Media under fire.

Byline: I.A. Rehman

THE rapidness with which journalists, rights activists, lawyers and mainstream political parties have come together to defend the right to freedom of expression is obviously due to the seriousness of the establishment's efforts to control not only the flow of information but the citizens' thought process as well.

The challenges to the media have once again been spelt out by the Institute for Research, Advocacy and Development in its annual report for 2019. Bearing the spine-chilling title Coercive Censorship, Muted Dissent: Pakistan Descends into Silence, the report highlights the following instances of the media's tribulations in 2019:

The cabinet approved the plan to set up the Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority (PMRA) to control publications, electronic channels and digital media; abolish the Press Council and the principle of media persons' say in disciplinary actions against members of the fraternity; replace voluntary and perpetually valid declarations to print and publish newspapers/periodicals with licences valid for one year only, renewable by the registrar on his terms. This plan will make all forms of media dependent on the bureaucracy's whim and caprice.

Plan to set up media courts; stoutly rejected by media associations and rights organisations.

Journalists killed in 2019: seven.

The biggest losers of the practice of shooting the messenger are the government and the people.

Journalist Nasrullah sentenced to five years in prison by an anti-terrorism court for possessing literature that any investigative journalist should collect while doing a story on extremists.

Use of the cybercrime law including in the well-known cases against Rizwanur Rahman and Shahzeb Jillani.

The FIA starts an inquiry against journalists for posting slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi's picture on social media.

Leading magazines Herald and Newsline cease publication - the government is not free from blame.

Need for a law to protect journalists: no progress.

On Pemra's excesses, the report gives details of 20 show-cause notices, five advisories, five notices and nine directives issued during the year to its licensees that amount to attempts at controlling broadcast content instead of market regulation. It also takes notice of Pemra's orders barring the airing of programmes by TV channels and preventing the appearance of certain individuals as guests at talk shows.

The 2016 Pemra ban on the airing of Indian content by TV channels and FM...