media, besides introducing a new advertising policy and issuing licenses to 58 new TV channels.

Firdous Ashiq Awan, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting said, the government along with Pakistan Broadcasting Association (PBA) is working to develop a mechanism like Press Council to address the issues faced by media including the sudden downsizing of media workers.

Awan added, “The courts will utterly hear the complaints by the media industry against the government as well as the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA).”

Soon after the federal government’s announcement, print media bodies and journalist’s unions including the Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE), All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) criticized this proposal.

APNS President Hameed Haroon and Secretary-General Sarmad Ali also rejected the proposed decision of federal government and said that in the presence of complaints resolution forum like Press Council of Pakistan (PCP) and PEMRA there is no need to form special courts for media.

The APNS statement added, “The media is already braving strong pressures in the form of press advices and measures of intimidation from ruling quarters which tantamount to undeclared censorship and the proposed media courts would be an added and institutionalized lever for arm-twisting of media and reflects the mindset of present power center that intends to curb voices of dissent by all means.”

The President and Secretary General of APNS has urged the federal government to withdraw the proposal of media courts immediately if it does not intend to strangulate the media in the country.

CPNE President Arif Nizami and Secretary General Dr Jabbar Khattak in a joint statement said, “The formation of media courts is discriminatory step and such a move will be considered an attack on media freedom and tantamount to increasing pressure on media and journalists.”

CPNE urged “The current government to extend its efforts for strengthening democratic culture, media freedom and right to expression through their acts instead of creating obstacles for the smooth functioning of media.”

Afzal Butt President and Ayub Jan Sarhandi Secretary-General of PFUJ condemned the idea of government and termed it as another arm-twisting of media and journalists.

PFUJ pointed out there already exist PEMRA and its Council of Complaints, Wage Board Implementation Tribunal, PCP, and other laws and forums which can be made more effective and independent, for the resolution of conflicts and issues faced by media workers and journalists.

The union has called for the urgent withdrawal of such ideas like media courts and Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority (PMRA). It said that these ideas were mere delaying tactics for resolving issues, the journalist community faces.

The News: PFUJ rejects proposal of media courts

Dawn: Govt’s plan to set up media courts opposed

July 25, 2019

GFMD DELIVER AN ORAL STATEMENT AT THE UN HIGH-LEVEL SEGMENT

On July 19th at the 2019 UN High-Level Segment held at the United Nations HQ, GFMD, represented by Owais Aslam, Secretary General of Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) and member of the GFMD Steering Committee, delivered an oral statement.

In this statement, our network called for the strengthening of pluralistic and independent media and journalism on the road to achieving all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda. In this sense, the proper implementation of public access to information laws and the safety of journalists are prerequisite to achieving progress towards the SDGs.

July 24, 2019

PBA slams Geo’s relocation by cable operators

KARACHI: The Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) has condemned the relocation of Geo News from its original position to later numbers of channels by the media regulator Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra).

In a statement on Tuesday, the PBA said a complaint was lodged by its member channel Geo News, saying it had been moved on several cable networks across the country, and that the action had been taken by Pemra without assigning a reason or giving it a hearing.

The PBA demanded Pemra restore the channel immediately and specify in case there was any complaint against the channel or if it had violated the code of conduct.

By not giving them the right of hearing and unilaterally taking this action is against all norms of justice and threatened freedom of expression, it said.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Geo News was forced off the air or its channel number was abruptly changed in many parts of the country.

The CPJ is an independent, nonprofit organisation that promotes press freedom worldwide.

The CPJ said the blockage began on Monday, hours before Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in Washington, DC, on an official visit.

The broadcaster’s managing director Azhar Abbas told the CPJ that the channel was blocked without any notice or explanation from Pemra, government, or military.

“The blockage of Geo News just as Prime Minister Imran Khan visits Washington is an unfortunate illustration of how widespread censorship has become in Pakistan,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia programme coordinator.

“US officials who meet Mr Khan should make clear that these blatant attacks on press freedom are unacceptable,” he said.

Geo News has been repeatedly blocked, according to CPJ research.

“Geo has bled enormously in [the] last five and a half year[s] due to repeated illegal closure of the channel,” Mr Abbas told CPJ, saying that Geo staffers had not been paid in three months, and that this latest block could “potentially be fatal” for the broadcaster.

“It is punished for its editorial policy,” Mr Abbas said.

Pemra did not immediately respond to an email from the CPJ seeking comment.

Earlier this month, privately owned news channels Capital TV, 24 News HD, and Abbtakk News 247 were also blocked, as the CPJ reported at the time.

Dawn

July 24, 2019

Firdous says federal govt committed to freedom of press

KARACHI: Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information, has assured the APNS that the federal government is committed to the freedom of press and address the problems faced by the newspaper industry.

Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan visited the APNS House and held a meeting with the APNS members wherein she was apprised about the acute financial crisis faced by the newspaper industry for the last two years.

Hameed Haroon, President APNS, and Sarmad Ali, Secretary General, said due to considerable decline in the quantum of advertising in newspapers and the non-payment of long pending dues against the federal and provincial governments, decrease in the private sector advertising due to economic slowdown and increase in the cost of newspaper imports caused by depreciation of Pak rupee, the newspaper industry is facing hardships and a financial crunch.

They emphasized that the federal government should help the industry through a bailout package and expedite payment of outstanding dues as well as increase the quantum of advertisements to the APNS member publications.

The APNS office bearers pointed out that the government advertising rates were increased by 50% during the last 18 years whereas the inflation as per CPI was registered over 200%. They demanded that the government advertisement rates be enhanced to match the increase in the Consumer Price Index.

The other APNS members present in the meeting, pointed out that the regional quota in the government advertising is also not being implemented in letter and spirit for newspapers based in Sindh, especially the regional language newspapers were not being released their due share.

Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan informed the APNS that the federal government has given top priority to clear the outstanding dues and has made substantial payment of the reconciled dues whereas the remaining amount will be cleared in the next month. She agreed in principle that the government advertising rates should be increased to ensure economic viability of newspaper industry.

The Special Assistant to the Prime Minister said that a meeting of the APNS officer bearers at Islamabad with the Ministry of Information will be shortly convened to discuss the draft advertising policy and to amicably sort out the issues.

The News

July 24, 2019

Reporters of television channels attacked by lawyers

Two reporters Muhammad Tayyab of Channel 41 and Ali Raza of Channel 24 television channels and a cameraman of Channel 24 Waqas Ahmed were beaten by a group of lawyers of Supreme Bar Council including the Bar Secretary, Shahid Munir on July 23, 2019 in Faisalabad.

Tayyab, Raza and Ahmed were taking interview of Muaz Zafar, Superintendent of Police (SP) at his office, when they left the office a group of lawyers surrounded them and started beating the journalists. Raza was injured and left on road while Tayyab and Ahmed were taken to an undisclosed location and were beaten till the media and police rescued them.

Later, Tayyab registered First Information Report (FIR) at the Rail Bazar Police Station, Faisalabad but till now no one got arrested.

The attack on journalists was a retaliation of another incident which took place on July 20. Ramzan Mirza reporter and Usman Ahmed cameraman of Channel 24 were covering the scene where few people in police uniform were taking money from the civilians at the Lari Adda police check post.

The head constable of the check post, Rana Tahir Munir in anger attacked the journalists for covering the happening. Later the journalists including Tayyab protested against the attack on Mirza and Usman and demanded the suspension of Tahir Munir, though SP Zafar suspended Tahir Munir.

The Bar Secretary, Shahid Munir is the brother of the head constable Tahir Munir and Shahid in retaliation of his brother’s suspension attacked Tayyab, Raza and Ahmed.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) strongly criticized the attack on reporters and cameraman of Channel 24. PFUJ in its statement said, “PFUJ appeals to the President of Supreme Bar Council take notice of the attack on reporters of 24 News Channel and the immediate action should be taken against the lawyers who are responsible of the attack. PFUJ also asks the government to take notice of this incident and ensure that journalists are protected while doing their duty. We reiterate that journalism is not a crime.”

Speaking to the Pakistan Press Foundation, Zafar Dogar, President of Faisalabad Press Club (FPC) and Nadeem Javed, Secretary General of Faisalabad Union of Journalists (FUJ) condemned the attack on journalists and stated that FPC and FUJ is protesting against the attack on journalists working in the line of duty and demands immediate action against the perpetrators.

July 23, 2019

Bilawal says opposition facing ‘censorship’ in Parliament

Islamabad: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the opposition was facing ‘censorship’ in the Parliament.

Addressing the National Assembly, Bilawal said constructive criticism was important for every democracy, however, our opposition is facing ‘censorship’ in the parliament.

“Ban on the use of word ‘selected’ is the worst censorship in history”, Bilawal said referring to the directives of National Assembly (NA) Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri on Sunday who banned the members from calling Prime Minister ‘selected’ in the House.

The PPP chairman said “There is no freedom for anyone in ‘Naya Pakistan’. Neither people, politics nor journalism is independent. ‘Naya Pakistan’ is a ‘censored Pakistan’ which is not acceptable for us.”

“We sacrificed immensely for the supremacy of this House,” he added.

He went on to say “We neither accept censorship on media nor on politics. Not issuing production order of National Assembly members is also censorship.”

Bilawal said the Prime Minister has to lead the nation but right now he is acting like a ruler not a leader.

“An average Pakistani is paying the price of this government’s incompetency due to increased levels of taxes”, he said and urged the government to take back their anti-people budget.

The News

July 22, 2019

Attack on media freedom

PTI trolls did no service to their party when on Tuesday they started a smear campaign on Twitter against independent media houses and journalists giving unfavourable coverage to its policies. The party’s social media wing fired off at least two dozen tweets in English and Urdu attacking the media for allegedly using freedom of expression to support “Enemy’s Stance” and commit “treason”. Soon it was all over the place, reverberating in at least four hashtags, two of which became top trends in Pakistan. Two of the highest trending hashtag tweets came from PTI’s Lahore wing and west Punjab chapter. Said one, “media houses and journalists must take care that in their quest for criticism on State, they intentionally or unintentionally do not end up propagating enemy’s stance.” Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Digital Media Arslan Khalid added his own bit to the hashtag on journalism, claiming among other things, “we in fact steered the conversations away from that [purportedly negative] campaign and ran an alternative, more educative trend instead from the official account.”

Actually, it is the PM’s focal person and his associates who need to be educated about the role of media in a functioning democracy. First of all, they should know that the State is not synonymous with government. So any criticism of the government actions or policies cannot be construed as disparagement of the State. Second of all the media, universally recognised as the fourth estate, is duty-bound to represent the interests of society by holding governments to account for their acts of omission or commission. Hence by definition, the relationship between the media and government is of an adversarial nature. And rulers are expected to take criticism in their stride. But the PTI is reacting irresponsibly, labeling dissenting journalists as traitors. Unfortunately, there is a long history in this country of undemocratic regimes as well as right wing parties putting the ‘traitor’ or ‘anti-state’ label on politicians and journalists critical of them or having a different worldview. This democratically-elected government was expected to act better. Sadly, it seems to have a dictatorial streak, which makes it intolerant of adverse opinion.

PTI’s man for the digital media later tried to backtrack, saying “we were only trying to discourage irresponsible journalism. One tweet was badly worded and everyone presented it as a campaign without considering the context.” He did not mention the context, though. In any event, it is not for the government to decide what constitutes responsible or irresponsible journalism. For that there are media bodies, and laws that define the limits of freedom of expression, equally applicable to journalists and non-journalists. The government must stop harassing non-conformist media and focus on its own business.

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