Threats, attacks against Pakistani journos ‘up by 60%’

Freedom Network’s annual report says 140 cases reported between May 2022 and March 2023

ISLAMABAD:

At least 140 cases of threats and attacks against journalists, media professionals as well as organisations were reported in Pakistan between May 2022 and March 2023, according to Freedom Network’s annual report.

The Pakistan Press Freedom report noted that the country’s media environment had become riskier and more violent in recent months.

The report was released in connection with the World Press Freedom Day marked globally on May 3 every year.

The data shows that press freedom violations jumped to 140 in 2022-23 from 86 in 2021-22, indicating an annual increase of around 63%.

This is an average of around 13 cases a month or at least one violation every three days compared with one every five days in 2021-22.

The report also documented the killing of at least five journalists in Pakistan in the period under review.

The main types of violations against the journalists were 51 cases (36%) of assault, 21 cases (15%) of attacks that resulted in damage to equipment, homes of journalists or offices of news organisations, and 14 cases (10%) of offline or online threats, including seven death threats.

Overall, Islamabad emerged as the riskiest place to practice journalism in Pakistan with 40% of the violations (56 out of total 140 cases) recorded there. Punjab was second worst with 25% of the violations (35 cases) and Sindh a close third at 23% (32 cases).

TV journalism were the largest medium of victims with at least 97 (69%) of the 140 cases against its practitioners.

The second most targeted medium was print with 26 journalists targeted (19%) while digital journalists were attacked or threatened in 15 cases (11%).

“The escalation in violence against journalists is disturbing and demands urgent attention,” said Iqbal Khattak, the executive director of Freedom Network, a media rights organisation.

“Attacks on independent journalism block access to essential information. [This] is especially damaging during the ongoing political and economic crises when the public needs reliable news to understand the issues and respond to them,” Khattak added.