KARACHI: Editors and news directors of a large number of newspapers and television channels met on Friday and decided to formally establish Editors for Safety, an organisation focused exclusively on issues related to violence and threats of violence against the media.

Editors for Safety aims to focus on the alarming level of insecurity for media professionals and institutions in Pakistan. Zaffar Abbas, the Editor of Dawn, was elected its first chairman.

The basic philosophy of Editors for Safety has been laid out, where an attack on one journalist or media house will be considered an attack on the entire media. Those in the organisation will assess such situations and jointly make decisions regarding media coverage of violence and threats of violence against any media house as if it were an attack against themselves.

Beyond coverage, Editors for Safety would also assist any journalist or media house that needs help in dealing with such issues by providing resources, sharing information and expertise, or reaching out to stakeholders involved.

The formal creation of Editors for Safety has ensured close, timely coordination between many newspaper editors and television news directors on cases of attacks/threats to media professionals, and has already resulted in improving the quality of media coverage of such attacks. The decision has been taken so that media houses can speak with one voice against the prevalent culture of impunity where journalists across the country are being attacked on a regular basis, and perpetrators are rarely brought to justice.

In the meeting, it was decided that members would approach all newspaper editors and television news directors to join Editors for Safety.

A decision was also taken to consult with the All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS), Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) and the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) and invite them to nominate representatives to Editors for Safety.

Those who attended the meeting and decided to form the organisation, among others, were Wamiq Zuberi (Business Recorder), Mujibur Rehman Shami (Daily Pakistan), Ali Kazi (KTN and Kawish), Fahd Hussain (Express News), Azhar Abbas (Geo News), Shahrukh Hassan (The Jang Group), Abdul Khaliq (Online), Anwar Sajdi (Daily Intekhab), Aamer Ahmed Khan (Aaj TV), Tahir Najmi (Daily Express), Jabbar Khatttak (Awami Awaz), Zahid Mazhar (DawnNews), Jahanzaib Haque (Dawn.com), Naveed Hussain (The Express Tribune), Farhan Reza (ARY News), Imran Saleem Dar (AVT), Zaffar Abbas (Dawn) and Owais Aslam Ali (PPF).

Those who could not attend the meeting but had been part of the consultations on Editors for Safety, and gave their consent, included Arif Nizami (Pakistan Today and Channel 24), Rameeza Nizami (Nawa-e-Waqt/The Nation group), Kamran Khan (Duniya News), Kazi Abid (Ibrat) and Siddiq Baloch (Balochistan Express).

In the meeting it was decided that Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) would be the secretariat of Editors for Safety.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2015