Journalists urged to invoke act for accuracy

US Embassy Public Affairs Counsellor urges Pakistani journalists to use the Freedom of Information law.

ISLAMABAD:

Quoting examples from US journalists, US Embassy Public Affairs Counsellor Mitchell Moss recommended that Pakistani journalists also use the Freedom of Information (FOI) law to acquire information from different institutions to ascertain facts in their stories.

Moss was speaking at the concluding session of a national conference on media organised by a non-governmental organisation Individualland (IL) Pakistan on Saturday. IL Pakistan Director Gulmina Bilal said that a majority of journalists in Pakistan were either unaware of FOI laws or were not using it to get information.

“This can be a very good source of information and save journalists from the risks of getting planted stories,” said the IL director.

The US public affairs counsellor shared the story of two Washington Post reporters who ran a series titled Secret America, which carried stories on multiple issues and carried information from different government institutions, including the military.

“This information was acquired using the Access to Information Act applied and practiced in America, and a number of journalists are now using it to gain access to information they need to investigate a particular story,”  said Moss.

Moss said Pakistan and the US have a long-standing friendship based on people to people bonds. “Sometimes friends agree, sometimes they don’t, but fundamentally they like each other.” He said he had tremendous respect for Pakistani journalists because they are working in one of the world’s most dangerous environments.

Senior journalist Wajahat Masood said that the correct perception of journalism has to be an innate compulsion for every journalist. A free, independent and responsible journalist must be intolerant of discrimination and must stand with unpopular causes.

“The media cannot be free without democracy,” said Masood.

On challenges faced by journalists, a senior journalist from Balochistan, Shahzada Zulfiqar, said that 19 journalists from Balochistan have been killed in the last three years. He said 12 of them were allegedly killed by “government agencies”. Peshawar Press Club President Saiful Islam said that 23 journalists have been killed since the war on terror started.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2011.