There are constitutional guarantees that define freedoms and allowances. Then there are laws that factor in limitations and punishments for transgressions. Both are binding. And then there are charters and codes. These are crucial because they detail high ideals and commitments underpinned by self-regulation. These are voluntary. When you violate laws, the state spurs into action. When constitutional obligations are trespassed, the judiciary springs into defense. But when codes of ethics or conduct are violated, peers pick up the cudgels for standards and their enforcement.

The crisis of credibility that engulfs the media sector in Pakistan today -- recriminations against, discrediting of, and catcalling at business competitors by rival media groups, as well as immense pressure on some media groups by state and non-state actors -- is partly a result of breach of laws and constitutional obligations. But mostly, it is an outcome of the breathtaking liberty taken with a slew of codes of ethics and conduct drafted by various stakeholders of the industry itself but mostly respected in breach than compliance.

The codes

A code of ethics outlines the highest principles of the profession, such as, in media’s case, being the guardian of public interest, focusing on truth, holding those in power accountable, encouraging transparency in exercise of constitutional obligations by the state and giving a voice to the marginalised and the underdog -- and how journalists and media will respect these principles.

A code of conduct denotes a set of detailed self-committed obligations that emphasise the responsibilities of the media, including functioning without fear or favour, avoiding conflict of interest, respecting the rights to dignity and privacy of persons and groups it covers unless they clash with public interest, avoiding wanton defamation or pursuing agendas that undermine public interest, and prescribes a set of self-penalties for violations.

In short, while a code of ethics aims to promote thematic focus and professional standards, a code of conduct emphasises responsibilities that seek to deter professional violations. Where does Pakistani media sector stand in terms of self-commitment to professional excellence as articulated in codes of ethics and conduct? It is a complex situation as a quick glance at the increasingly discredited and, at times, farcical media shows.

The players

At the apex of the media sector are separate regulators -- Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) for private broadcasters (radio and TV), the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for state broadcasters, the state authorities (federal and provincial) for print media, and the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) for telecom and Internet communications. They all have different sets of suggested codes (not all have specific codes of ethics and conduct though). And because they were all formed at various intervals over the decades, their emphases dwell more on don’ts than do’s, and more on the concerns of the authorities of the times than universal principles and professional standards.

At the base of the media sector are two types of media actors -- the media owners and media practitioners. Both have strong representative associations espousing specified missions and objectives. The owners have All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) (for newspapers), Pakistan Broadcasters Assocations (PBA) (for TV channels), Radio Broadcasters Association (RBA) (for radio stations), Pakistan News Agencies Council (PNAC) (for news agencies) and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK) for internet service providers.

The cellular companies don’t have a representative association. The practitioners have Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) (three factions representing working journalists), All Pakistan Newspapers Employees Confederation (APNEC) (for both journalists and other workers of newspapers), NPCC (representing dozens of press clubs) and over 200 stand-alone press clubs across the country. Then there is also the Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE), representing editors but who in most cases also happen to be owners, so it’s not strictly an editor’s guild in the classic sense. Except for the NPCC, APNEC -- and a majority of the stand-alone press clubs -- all have either a code of ethics or a code of conduct, or both.

The problems

So, if Pakistani media sector is awash with a plethora of codes of ethics, why is there a paradoxical increase in ethical and professional violations, including defamation, privacy breaches, ‘accusation’/’allegation’ journalism, internecine media slander and libel, negative coverage of certain minorities, hate speech, exaggerated patriotism and religiosity, caricaturisation of democracy, etc.? What happened to the ideals of accuracy, fairness, and balance that underpins news and current affairs? There are three main reasons why this is so.

1. The fast-paced evolution of the media in Pakistan over the past decade that has increased its size manifold quickly rendered the regulatory regime irrelevant as convergence in technologies changed media dynamics and most attendant rules of the game (such as real-time news, ratings war, emergence of opinion and analysis shows and mobile and superfast Internet). The pacey, pulsing nature of news generation, processing and dissemination has blurred the lines between fact and opinion.

2. The transition from military rule to democratic rule in 2008 and then political-democratic transition in 2013; rise in terrorism, sectarianism, nationalism and religious extremism; and in recent weeks and months the overt intimidation of media by state security agencies directly and through proxies, has injected a great deal of pressure on media houses and journalists. Over one hundred journalists and media workers have been killed in the past decade, reflecting the scale of impunity they face. Resultantly, there have been compromises on journalistic principles, ethics, and conduct of the media as competing coercive agendas against public interest gained ascendancy over the polity.

3. Quick induction of about 16,000 persons as journalists to service dozens of 24/7 current affairs channels and more than 100 radio stations doing news, without any formal qualifications or prior experience resulted in the inevitable compromise over professional standards of news and current affairs. This has been compounded by a dogged refusal by media houses to invest in human resource development and journalistic excellence.

The solutions

So, how to address the issue of reasserting professional standards and who should lead the process? One workable solution that addresses all the key challenges described above is the Media Complaints Commission proposed by Irfan Siddiqui as head of a committee established by the Prime Minister to engage and facilitate media to come up with its own set of unified/consensus code of ethics as well as a media complaints and redressal mechanism that pre-empts crises of credibility and serious professional violations that have emerged in the last few weeks.

The proposed commission should include leading sectoral players, including PBA, APNS, CPNE, PNAC, and PFUJ to promote broader sectoral ownership and legitimacy. The Commission should forge consensus on greater professionalism through self-developed and self-adopted common minimum standards of ethical journalism and media business practices while at the same time also collectively resisting external pressures to compromise on public interest.

An additional measure required is a serious reform of the CPNE. This should be converted into a "Pakistan Council of Editors" or "Editors’ Guild of Pakistan" with non-owner editors, news editors, and news directors as members to provide for the restoration of stringent editorial oversight of news and current affairs operations lost to real-time media dynamics. This guild should be solely focused on fostering professionalism and serving as a buffer between media owners and working journalists and a bulwark against compromises on professionalism and ethical journalism.

Read on page 2: Charter of professionalism

Charter of professionalism

How do we curb violations of journalistic principles and temper pervasive "statement journalism," "allegation/accusation journalism" and "defamation journalism" in Pakistan?

What is the key to media professionalism? A proposed "Charter of Media Professionalism" being currently developed by a group of senior journalists aiming to tackle this task as a means to restoring media credibility proposes to incorporate both a code of ethics and a code of conduct, recognizes that there are is a four-prong route to realizing high standards of media professionalism in Pakistan:

1.        Ethics: The current affairs media and its practitioners will make ethics the guiding framework of the journalism practice. Through their declared policies and conduct, the media and its practitioners will be ethical above all else.

2.        Public interest: In the tension between media’s primary role of guarding public interest and primary function of making profits, the media and its practitioners will make conscious, visible efforts to become the guardian of public interest above all other interests while simultaneously following ethical business practices.

3.     Self-regulation: Media and its practitioners will forge consensus on greater professionalism through self-developed and self-adopted common minimum standards of ethical journalism and media business practices while at the same time also collectively resisting external pressures to compromise on public interest.

4.        Safety: Media and its practitioners will consider their safety and security supreme to ensure that Freedom of Expression (Article 19 of the Constitution of Pakistan) and Right to Information (Article 19A) are upheld. Any attack on any journalist or media house will be considered an attack on the entire media and on these constitutional rights; and steps will be taken to ensure safety and security of media to combat impunity against them.

Read on page 3: Reforms afoot 

 Reforms afoot

Currently, the following initiatives are afoot to reform various codes of ethics and conduct by various media stakeholders:

A "Charter of Media Professionalism" is being drafted by a group of concerned senior journalists from English and Urdu electronic and print media to restore the credibility of the media. This aims to combine both fundamental codes of ethics and conduct in the context of lessons learnt from recent media crisis. Drafted from the perspective of working journalists, there are plans to get this charter endorsed by all leaderships of all factions of PFUJ, 50 largest press clubs of the country and a big chunk of Pakistan’s 18,000 journalists.

A "Consolidated Code of Conduct for Media Houses" is being drafted by a special committee set up by the prime minister in the chairmanship of Irfan Siddiqui with presidents of PBA, APNS and CPNE as members. This code, being drafted from the perspective of media owners and their media houses, aims to address policy shortcomings in terms of the recent crisis and ISI-government-media deadlock over handling it.

A "Code of Media Safety" has just been drafted under the aegis of Pakistan Coalition on Media Safety (PCOMS) with broad-based consultations from top editors, anchorpersons, news directors and reporters from key media houses and from both print and electronic media. The code outlines detailed guidelines and do’s and don’ts for media houses, working journalists and media workers aimed at reducing risks and threats to them and combating impunity against media.