Short reviews: The Press in Chains

Book chronicles the excesses of various regimes, both civilian and military, against the country's media.

Book: The Press in Chains



Genre: Media

Author: Zamir Niazi 

Publisher: Oxford University Press, Pakistan, 2nd Edition, Revised and Updated

The year was 1965. It all started with the jotting down of "press advices" on pieces of paper. The advice was received on telephone in the newsroom from the information department.

After a few months, the heaps of paper became unmanageable so a register was maintained where the advices were transcribed date wise.

It was this practice of keeping a register which culminated in years of hard work by journalist and author Zamir Niazi into a book titled The Press in Chains. The book chronicled the excesses of various regimes, both civilian and military, against the country's media.

When the book was first published, the incidents of repression under the regime of Ziaul Haq, that it recorded, resonated with journalists and those believing in the cause of press freedom.

The second edition has been brought out by Oxford University Press. This edition has been edited by veteran and well-respected journalist Zubeida Mustafa, who worked with Dawn newspaper from 1975 to 2009. There is also an introduction by Zohra Yusuf, another torch-bearer of media freedom, who is also a civil rights activist and a former journalist.

This edition is more readable as it has been rewritten at parts and compartmentalised. It continues to carry the flavour of the first edition and credit to the editors that no portion has been deleted. Today, this book remains even after 20 years following its first edition, the only comprehensive record of press activity in Pakistan. It should be recommended reading for all journalism students who will better understand the challenges faced by the members of the fourth estate in the troubled times of martial law and beyond.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2010.