Newly appointed Federal Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb wasted no time in describing her government’s plans to roll back measures taken by the PTI during its tenure that led to a severe and continuous deterioration in relations between the media and the state, by holding a presser the same day. During its four years in power a campaign of direct and indirect censorship was exercised without restraint by the PTI government. This included, but was not limited to, the curtailment of distribution of certain newspapers in select areas of the country while transmissions of TV channels were frequently cut off, if a dictated editorial policy was not followed. Alternatively, financial penalization through reduction in volume of government advertisements was also used as a method to ensure ‘positive coverage’. Expectedly, media houses started practicing self-censorship to avoid such punitive actions being taken against them. Additionally, attempts were made to pass democratically regressive and draconian laws such as the PMDA and PECA ordinances, which would have enabled the government to arrest, detain and heavily fine its critics without investigation. Collective efforts made by media representative bodies, human rights groups and former opposition parties helped thwart the government’s ambitions to further violate Article 19 of the Constitution that ensures freedom of speech.
It is therefore a welcome announcement that the new setup will try its best to mend fences with the media, end censorship practices of the past and take all relevant stakeholders on board before passing any legislation that directly affects press freedom. It must be remembered that the original PECA law was passed by the PML(N) government and it is commendable that Ms Aurangzeb admitted that there are ‘gaps’ in the legislation that must be filled to restrict its misuse. There had also been multiple cases of abduction, violence and murder attempts against journalists in the past regime and professionals in the industry continue to work under a cloud of fear. Ms Aurangzeb’s announcement that the Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Bill will be tabled in the National Assembly soon should go a long way in providing necessary security for the media industry that is thus far severely lacking. With only a year-and-a-half left before elections, it will be interesting to see how many of the measures announced today will actually be implemented. It is hoped that some of the worst remnants of the PTI government are at least removed during this time.
