“Newspapers owners should not interfere in the editorial work and reporting in their paper. Unfortunately, there are no professional editors in the media,” Khushnood Ali Khan, the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) president, said on Monday.
Khan was addressing a seminar titled State, Media and Freedom, organised by the CPNE at the South Asian Media Centre.
The speakers discussed the importance of professional newspaper editors and the stance of several major newspapers on the killing of Osama bin Laden during an American operation in Abbotabad on May 2.
Khalid Chaudhry criticised the role of military and those who depicted the ‘actions’ of military as ‘heroic’ missions. He said, “The kind of media freedom we have in Pakistan is not freedom of press. It is the freedom of the owners who care only about financial advantages.”
Imtiaz Alam said that there should be accountability for every institution. “If there will be no accountability for the politicians, army and media, they will all become a curse for the country.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 10th, 2011.
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