LAHORE, Aug 5: A national summit of journalists in Lahore, organised by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), adopted a plan of action to strengthen journalism and media ethics in Pakistan.

In what the IFJ describes as “a breakthrough moment” for journalism, the summit involving more than 120 journalists from throughout Pakistan endorsed a programme to establish a national code of journalistic ethics; develop a proposal for an independent media complaints commission; and ensure that journalists across the country receive long-overdue wage increases.

Editors and publishers present at the meeting agreed to implement immediate increases in staff salaries and endorsed the programme for strengthening professional ethics and self-regulation of Pakistan’s media.

The summit adopted a 26-point draft code of ethics and agreed to a work programme that would investigate setting up an independent media complaints commission, to be adopted in collaboration with associations of publishers, editors and broadcasters.

PFUJ president Huma Ali will lead a committee to draft a proposal on the recommended operation and structure of the new commission. The committee will report within one month of its constitution.

Arif Nizami, editor of The Nation, who is also president of Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), supported the initiative taken by the PFUJ and IFJ and assured his complete support.

“I fully endorsed the decision taken by the PFUJ and IFJ regarding the code of ethic and will take up the issue in the CPNE meeting,” he said.

Mr Nizami also called for improvement in the working conditions and said wages of the workers should be increased.

He said media staff in his organisation would receive a 20 per cent wage rise from August 1.

At the summit, the editor-in-chief of the Frontier Post, Rehmat Shah Afridi, pledged to implement the Seventh Wage Award for journalists and media employees, which was due to be implemented two years ago under a statutory national structure for collective bargaining. His media company is the first to implement the award.

“This summit is a breakthrough moment for journalism in Pakistan,” said Aidan White, IFJ general secretary, who attended the summit.

“Now is the time to unify all sides of media around a programme to improve standards of journalism and to improve the conditions and wages of people in the industry.”

Amid increasing threats and attacks against the media by state and non-state actors, the summit registered deep concerns about the deteriorating security situation for journalists and media workers in Pakistan.

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rahman told the summit that the government would support any endeavour from the journalists’ community to adopt an independent code of ethics.

She added that the government would soon convene a tripartite meeting to discuss implementation of the Seventh Wage Award.