In chains

THE question should never be about who is at the receiving end at any given point in time: an assault on an individual or institution’s freedom is an assault on everyone’s freedoms. Last week, 600 journalists from all over the country lent their voice to a declaration rejecting a law that has unreasonably limited the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech granted to every citizen under Article 19. Having gathered in Islamabad for a convention titled ‘Media Laws, Regulations and Ethics’, organised by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ), Pakistani journalists and media practitioners have demanded that parliament review all laws affecting them that contradict Article 19, while formally rejecting the Peca 2025 amendments, which the Declaration terms “a draconian ‘black law’ specifically engineered to facilitate the arm-twisting of journalists and the suppression of Pakistan’s media landscape”. The Declaration offers valuable insights into the state of Pakistani media today. Men and women who have dedicated their lives, their physical health and mental well-being, to championing the rights and interests of the public, feel they are constantly under siege. Their jobs are increasingly unsafe and no longer guaranteed; salaries that once represented middle-class stability have been eroded massively by breakneck inflation; the state refuses or fails to provide them with physical or economic security; and reputations built over years of dedicated work are now under constant attack by whoever disagrees with their views. There is, therefore, much resentment against those seen as responsible for the difficulties journalists have been facing. The government, in particular, receives flak for taking advantage of the industry’s weakened economics to try to force the media to give up their principled positions through various means of coercion. It is hoped that this Declaration can provide the impetus needed