KARACHI: Pakistani Media was among most vibrant in South Asia but facing threats from the extremists groups, Islamists organizations and intelligence agencies. The Journalists in Balochistan received ultimatums from armed groups as they refused to cover actions and statements of Islamic States (ISIS), Al-Qaeda and Separatists groups.

Pakistani was marked 139 amongst 180 countries in Reporters without Borders (RSF) Index list of World Press Freedom. Norway marked First in Press Freedom List while North Korea was marked 180 and declared as worse country for the Media in the World Press Freedom index list of RSF for 2018. In South Asia Afghanistan marked 118 and India marked 138 in RSF List.

The Reporters without Borders stated that the Pakistani media was regarded as among the most vibrant in Asia but they were targeted by extremist groups. The various warring parties were always ready to denounce acts of “sacrilege” by the media. The central and regional governments and members of political and religious organizations are also quick to harass, threaten, or physically attack journalists regarded as insufficiently sympathetic to their views.

Deadly attacks against journalists continue to take place every year, even if the number has tended to fall in the past five years. In October 2017, armed groups in the southwestern province of Balochistan issued an ultimatum to journalists, threatening them with violence if they continued to refuse to cover the actions and statements of these groups coverage that the journalists have not been providing under orders from the security forces.

A month later, reporters were again caught in the crossfire when they tried to cover protests by religious activists that brought Islamabad to a standstill. The natural consequence has been an increase in newsroom self-censorship.

Former Head of Mass Communication Department of Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST) Professor Tauseef Ahmed Khan said that “Space for civilian decreased in Media in Past Three Years in Pakistan. Media is under attack in Pakistan, these attacks were not from government side but state forces threatened media, “adding that News papers and TV Channels were received directives from Military for on airing and Publishing of News which was unethical act of state forces.”

Tauseef Ahmed Khan told Balochistan Express that Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) News was not given space in Pakistani Print and Electronic Media as state forces banned PTM for coverage in Pakistani Media.

In India, Hindu nationalists trying to purge all manifestations of “anti-national” thought from the national debate, self-censorship is growing in the mainstream media and journalists are increasingly the targets of online smear campaigns by the most radical nationalists, who vilify them and even threaten physical reprisals. At least three of the journalists murdered in 2017 were targeted in connection with their work.

They included the newspaper editor Gauri Lankesh, who had been the target of a hate campaign on social networks. Three other journalists were killed for their professional activity in March 2018.

Prosecutions are also used to gag journalists who are overly critical of the government, with some prosecutors invoking Section 124a of the penal code, under which “sedition” is punishable by life imprisonment. No journalist has so far been convicted of sedition but the threat encourages self-censorship.

Coverage of regions that the authorities regard as sensitive, such as Kashmir, continues to be very difficult. Foreign reporters are barred from the region and the Internet is often disconnected there. When not detained, Kashmiri journalists working for local media outlets are often the targets of violence by soldiers acting with the central government’s tacit consent.

Jatin Desai, an Indian Journalist said that “Indian media is passing through a difficult period. Now it stands on 138th place. Last year it was on 136. We are witnessing paid media and also influence of money and power on the functioning of media, he told Balochistan Express.”

The editors or journos who ask difficult questions to the ruling elites are either asked to leave organizations or they leave organizations due to curtail in their freedom said “Jatin Desai, adding that Journalists are threatened, harassed and even murdered. The media is losing its credibility”. Readers are shifting to digital media and especially to the websites like the wire, scroll, the print etc. It is time for the Indian and Pakistani journalists to introspect, intervene and see freedom of the press prevails.

According to RSF, An Article 100 of Norway’s 1814 constitution prepared the ground for media freedom. Today, the media are free and journalists are not subject to censorship or political pressure. Violence against journalists and media is rare, although some have been threatened by Islamist fundamentalists in recent years.

The Media Ownership Act, a 1997 anti-concentration law that banned media groups from owning more than 40% of the shares in any TV station, radio station, or newspaper, was repealed in 2016 because it was regarded as unable to respond to the rapidly evolving media landscape. It was replaced by a media ownership transparency law that is less restrictive about concentration and is governed by legislation on competition.

Norway’s media authority, Mediatilsynet and the competition authority must now work together to ensure media diversity. The new, conservative-led coalition government cut subsidies for the media in the budget it presented in October 2017.

Low-circulation newspapers and regional newspapers trying to survive in an increasingly competitive environment will be hard hit by this. The Norwegian National Human Rights Institution has criticized the government’s new code of criminal procedure on the grounds that it will not increase protection for the confidentiality of journalists’ sources because it was not sufficiently clear about the circumstances in which the police are allowed to violate this confidentiality.

The past year was a particularly deadly one for journalists in Afghanistan. At least 15 journalists and media workers were killed, many in targeted attacks on the media. By sowing terror in some regions, the Taliban and Islamic State militants have created information black holes. In some provinces, the Taliban forced the media to pay arbitrary taxes that were tantamount to ransoms.

Many governors and local officials are meanwhile unable to accept the principle of media independence, and the police and military have been implicated in several cases of violence against journalists.

The decline in security has had a direct impact on the number of women working in the media. Many of them have been forced to abandon their work because of growing threats and the climate of violence they face. In response to the threats, the Afghan authorities and media representatives have jointly launched coordination committees for the safety of journalists and media.

The blast on April 30, 2018 killed more journalists than any other single attack since the fall of the Taliban government in December 2001. A suicide car bombing in January 2016 targeting a Tolo TV minibus killed seven of the privately-owned TV channel’s employees. Afghanistan was ranked 118th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2018 World Press Freedom Index.

According to RSF’s tally, a total of 34 journalists and media workers have been killed since the start of 2016 in attacks by Islamic State and the Taliban, which are both on RSF’s list of press freedom predators. RSF offers its condolences to the families and colleagues of the victims of today’s double-bombing.

North Korea continues to be ranked last in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index. Headed by Kim Jong-un since 2012, its totalitarian regime keeps its citizens in a state of ignorance. The widespread adoption of mobile phones, including smart phones, has been accompanied by technical measures that provide the regime with almost complete control over communications and files transmitted over the national intranet.

Foreign Journalist Nubia Rojas told Balochistan Express that “I don’t think so, I am afraid that the People cannot even use the internet in North Korea.”

North Koreans can still be sent to a concentration camp for viewing, reading or listening to content provided by a media outlet based outside the country. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) is the permitted source of official news for the country’s other media. Ostensibly, the Korean authorities are displaying greater flexibility towards the international media, allowing more foreign reporters to cover official events.

In September 2016, Agence France-Presse (AFP) even opened a bureau in partnership with KCNA, as the Associated Press already did in 2012. In reality, the regime continues to exercise meticulous control over the information available to the foreign media.