The media is courted whenever the need arises for print reportage and electronic coverage of events.

By celebrating World Press Freedom Day we are essentially recognising the existence of basic freedom enjoyed by the print and electronic media in most of the informed world.

In Pakistan the situation runs the risk of freedom being thwarted, muffled and to a great degree garroted as and when decided by the state. The benchmark for ‘freedom of the media’ in this part of the world is a relative term depending upon the mood swing of the government in power.

‘Freedom of the media’ is an expression used in the same context as ‘transition to democracy’ is used to describe an experiment in governance using indigenous implements. Here the word freedom does not come as a fundamental right of the print and electronic media as it does internationally. This right has been ‘awarded’ to us by the state, which can be retrieved.

The media is courted whenever the need arises for print reportage and electronic coverage of events. It should not be forgotten how the media ran parallel to judicial activism from one corner of the country to the other, covering live chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry’s valiant struggle for supremacy of principles and law. At the same time it is difficult to ignore how Mr Atizaz Ahsen chastised the same media for showing humiliating images of Dr Sher Afgan Niazi, member of the PML-Q, beaten up by a mob of people.

Ms Sherry Rehman, the federal minister for information, was unable to contain her patience when she lashed out at the information ministry’s staff for letting in a battery of photographers and media people prior to her meeting with cable operators. Her statement of ‘in media walon ko kaun bula laita hai (who invites these media people?) does little to ease the media’s growing concern for black laws like the Pemra Ordinance 2002.

How significant is the media’s freedom for any ruling government in Pakistan can be gauged by the issuance of the National Reconciliation Ordinance, which took as little as one night to draft and approve by the Musharraf government. The seriousness of intent can only be applauded when all laws curbing freedom of the press are immediately withdrawn.

Mr Mazhar Abbas, general secretary of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), says there can be no freedom of the press without constitutional protection. “There should be constitutional protection for freedom of the press. Article 19 of the Constitution, which is very vague, needs to be revised and properly defined. The present government has promised to scrap all black laws but it needs to be seen how much time that will take. Naturally, if it’s a priority it need not take too long. We are still waiting for the abolition of the Pemra Ordinance 2002,” says Mr Abbas.

In its most recent report, the PFUJ, a representative body of journalists, revealed how dozens of journalists in the tribal areas of the NWFP and Balochistan had quit journalism following threats from agencies and pressure groups. “In the last seven years almost 28 journalists have been killed and those working in the tribal areas have either quit their jobs or are working as stringers for international media. In Pakistan journalism has become too dangerous a job with no life security given to a journalist by the organisation for which s/he is working. Ironically enough, media moguls controlling the print and electronic media provide no insurance to the cameramen but make sure that the cameras are insured,” comments Mr Abbas.

The celebratory aspect of commemorating freedom of the press loses its veracity when faced with the findings of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a US-based media watchdog which has included Pakistan among the top 10 countries of the world where press freedom has deteriorated in the past five years. Calling these countries ‘backsliders’, the Committee to Protect Journalists has rested its findings on seven categories which are government censorship, judicial harassment, criminal libel prosecutions, journalist death, physical attacks on the press, journalists imprisonment and threats against the press. The findings issued well ahead of World Press Freedom Day, falling on May 3, are based upon an analysis of worldwide data collected from 2002-2007.

After the imposition of emergency on November 3, 2007, the CPJ visited Islamabad where it met up with members of the PFUJ who gave details of the adverse situation in which journalists were forced to work. The CPJ was informed about the pay structure of journalists and about their employment issues. “There’s only a small group that’s well paid while most journalists are not. Some of them don’t even have letters of appointment. It’s a matter of great concern that those of us working to bring facts to the people have to struggle for their own rights without any success. Media owners must ensure journalists’ safety, implement the 2001 Wage Board and employ the same principles of fairness to their own organisations which they expect of governments and politicians,” says Mr Abbas.