Pakistan Reader

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CWA # 1302, 7 May 2024
Pakistan Reader
Pakistan and Freedom of Expression: Eight Takeaways from the Freedom Network Report

  Dhriti Mukherjee

On 3 May, the Freedom Network released its annual Pakistan Freedom of Expression and Media Report 2024, titled ‘Erosion of free speech: The silencing of citizens, political parties and media.’ The 54-page report divided into nine chapters provided an “annual trend analysis of the state of freedom of expression and media rights and freedoms in Pakistan,” looking at the “socio-political-legal and media industry related factors and developments impacting on exercise of Article 19 (freedom of expression) by the public and by media and its practitioners.” 

The latest report notes a “reduced tolerance for online dissent, shutting down mobile networks on election day, throttling of internet access, forced suspension of a social media platforms, and a raft of attacks and harassment of journalists and bloggers.” A pattern of crackdowns mixed with major failures of state actors characterized the year, although there were also small victories in defending freedom of expression and media freedoms. 

The following are eight major takeaways from the report.

1. A deteriorating state of health of the media industry 
As of the end of April 2023, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) issued licenses for 140 native TV channels, 35 foreign TV channels, 26 IPTV companies, 175 native commercial FM stations, and 60 non-commercial FM stations. However, the turmoil facing the industry continued in the form of “wage reductions, job cuts, sluggish technological advancements, and shrinking advertising budgets from both governmental
and corporate entities.” 

This crisis has been exacerbated due to the “mounting advertising debts” owed to the media industries; in August 2023, the government acceded to a 35 per cent increase in government advertisement rates for print media. Job losses were another issue, and the report cited data from a survey conducted by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in 2023 in Sindh, as per which 40 per cent of journalists were employed, and 40 per cent held fix-term contracts. The biggest worries for them included “overdue wage payments, excessive workloads and inadequate compensation.” Nonetheless, there was a victory in the form of the rise of an “ecosystem of independent community news media start-ups.” 

The largest such group is the Digital Media Alliance of Pakistan (DigiMAP), with a membership of over 50 news platforms by April 2024. Six of its member published at least 60 new stories on the rights of marginalized communities in 2023, covering topics of forced conversions, persecution, and cultural achievements. Separately, digital media outlet Damaan TV in remote Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) doubled its audience and received international recognition.

2. Increasing presence of legal restrictions and censorship
The report pointed out that there was a “notable escalation in efforts by the previous parliament (whose tenure ended in August 2023) to restrict free speech and intensify digital surveillance,” a trend which “worried journalists.” A combination of “hastily approved legislations” and collusions between the government and security establishment led to a suppression of dissent, harassment of critical journalists, and a manipulation of information. Pakistan is one of the top ten digitalized societies with regard to internet and social media access, but state requests of content takedowns show the growth of “socio-political polarization and military- political wrangling.” The report took examples of the Pakistani cyberspace, the E-Safety Bill, and the Personal Data Protection Bill, as measures that were presented as protective steps but in reality, gave the government power to heavily filter content. During the 8 February elections, cellular and mobile internet services were shut down in the name of security concerns; however on 6 March, the Pakistan 

Telecommunication Authority (PTA) admitted that the federal government had ordered the suspension. The PTA also admitted in April 2024 that it had blocked over 1.25 million URLs for having “indecent, immoral, and unlawful” content. Between May 2023 to April 2024, the internet was shut down several times. The government’s decision to block X for more than a month after the elections is not the only cause of concern; in May 2023, the parliament approved the Contempt of Parliament Bill 2023, allowing lawmakers to charge civilians with contempt. In August 2023, the Official Secrets (Amendment) Act, 2023, was approved after a “parliamentary uproar compelled the government to retract a contentious provision.” There was a continuation in “unexplained media and digital censorship,” with state-owned media platforms censoring speeches by the opposition.

3. Disinformation is a growing concern
As per the report, Pakistan’s media remained “awash in a tide of misinformation and targeting disinformation,” partly due to the political narratives in the lead up to elections. Freedom Network and the IMF-supported Coalition Against Disinformation (CAD) surveyed 1043 students across ten universities to understand how the youth deals with disinformation. The findings showed that 63 per cent came across disinformation online every day, 81 per cent believed social media contributed to disinformation the most, 62 per cent agreed that this threatens the country’s democracy, and seven out of every ten acknowledged the importance of fact-checking tools. 

In 2024, innovative organizations enforced fact-checking mechanisms in the run-up to elections. For instance, the Centre for Excellence in Journalism (CEJ) unveiled iVerify, a non-partisan fact-checking initiative, while Media Matters for Democracy launched Factor, a fact-checking body for newsrooms. CAD’s Amber Rahim Shamsi worked with UNDP Pakistan to develop iVerify, and media outlet Dawn would regularly publish these fact checks. UNDP Pakistan also held academic consultations focused on “the potential needs, challenges, and recommendations for developing and implementing university-level courses on digital citizenship.” 

Academics indicated a willingness to implement courses, collaborate across departments, and share existing resources for “effective pedagogical responses to disinformation.” Disinformation had a financial impact too, and as per digital freedom advocates at Netblocks, the economic impact of X’s unwarranted shutdown was worth USD 50 million. 

4. An unsafe environment for journalists and media practitioners
Freedom Network documented 104 cases of violations, including murder, attacks, and kidnappings, against journalists and media practitioners across Pakistan from May 2023 to March 2024. Sindh was the riskiest with 33 per cent of the violations, Islamabad had 26 per cent cases, KP had 23 per cent, Punjab had 12 per cent, Balochistan had four per cent, and Pakistan occupied Kashmir and two per cent. TV journalists were targeted the most with at least 59 victims, print media had 35, digital media had nine and radio had one. Along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan in KP, there was an uptick in terrorist activities, and the tribal districts of the area have faced major discontent which impacted journalists in the area. 

According to a report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), the “alleged mismanagement of development resources, resurgence of militancy in the region, delayed repatriation of displaced persons, curbs on fundamental freedoms, incidences of enforced disappearances and the widespread disillusionment and trauma” impacted the region. Another report by IMS partner Freedom Network found that media practitioners in all eight districts “suffer from trauma related to observation of coverage of human rights violations,” worsened by a “gradual erosion of formal media institutions in the region.” Support measures suggested by the report included timely salary payment to journalists, easing official restrictions on freedom of expression, and media literacy trainings for government officials. 

In Sindh, between January 2018 and December 2023, two journalists were killed every year. In another report by the Freedom Network titled ‘Journalism in peril: growing crimes against journalists undermining media freedoms in Sindh,’ the “presence of powerful threat actors, coupled with poor service structure, and little effective proactive protection mechanisms at the government level in Sindh” were found to be “contributing majorly to a deep-rooted impunity for crimes against journalists in the province.” Despite a commission being established to combat crimes against the media industry in 2022, a lack of office, staff, and budget resulted in a failed performance. Since no perpetrator has been held accountable for their crimes, there has been an “environment of 100 per cent impunity.” On top of that, rural journalists do not apply safety protocols or share threats with their peers. To combat this, the report suggested capacity building of journalists, safer working conditions, and adoption of holistic safety approaches. 

5. Increasing steps taken towards unionization and assistance programmes
The report highlighted how journalists in Pakistan work in “hazardous conditions without health or life insurance cover from their employers.” In June 2024, the government announced it would allocate PKR one billion for the health insurance of working journalists, which is expected to benefit 20,000 journalists. Freedom Network and the Reporters Without Borders launched an assistance programme for Afghan journalists exiled to Pakistan after the Taliban took over, providing “financial, medical, legal and humanitarian assistance to over 50 exiled Afghan journalists and their families.” 

The Network used advocacy to engage government authorities and UN organizations to hold dialogues with the exiled journalists, and plans to help Afghan journalists “reintegrate into journalism institutions in Pakistan.” So far, focus group discussions with Afghan media start-ups have been held to obtain insights into their needs and challenges. In August 2023, the IFJ helped DigiMAP mobilize support for unionizing digital journalists, and in October 2023, the IFJ and the PFUJ launched union leadership trainings for mid-career union members in Islamabad, Punjab, and Sindh. These trainings addressed wage issues, low awareness of labour laws, and exclusion of certain journalists. 

6. The media industry continued to be an “unfriendly space for women”
Women make up for a “miniscule quantum of practicing journalists” and media practitioners, and media content thus suffers from gross under-representation of views of genders other than men. The discrimination is present in terms of representation, content, and workspace treatment. As per the Cyber Harassment Helpline Report released by the Digital Rights Foundation in 2024, there was a “disconcerting uptick in technology-facilitated gender-based violence.” There were 2,473 cases of online harassment in 2023, with 59 per cent cases filed by women and transgender. 70 per cent of the reports came from Punjab, followed by Sindh with 11 per cent and KP with five per cent. Virtual campaigns targeting women journalists, online abuse and defamation faced by women were prevalent. An absence of gender-sensitive policies in newsrooms highlighted a “a pressing gender emergency for the already fragile media industry.” 

According to Freedom Network, out of 15 media organizations, women accounted for 11 per cent of the total journalism staffers, three organizations paid female employees lower wages, and at least 11 were found to be gender blind. Women journalists often were victims of harassment, intimidation, and trolling. The report highlighted two advocacy campaigns that were aimed at gaining support for gender inclusivity. The ‘Include women in media’ campaign “launched a series of digital advocacy messages calling for urgent actions by stakeholders to address the lack of gender diversity in Pakistani journalism and news content.” 

The ‘Pakistan’s media needs women’ campaign was “aimed at mobilizing improved representation of women in media seeking enforcement of labour laws, gender sensitization of newsrooms and more women in media leadership positions.” 

7. A notable shift towards using new technologies in media
The February 2024 elections marked the first time Artificial Intelligence (AI) was employed by a political party- PTI’s Imran Khan used an audio clone to rally support for his party through a four-minute video. Khan sent a shorthand script which was dubbed into an audio, which went on to draw 500,000 views on YouTube alone. Later in January 2024, the PTI accused the caretaker government of shutting down the internet to sabotage its online campaign. The report highlighted the importance of DigiMAP in promoting “solidarity among Pakistani digital media to strengthen public interest journalism.” DigiMAP’s concern for the “rights and interests of digital media and digital journalists bring it in league with the trade unions and journalist associations that consistently demand rights, fair wages and safety guarantees for media professionals.” 

8. Sufficient compliance with international obligations
In 2021, through the passage of the Sindh Protection of Journalists and Other Media Practitioners Act, and the federal Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act, Pakistan emerged as a “global leader in journalism safety.” It also mandated the government’s action to address impunity for crimes against professions practicing free speech. Despite this, there has been a notable lack of interest in the implementation of acts by both federal and provincial governments. Failure to establish an independent commission to investigate complaints filed by journalists remains a critical gap in federal mechanisms to protect journalists. The European Union (EU) has also questioned the “continued pervasiveness of
42 Pakistan Freedom of Expression and Media Report 2024 impunity of crimes against restrictions on freedom of expression and enforced disappearances of civilians, including journalists.” 
 

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