The media landscape in Pakistan, especially for conventional print and electronic mediums has changed considerably under the PTI government, and not for the better. In addition to having to operate in a suffocating environment dominated by a constant fear of suspension of broadcast or circulation, forcing self-censorship in order to remain financially viable as a business, there is also a looming threat of violence against journalists, incidents of which have increased in the past three years. Difficult decisions that come at the expense of following a state-directed editorial policy therefore have to be taken. Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar has threatened to beat up the PDM and the media that ‘supports’ the opposition alliance “black and blue” if they advance towards Islamabad. Given the spate of attacks on media persons in recent months, his statement is both highly inappropriate and in poor taste. It is also a bit rich coming from a senior leader of a party that held a sit-in for 126 days in the capital during the PML-N’s tenure, a protest that Mr Umar comprehensively participated in. These warnings display fascist tendencies unbecoming of a party that claims to be a strong proponent of democratic values and freedom of press. It seems the government’s expectation from the media with regards to covering and reporting on its policies and actions is to focus on the positives and ignore the negatives, which is a tall ask considering the precarious condition of the economy, law and order and governance in the country presently.
Efforts are also afoot to formalize this indirect method of regulating the media through legislation. The Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) ordinance, a law that the PTI has so far been unable to pass due to the media’s collective objection and protest against is draconian and arbitrary in nature, giving the government sweeping powers to not only decide what appropriate content is but also prosecute, heavily fine and imprison those who go against that definition. Prime Minister Imran Khan regularly provides an incorrect assessment that the UK’s legal approach towards regulating the media through its Office of Communications (Ofcom) makes it less free, and because no such body exists in Pakistan, the media here has more liberty. This is a ridiculous oversimplification of a complicated problem. The PTI must stop perceiving and treating Pakistan’s media as an enemy and should rather pass sensible laws that strengthen legal recourse to defamation and libel cases to allow and facilitate meaningful action against the real enemy: fake and slanderous news.
