ISLAMABAD: Journ­alists and media professionals have faced tightening landscape in 2025 for free expression, says a report released by the Pakistan Press Foundation.

The report titled Intimid­ation on All Fronts: Press Freedom and Media Safety in Pakistan, released on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day 2025 falling on May 3 (Saturday), says the year began with the passage of the much-opposed Pakistan Electronic Crimes Amendment Act, 2025, in January which heightened concerns about legal consequences journalists may face for their reporting, particularly online.

In addition to these, punitive measures including restrictions on advertising to certain media outlets have also been documented. The suspension of advertisements to Dawn, the leading English newspaper of the country, who issued a public response defending its editorial policy, and the Ministry of Information’s stoppage of advertisements to Daily Sahafat, highlight the underhanded methods used to financially cripple media outlets.

In what has become the norm, the lack of accountability and the role of state bodies — in 2024-25, the FIA set a dangerous pattern of action against media professionals.

At the same time, forms of physical violence, including assault and manhandling as well as arrests, detentions, and the issuance of threats to journalists, continued to undermine the safety of media professionals and served as tools to intimidate the media alongside other punitive measures, including the suspension of advertising to media outlets.

In 2025, PPF documented at least 34 cases including seven instances of case registration, one defamation notice, three instances of call-up notices by the FIA, two arrests, four detentions, two abductions, at least six instances of assault and two of manhandling, two attacks on property including a raid, three instances of threats including a threat of legal action and threats to family, and two of online harassment.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2025