http://www.dailytimes.com.pk ,Friday, December 21, 2012
In Pakistan, as the report has indicated, journalists have become a soft and easy target for those who are against impartial reporting. Ten journalists have so far been killed this year. Those reporting from FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa face the greatest risk. The death of journalists in conflict zones is of course a matter of grave concern, but targeted killings of journalists is an even more terrible emerging phenomenon that needs due attention. Saleem Shahzad and Wali Babar are two prominent cases, where not only is the offence shrouded in mystery, all nine of the witnesses in the case of Wali Babar have been killed one after the other. Given the track record of the police, it is uncertain whether anything will come out of these cases. How can this threatening situation be averted depends on the approach we adopt. The journalist fraternity, starting from reporters to editors and publishers, has to raise its voice against targeted killing of journalists. We need laws that make it incumbent on both the print and electronic media to provide training and safety equipment to journalists reporting from conflict zones. There should also be life insurance for reporters in such situations.
This is the price the media is having to pay for gaining freedom and the empowerment it brings in its train. Technology has made journalism a very risky and at the same time important medium of expression, that could not be barred nor restricted. Precisely for these reasons, journalists need protection while doing their job. Of course the best such protection comes from a mature, civilised, democratic and tolerant society that eschews the language of weapons for the weapon of language. *
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012%5C12%5C21%5Cstory_21-12-2012_pg3_1
According to figures published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), 2012 has been the deadliest year for journalists the world over. Around 88 journalists have been killed so far. This includes the new breed of citizen journalists who have been reporting from conflict zones such as Syria, Egypt and other places, giving on location details of the events they encounter, at times including video footage. Three countries have been singled out by the Paris-based media monitoring group as most dangerous to journalists, cameramen and photographers: Syria, Somalia and Pakistan. The death toll for this year is a third more than the previous year and the highest since figures began to be compiled 17 years ago. The reason for this increase, as told by Christophe Deloire, the head of RSF, is that those responsible for crimes against journalists are never punished. Because there is no follow up in nearly all cases, the criminals carry on fearlessly. The absence of the fear factor that the long arm of the law will nail any perpetrator is making every passing year more dreadful for journalists.
In Pakistan, as the report has indicated, journalists have become a soft and easy target for those who are against impartial reporting. Ten journalists have so far been killed this year. Those reporting from FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa face the greatest risk. The death of journalists in conflict zones is of course a matter of grave concern, but targeted killings of journalists is an even more terrible emerging phenomenon that needs due attention. Saleem Shahzad and Wali Babar are two prominent cases, where not only is the offence shrouded in mystery, all nine of the witnesses in the case of Wali Babar have been killed one after the other. Given the track record of the police, it is uncertain whether anything will come out of these cases. How can this threatening situation be averted depends on the approach we adopt. The journalist fraternity, starting from reporters to editors and publishers, has to raise its voice against targeted killing of journalists. We need laws that make it incumbent on both the print and electronic media to provide training and safety equipment to journalists reporting from conflict zones. There should also be life insurance for reporters in such situations.
This is the price the media is having to pay for gaining freedom and the empowerment it brings in its train. Technology has made journalism a very risky and at the same time important medium of expression, that could not be barred nor restricted. Precisely for these reasons, journalists need protection while doing their job. Of course the best such protection comes from a mature, civilised, democratic and tolerant society that eschews the language of weapons for the weapon of language. *
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012%5C12%5C21%5Cstory_21-12-2012_pg3_1
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