The truth lies between perilous lines

When journalists are targeted, societies as a whole pay a price. Without the ability to protect journalists, our ability to remain informed and contribute to decision-making is severely hampered. Without journalists able to do their jobs in safety, we face the prospect of a world of confusion and disinformation.

— UN Secretary-General António Guterres

I was once at a hospital covering a story of a woman who was shot 20 times by her husband. He came out of nowhere and started yelling to shut everything down otherwise he was going to do the same thing to me that he did to his wife,” tells Zunaira Ilyas, a Lahore-based journalist.

She has been working as a TV reporter since 2016 and her beat revolves around wildlife, fisheries, forestry, Walled City and human rights which include women and children. “Then there was a story that I filed against some company director’s corruption and when the story came out, he started threatening me. Another time, there was a man who had lions at his home illegally. I only asked him to tie the lions inside as his neighbours were frightened to move around in the area.

That man sent me a blatant threat at work that if I ever spoke about this I would never be able to speak again. Similarly, there was another incidence where I was threatened to not run a story of a maid beaten brutally by her employers, and there was no support from the organisation. My beat mostly has sensitive stories; and while pursuing a sensitive issue, I do have a fear because a single misstep can cause problems for me and my family,” recounts Zunaira.

Faced with a similar ordeal, Fatima Nazish, a Peshawar-based TV journalist, working since 2015, narrates, “Around three to four years ago, we went to a woman’s house to make a report. We were almost done when suddenly an outraged man came in and tried to intimidate us into deleting the footage. Then there was one time when I filed a corruption news piece against a woman and her relatives started sending me threats. There have been other such incidences where we were interrupted mid-work and threatened to stop everything. I was at a big rally last year and the men around were bullying us to stop reporting otherwise I would have to face dire consequences. I was then escorted out of the place. And, in this entire scenario or other similar scenarios, the organisation never takes responsibility.”

Impunity for crimes against journalists remains firmly entrenched in Pakistan. At least 33 journalists were murdered for their journalistic work in Pakistan during the last six years, including seven in the past one year (November 2018 to October 2019). But, none of them received justice as not a single one of the killers was punished indicating the total impunity from punishment enjoyed by the perpetrators. This was revealed in a report titled, 100% Impunity for Killers, 0% Justice for Pakistan’s Murdered Journalists: Crime and Punishment in Pakistan’s Journalism World, issued last year by an independent Pakistani media watchdog, Freedom Network.

It is important to note that these figures do not include many more journalists, who on a daily basis suffer from non-fatal attacks, including torture, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, intimidation and harassment in both conflict and non-conflict situations. Especially when it comes to women journalists, there are specific risks that they have to face.

Male dominance in global media is well-documented, and has been for many decades. Both in newsrooms and in news articles, men often get undue advantage. “I had to face a lot of challenges in the beginning of my career and had to work harder than most due to my gender. It’s a general assumption that girls are not meant for this field; and while channels and media groups hire women according to the screen demand, they would give us ‘softer’ beats like weather updates, zoos and safaris or women related issues. The bureau may hire women but they don’t trust her news sources easily,” complains Zunaira. “I remember once I filed a story about Grade 17 officers who were being enrolled since the past 20 years but they were never promoted. My boss didn’t trust me and was curious as to how I found that story being a woman. It was my exclusive piece and he actually sent the beat reporter to corroborate the news, and we broke it three hours late. They will often put stories on hold if they are done by women and will first verify them. Other than that, they will send you to protests and rallies without any support or protection. And, while covering stories related to rallies – political or religious – I am often threatened for either running a story on them or not running a story on them. The organisation never supports you and normally in such circumstances, you find yourself on your own. However, there are also organisations that back its reporters,” she elaborates.

Fatima covers beats such as health, education, sports, tourism, culture along with minorities and transgenders. Given the cultural dynamics of KP, Fatima too had to face additional hurdles to get where she is compared to her peers. “There is a cultural barrier and a lack of awareness for the news field. You can pick any medium – channel, paper, etc – the ratio of women there will be close to nothing. People view you with a different mindset as it’s still not acceptable here. If you work in any field related to the media, it will be considered inappropriate or obscene,” says Fatima.

“Harassments and threats are very common for us. And since I also have a social media page, I get rude and aggressive comments all the time. Despite this, I don’t let it overwhelm me. If I were to let fear take over, I would never be able to file another story. I need to be fearless and not let the gender limitations get in my way. I did live coverage for a blast in 2018 from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., surrounded by men. And for that, I was issued a letter of appreciation by my organisation for setting this benchmark,” enthuses Fatima.

While the dynamics of safety dangles for both genders, Islamabad-based journalist, Saqib Tanveer, with over a decade of experience, believes that a journalist’s capability transcends the gender boundaries which further affirms Fatima’s point. “I do feel fear for certain stories I’m following or someone would tell me to tread carefully. We live in a society where it is easy for a guy to get access – some people may debate this – but I don’t think it’s about gender; I think journalism is about contacts. People will only talk to you if you have a certain rapport with them and it’s regardless of the gender. I have seen female journalists with impeccable sources and getting information out in Pakistan is a hard task,” he points out.

Once we get past the daily grind, there are more challenges that await journalists in Pakistan. One of these challenges is getting reliable information and data from credible sources. “I think one of the biggest challenges when it comes to reporting in Pakistan is, when you are in the mainstream reporting on mainframe issues, the censorship and what it has become these days: self-censorship. It is harder to report on issues that matter to the public or to national politics. The self-censorship is really damaging our journalism,” describes Saqib. “Moreover, another problem that journalism faces is the absence of data when you are covering stories, especially the ones that are to be backed by hardcore data. Government organisations don’t really give out data in hard numbers and there is a statistics bureau but they don’t give you real time data,” he adds.

A journalist’s biggest asset is their contacts and they rely on these sources to provide the news they publish. At times, those sources might not share sensitive or critical information in the absence of anonymity – out of fear that they’ll be punished for sharing it. So, it’s imperative to protect these sources – along with yourself – as there’s a public interest in encouraging the disclosure of newsworthy information. “My organisation is cognizant of the fact that we are in a very hostile environment. And, if at times, you have to be near a conflict then there are certain SOPs to be followed and maintain a safe distance. But then again you have to be a good witness of the story so it really is your judgement on how much closer is safe for you. It is a decision we have to take on time. As for sources, I have been able to protect them because nobody has asked for it. But I know that the day I would file a story that would jolt the news industry or Pakistani politics, then it would be hard to protect my sources. We live in an environment that is intimidating, where there is impunity; journalists are killed, attacked, abducted and in those instances, it becomes difficult to protect your sources as there is a life threat to you. So, when push comes to shove then that would be an issue,” reflects Saqib.

No matter where you are in the world, reporting the truth comes with consequences. Those consequences sometimes come in the form of a media law that hinder a journalist’s ability to do their jobs as well as compromise their safety. “The laws in Pakistan don’t protect us, they instead restrict us. For example, Article 9A which guarantees freedom but that guarantee comes with certain restrictions, like you can’t talk about the judiciary or the army. There are certain articles in the constitution that state that you can’t defame a brotherly country of Pakistan. So, these are the restrictions that have been placed and now they have introduced laws like PECA (Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act) and now PM Imran Khan talks about introducing a law against fake news. These laws in Pakistan don’t protect us, they intimidate us,” points out Saqib.

“I think the organisations should take their reporters in confidence. Pakistan doesn’t protect journalists like they are worldwide. At least three journalists have been killed this year only. There should be stronger laws that protect us, whether a woman or a man, a journalist should be protected. The media is changing really fast, especially now that the youth is joining in. If you want to see healthy journalism, the media should be given enough freedom to show the real picture,” suggests Zunaira.

“There are different platforms here including unions that claim they are protecting their journalists and catering to their issues. But somehow, this is hardly the case. There is only a tag and not a lot of work actually being done. Moreover, it’s a sorry state of affairs of the media nowadays. There are salary cuts, downsizing and whatnot. Let alone protection, we hardly have our basics covered. When you don’t have a guarantee of your bread and butter, the protection of your rights and life becomes out of the question,” opines Fatima Nazish.

Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist’s credibility; it takes a lot of courage and honesty to gather and report the news. “The best thing that we can do for journalism and for journalists to thrive in Pakistan is to let it evolve. Let it evolve organically, let there be no restrictions; let people decide which information is credible and which news organisation or journalist is credible. That should be the only yardstick that you should use. Laws that restrict or ban anything should be abolished immediately. If that were to happen, then I can assure you the evolution will come in and all the journalists’ problems would fade away gradually,” concludes Saqib.