{"id":12238,"date":"2021-09-29T12:43:44","date_gmt":"2021-09-29T12:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/?p=12238"},"modified":"2021-09-29T12:43:44","modified_gmt":"2021-09-29T12:43:44","slug":"pakistan-government-wants-to-impose-centralized-censorship-office-to-control-press-media-rsf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/pakistan-government-wants-to-impose-centralized-censorship-office-to-control-press-media-rsf\/","title":{"rendered":"PAKISTAN GOVERNMENT WANTS TO IMPOSE CENTRALIZED CENSORSHIP OFFICE TO CONTROL PRESS & MEDIA – RSF"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Islamabad; 29 Sep 2021 – Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is appalled by the Pakistani government\u2019s new draft media law which, if passed unchanged, would impose a media tribunal able to issue arbitrary decisions with no possibility of appeal by journalists or public.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

RSF and its Pakistani partner, Freedom Network, are\u00a0supporting<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0campaign<\/a>\u00a0that Pakistani media outlets and journalists have launched against the proposed legislation, which was first unveiled in June and would create a powerful new entity called the Pakistani Media Development Authority (PMDA).<\/h3>\n

Despite widespread outrage and civil society protests, the government is sticking to its plan to submit the bill to parliament in its current form. According to the information minister, who is leading the charge, the proposed law will replace five other laws that regulate the media. But legislative rationalisation is just an excuse for what will streamline and considerably strengthen the government\u2019s ability to control journalistic content.<\/h3>\n

\u201cWe urge the Pakistani government to immediately abandon the PMDA bill, which, as it stands, carries within it the seeds of a centralised censorship office typical of the worst authoritarian regimes,\u201d said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF\u2019s Asia-Pacific desk. \u201cIf adopted, it would reestablish martial law for the media, recalling the worst moments of military dictatorship that Pakistan has known. This bill\u2019s provisions are utterly incompatible with a democratic system.\u201d<\/h3>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Extending censorship to online content<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By introducing a \u201csingle-window\u201d system for handling all disputes about journalistic content, the PMDA would enable the government to curb the freedom to provide news and information online, as it has already succeeded in doing, to a considerable extent, with the traditional media.<\/h3>\n

RSF already criticised similar proposed decrees twice in 2020, first\u00a0in February<\/a>\u00a0and then\u00a0in December<\/a>. In Pakistan, the digital domain is seen as the only place left where information circulates outside government control.<\/h3>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Broadening censorship\u2019s range<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Public criticism of Islam, the military and the justice system are currently penalised in Pakistan. This proposed law would also ban \u201cundue criticism\u201d of the president and parliamentarians, \u201cdemoralising the armed forces\u201d and satirising religious officials.<\/h3>\n

The absence of any definition of these offences would give the PMDA\u2019s members a free hand to interpret them in a completely arbitrary manner and thereby to trample on the guarantees for press freedom in Pakistan\u2019s 1973 constitution.<\/h3>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Imposing a strict \u201cinformation permit\u201d system<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Every source of news and information, whether a national TV network or a blogger\u2019s social media page or video channel, would be required by the PMDA bill to obtain a licence to publish or broadcast.<\/h3>\n

This licence, valid for five or 15 years, would be subject to annual revision. In practice, this would enable the PMDA\u2019s members to silence any outlet or individual not to their liking by rescinding their licence.<\/h3>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Creating a \u201cmedia tribunal\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Under the proposed law, any media outlet, professional journalist or ordinary information provider violating the regulations could be sentenced by the PMDA to a fine of 25 million rupees (126,000 euros) or three years in prison.<\/h3>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Giving the government absolute control<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Under the bill, the PMDA\u2019s members would be appointed by the various government ministers and officials concerned. In practice, this would enable the government to exercise strict control over what the PMDA could ban or permit.<\/h3>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lack of recourse<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The bill provides for no credible appeal mechanism that would allow media outlets, journalists or members of the public falling within its scope to challenge its validity in a court of law. The PMDA bill thereby calls into question the normal relationship between executive and judicial power.<\/h3>\n

Pakistan is ranked 145th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2021\u00a0World Press Freedom Index<\/a>.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Islamabad; 29 Sep 2021 – Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is appalled by the Pakistani government\u2019s new draft media law which, if passed unchanged, would impose a media tribunal able to issue arbitrary decisions with no possibility of appeal by journalists or public. RSF and its Pakistani partner, Freedom Network, are\u00a0supporting\u00a0the\u00a0campaign\u00a0that Pakistani media outlets and journalists […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,46],"tags":[1769,1668,73,48,1657,1060],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12238"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12238"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12240,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12238\/revisions\/12240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}