An honour for journalists

Two journalists — one from the Philippines and one from Russia — have won the 2021 Nobel peace prize. This is the first time ever that two journalists have won it. The last time a journalist got a Nobel Peace Prize was in 1935 when the prize was awarded to the German, Carl von Ossietzky, who got it for revealing his country’s secret post-war rearmament programme. The award this year comes at a time when journalism is under threat the world over.

This year’s winner Dmitry Muratov is editor-in-chief of Russian investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta. This newspaper has defied President Vladimir Putin with probes into wrongdoing and corruption, and extensively covered the conflict in Ukraine. He is the first Russian to win the Nobel Peace Prize since Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev — who himself helped set up Novaya Gazeta with the money he received from winning the award in 1990.

The joint winner Maria Ressa founded Rappler, a digital media company in the Philippines. Both Ressa and Rappler have faced multiple criminal charges and investigations after publishing stories critical of President Rodrigo Duterte and his controversial war on drugs.

According to the media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF), the situation for press freedom across the world is “difficult or very serious” in 73% of the 180 countries it evaluates, and “good or satisfactory” in only 27%. Attempts to stifle independent media are multiplying around the world, the group says.

As we know, freedom of expression is a universal human right. It is not the prerogative of the politician. Nor is it the privilege of the journalist. In their day-to-day work, journalists are simply exercising every citizen’s right to free speech. A free press is fundamental to a democratic society. It seeks out and circulates news, information, ideas, comment and opinion and holds those in authority to account. The press provides the platform for a multiplicity of voices to be heard. At national, regional and local level, it is the public’s watchdog, activist and guardian as well as educator, entertainer and contemporary chronicler. What we are seeing instead is exactly the opposite happening.

Pakistan is no exception. In an article written last year by the late IA Rehman, much respected member of the fraternity, the situation in Pakistan, he commented, “will cause much distress to all those who consider the existence of a strong and independent media essential to good governance and social progress”.

To begin with, Pakistan continues to be ranked as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. More than 140 journalists and media assistants have been killed in the country since 2000. At least 91 cases, including seven murders of journalists and a blogger, attacks and other violations, against media and its practitioners have been documented in Pakistan over the course of one year — between May 2019 and April 2020 — signifying a worryingly escalating climate of intimidation and harassment that is adversely affecting the freedom of expression and access to information environment in the country.

According to the Pakistan Press Freedom Report 2019-20, the screws on media in Pakistan are being tightened through various means of censorship, including murders, threats, and harassment, resulting in increasing silence and an erosion of public interest. The top three categories of violations against journalists in Pakistan in the period under review included 27 legal cases filed against them (18%), 26 verbal threats of murder or other dire consequences (17%), and at least 25 cases of arrests or detention of journalists (16%). These three categories of violations — legal cases, threats and detentions — constituted over 60% of the 148 categories of violations against media in Pakistan in the period.

Amongst the most targeted mediums in Pakistan, television emerged as the single largest victim with at least 79 of the cases (54%) against its practitioners. Print media was the second most targeted medium with 58 journalists working for it were targeted (38%) while 11 cases (7%) were recorded of online journalists being targeted. No targeting of any radio journalist was documented.

These figures tell a chilling tale. Media continues to be under threat in Pakistan. The government has to do more to protect journalists doing their work. Such an atmosphere will only breed disinformation and fear. We will become our own biggest enemies.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2021.

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