PESHAWAR: Senior journalists at a discussion on Tuesday highlighted the problems faced by the media in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially conflict zones, and said they had to cope with multiple pressures from the security apparatus as well as militants, while several of them had been killed in the line of duty.

The discussion was organised by Individualland Pakistan under a USAID-funded ‘citizen’s voice project on engagement of media on responsibility towards citizens in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.’

The participants complained by and large, journalists had no job security and that they lived from hand to mouth as most of them were paid meagre salary.

They also said while a law was available for regulating wages of journalists from the print media, there was no law for regulating wages of journalist from the electronic media.

Individulland Pakistan (IP) coordinator Shaukat Ali Ashraf said under the programme, his organisation had organised several master training workshops, media literacy sessions and group discussions in five districts of the province, including Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshera, Charssada and DI Khan.

Say they face pressures from both security apparatus and militants

He said journalists were given training on media laws, conflict sensitive journalism and access to information.

Ashraf said by attending training programmes, journalists would become master trainers before playing an important role in imparting training to colleagues their responsibilities towards citizens.

Former president of Peshawar Press Club Shamim Shahid said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally administered Tribal Areas had been victims of conflict and terrorism for many years and therefore, journalists in those areas had found it extremely difficult to report and that several of them had even lost lives in the line of duty.

He said in most cases, journalists working in tribal areas and different districts of the province had not been paid by their respective media organisations and therefore, they got themselves involved in unethical practices and thus, bringing a bad name to media persons and badly affecting the quality of journalism.

Khyber Union of Journalists president Nisar Mehmood said it was unfortunate that the laws meant for the safety of print media journalists and their job security had never been implemented.

He said no law was so far introduced by the government for the welfare of electronic media journalists.

Mehmood said while the government was supposed to constitute Eighth Wage Board, most newspapers had yet to implement the seventh wage award.

Bureau chief of a national Urdu daily Fareedullah Khan said journalists had been trying their level best to stay independent in profession but at times, they had to succumb to pressures, especially while working in conflict zones.

He said training workshops were of utmost important for media persons working in conflict areas.

Other participants said often, journalists had to deal with pressures exerted by the security apparatus, including intelligence agencies, as well as militants.

They said militant groups had own spokespersons and media outlets were under pressure to project their viewpoints.

The participants said in conflict zones, there was no independent confirmation of events and that journalists mostly had to rely on the statements issued by security forces.

Some participants claimed the Inter-Services Public Relations, the mouthpiece of the Pakistan Army, preferred journalists from Islamabad while organising media visits to conflict areas, including North Waziristan, while those much aware of local terrain and conflicts were ignored.

Published in Dawn, November 19th , 2014