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WHAT does it tell you about the state of a country’s media when the latter fails to protest in solidarity against the murder of colleagues? There is little safety in isolation.
This is the same media corps that had come together in the past after fighting off dangers to its values. But now, attacks on and the killing of Pakistani journalists have failed to elicit a collective response from within the press and from influential media house owners who appear to have prioritised corporate interests and have rivalries with competitors. That is why the government is not pressed about taking meaningful action against the mounting dangers to journalists.
Not only is the media divided in its approach, the bodies representing it have yet to act jointly through government lobbying, or even publishing an endorsed editorial demanding press protection and justice. In the ratings game, rival television channels spew hate almost in the manner of some religious extremists who incite their flock against denominations different from their own. The anchors don’t realise that public opinion is moulded during their one-hour slot.
When dissenting voices speaking out against extremism are silenced, something needs to give. Minimising risks to the media, a joint approach (a code of ethics) supported by media house owners is required. Unfortunately, differences have come in the way of evolving a common strategy to actively engage the government in investigating the cases of murdered journalists.
Prosecuting murder cases will not fix the more complex reasons for why journalists have become easy targets, but it will act as a deterrent. Pakistan’s independent media, having won its freedom after huge sacrifices, is at the risk of losing its voice, not only from its usual detractors, but from vested business and political interests within.
After meeting with a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists in March, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif hasn’t followed through on his government’s commitments to protect journalists — or journalism for that matter. (Two Indian journalists have been given a week’s notice to leave the country: their visas were refused, despite pledges to “make Pakistan accessible to journalists”.)
Addressing the protection of journalists as a negotiating point with the Pakistani Taliban, the media must work without having to appease dangerous frenemies. Safeguards include having an active media complaints commission and a joint government -journalists’ commission as well as appointing special provincial prosecutors to investigate attacks. The government could also be collectively approached for instituting a national training institute for mandatory safety training for journalists.
According to Amnesty International, 34 Pakistani journalists have been killed since 2008 — others have been threatened, tortured and have barely escaped assassinations attempts. In hardly any have the perpetrators been brought to justice.
Investigating 70 cases, an AI report, A bullet has been chosen for you: attacks on journalists in Pakistan, looking into complaints of harassment and attacks many allegedly connected to the intelligence, establishes that any sensitive story could put journalists at risk. Attacks on the media should be examined in the larger context of violence stoked by religious extremism, political rivalries and sectarianism, reminding us that the ‘war on terror’ has multiplied strains between civilian and military institutions.
Threats from state and non-state actors to censor and control coverage come from intelligence services, political parties, armed sectarian groups, Baloch separatist groups and the Taliban — more frequently after 2007, when the media stood by civil activists to create public opinion favouring the lawyers’ movement.
While reporters attacked for highlighting abuses or not promoting the ideology of certain groups have openly publicised threats, this has not helped. In an email sent to Umar Cheema at The News and documented by the CPJ, the sender writes: “you simply do not listen when asked politely … That’s it. Just remember; you chose to play with fire”. Cheema was abducted and tortured in September 2010. AI recommends that “a critical step will be for Pakistan to investigate its own military and intelligence agencies and ensure that those responsible for human rights violations against journalists are brought to justice”.
We can’t print all names of dead journalists here. Because there are so many murdered truth-tellers. Malik Mumtaz with Geo TV was gunned down in February last year in his hometown of Miramshah, North Waziristan. He had reported on the polio vaccination programme. An Abb Takk Television reporter, Shan Dahar was shot in the back in January this year while filming outside a pharmacy in Larkana, investigating the unauthorised sale of pharmaceutical drugs. The consequences of reporting the truth are indeed becoming riskier.
The writer is a journalist.
Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2014
