Journalism is a profession which has the power to uphold the truth and make citizens well-informed of what is happening in their own society and in foreign countries. In spite of this crucial and fundamental role, journalists are facing numerous problems, not only in Pakistan, but all around the world.
As history suggests journalists and the whole journalism industry has faced many challenges right from the time Pakistan was founded in 1947, which is 71 years of struggle and trouble. For example, many hard-working journalists were imprisoned for simply carrying out their duties – and some of them were even killed brutally in crackdowns against democratic rights such as Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Expression. That tragic history of oppression is very well documented.
Therefore, the aim of this article is to shine a light on today’s dire challenges faced by journalists in Pakistan, in the hope that it will foster awareness amongst an international audience and provide much needed information to human rights activists. Now, there are many difficulties confronted by journalists in my native country, including: security, financial problems and undue government interference.
Firstly, the issue of personal safety and security is most definitely one of the major problems faced by my colleagues back home. The statistics illustrate that working as a journalist is more dangerous than doing any other job in any country. If we look at on past reports we will come to know that Pakistan has been declared one of the most dangerous countries for journalists in the world. As illustrated in below graph, “61 journalists” have been killed in the country since 1992, with “34 of those targeted for murder” and “31 of those were murdered with impunity”, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
© The Committee to Protect Journalists – Journalists Killed in Pakistan since 1992.
Many journalists were killed, tortured, harassed and abducted for letting people know about the reality of current affairs. And, the fortunate ones are just threatened, causing them to hire personal body guards from their own income. It must be the duty of the current Government of Pakistan to provide a security for journalists and refrain from articulating unsubstantiated accusations against media personal. The fact that numerous journalist are living in these kind of conditions also creates a bad image of the country at an international level.
Secondly, financial problems is the second major issue my colleagues have to unfortunately deal with. Journalists are working on low salary packages which decrease their motivation for their work. Due to low salaries most of the good and outstanding journalists have to do second jobs to stabilize their financial crises and make their ends meet.
Most of the journalists work on commission and contract basis due to which they were not able to manage their daily expenses. If, through government legislation and private sector initiatives, salaries were to be increased then they will work more effectively and efficiently
Thirdly, Government support is very vital and crucial to journalists, however, the authorities do not support us, unconditionally that is. Authorities only support newspapers and news-channels that represent their good work and what they want to let people know. But, they don’t appreciate the news about their faults. Most of time government tries to depress the journalists to keep the people away from the truth.
If media personal and journalists do not adhere to the government’s oppressive guidelines regarding news coverage then they intimidated through various, inhumane and illegal means.
As the short documentary by the Committee to Protect Journalists shows, “journalists who push back or are overly critical of authorities are attacked, threatened, or arrested”.
© The Committee to Protect Journalists – Acts of Intimidation: Silencing the Press in Pakistan
All of the aforementioned issues are major dilemmas that people in Pakistan have to deal with on a daily basis. We must solve these problems to make our journalists feel safe and financially looked after. Just making laws to protect journalists is not sufficient.
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Syed Salman Akbar Rizvi is a multi-media journalist. He hosts News at 6, a current affairs program on ‘I 14 News’ and also regularly hosts a program on ‘Ahlebait TV’. Mr Syed Salman Akbar Rizvi also writes newspaper columns in the Voice of Karachi and Urdu Times UK. He recently graduated from Anglia Ruskin University with a Masters in Business Administration.
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