akistan is in a complex situation with regards to press freedom. Having moved up seven places – from 157th to 150th out of 180 countries – in the World Press Freedom Index in 2023, it is still among the deadliest countries for journalists where a shrinking segment of media rights activists is struggling for press freedom amid censorship and other challenges.

At the same time, the country is suffering from disinformation, misinformation and propaganda through social media networks that lead to action against those social media influencers who preach false allegations and claims. At times, this has been misinterpreted as a step to curb media freedom.

Pakistan’s media has been suffering from government’s actions and censorship since Independence. Since 1947, journalists have been paying for their commitment to media freedom. Assaults against them have included arrests, murder, physical attacks, closures of news outlets, unemployment and harassment.

No matter how a media outlet designs its editorial policy, the ruling elite of Pakistan tries to influence it and introduces narratives for its gains. This results in a compromised media and limited press freedom. Every government takes steps to control media.

Censorship or pressure on news outlets to impose self-censorship is a common tactic. Pakistan faced one of the harshest censorship regimes when TV journalists were not allowed say the name of Imran Khan, the jailed founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, on screen. It is a routine matter now for editors and heads of newsrooms to receive calls from the Pakistan Electronic Media Authority or other powerful institutions with instructions on what to air and what not to.

Once the powerful elite sensed that ‘requests’ were not always effective, they started enacting laws to impose restrictions on media freedom. These have included the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance that empowered the government to regulate electronic media according to its will.

When laws do not work, the governments use other tactics like harassing and intimidating journalists, slashing government advertisements to media outlets and ordering digital surveillance of journalists.

Interestingly, the political leaders and parties claiming to be the torch-bearers of press freedom often endorse actions against the media once they are in power.

Journalist Hussain Naqi, also an iconic rights movement activist, has been a witness to a long history of executive actions against the freedom of the press in Pakistan. He says that those who struggle for press freedom in Pakistan often face the banning of their publications or are removed from their jobs. “Arresting, torturing and prosecuting journalists on charges of sedition has been a common tactic used by governments against the media.”

He recalls that in the first decade after the creation of Pakistan, several publications including Al-Waheed were banned and dozens of journalists from East Pakistan as well as West Pakistan were arrested for not following the elite’s instructions.

During Gen Ayub’s rule, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, editor of The Pakistan Times; Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, editor of Daily Imroz; Syed Sibte Hasan, editor of Lail-o-Nahar, and several other journalists were arrested. All publications of Progressive Papers Limited were taken over by the state.

He says this process of punishing media and journalists continues to date. However, new methods have been devised by powerful quarters in pursuit of their objectives. Now, he says, they use multiple actors to teach the journalists a ‘lesson.’

The arrests, however, continue.

Mir Shakilur Rehman, editor-in-chief of Jang/ The News is a recent example. He was arrested in a false case after he refused to fall in line with the agenda of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government of Imran Khan and other powerful quarters against the opposition. He was kept in jail for several months.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 97 journalists have been killed for their work since 1992. The conviction rate in the killers’ trials is negligible.

But there is a big difference between the professionalism of past and present media owners and the strength of journalists’ representative unions. The biggest challenge to media freedom is posed by new media owners, who lack professional commitment.

In the wake of electronic media’s mushroom growth in Pakistan (after 2002), more than 80 percent of big media houses are now owned by business tycoons. Many of these fear executive hostility against their businesses and, therefore do not dare resist instructions from the powerful quarters.

On the other hand, Jang group lost billions of rupees under various governments but did not surrender to pressure. Dawn too suffered heavy losses but continued with its independent editorial policy. Nawa-i-Waqt suffered huge losses during Ayub, Bhutto and Musharraf’s rule but stuck to its policy. Late Rehmat Shah Afridi suffered financial losses and was forced to sell some of his property to run The Frontier Post but did not compromise despite pressure from various governments.

Another factor in the plight of the media has been the decline of journalists’ unions that have grown weak due to disunity, factionalism and poor participation.

The author is a senior journalist, teacher of journalism, writer and analyst. His X handle: @BukhariMubasher