Making Pakistani journalism safer

BY Adnan Rehmat| IN Opinion | 28/06/2011

An independent Pakistan Journalist Safety Fund has been established to offer a broad range of technical, material and/or financial support to journalists in distress anywhere in Pakistan.

ADNAN REHMAT describes recent initiatives which have current relevance for India.

Reprinted from Islamabad Dateline, June 24, 2011

Media Matters/Pakistan

ADNAN REHMAT

The rise of terrorism in Pakistan during the past decade has made the country one of the most dangerous countries on the planet to practice journalism. About 75 journalists have been killed in the line of duty since 2000 and hundreds injured, kidnapped or arrested in the same period.

There has been a lot of talk about how to reduce this risk and make journalism a safer profession to be in. A lot of hope rides on an independent commission under a Supreme Court judge to probe not just the sad murder journalist Saleem Shahzad but also why there is such as high incidence of threat to life and work of journalists in Pakistan.

Something more to cheer about for journalists is also the launch of a new initiative jointly by Pakistani media support organization Intermedia in conjunction with the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists to: (a) Improve capacity of journalists to practice safe journalism; (b) Raise general awareness about risks facing journalists; and (c) Setting up the Pakistan Journalists Safety Fund (PJSF) to help journalists in distress.

The launch follows a survey conducted over the past few months as part of a project that included training on safety issues for journalists and advocacy on the subject with key media stakeholders including independent media, government authorities, security apparatus, political parties and civil society, which highlighted the dire need – and widespread demand! – for creating awareness among the senior journalists including editors, reporters and camera persons on the importance of developing standard safety protocols that can serve as institutional, in-house guidelines on reducing risks for journalists in the field and also on reducing the pressures on the media sector in general.

In this connection, a consultation with senior media leaders including both owners and editors of Pakistan’s mainstream media groups including newspapers, TV channels and radio stations in resulted in a consensus on developing a consensus to adopt a collective mechanism to develop and promote guidelines and safety protocols for media practitioners that are easy to adopt and which can be implemented voluntarily. The media leadership expressed enthusiasm for the initiative and pledged support to take this forward.

This demonstrates a positive and consensual approach by Pakistan’s media sector and raises the hope that by voluntarily undertaking this initiative to implement the relatively simple but expressly important standards, the safety and security of its practitioners will be enhanced.

There was a general agreement during the consultation that building the capacity solely of journalists in the field on adopting safety best practices to keep themselves from harm will not be enough and that the knowledge and practical guidelines will work best when their senior counterparts in the Newsroom – editors, news editors and other desk heads – also understand and support the measures, in tandem with their reporters and camera persons. This project will, therefore, encourage partnerships between media managements and media practitioners as well as between media sector and the government authorities, to create a safer environment for journalists.

To help the efforts to develop a professional and responsible media that follows best practices on safety and ethics, a series of media-friendly activities are shortly being launched by Intermedia with the partnership of PFUJ and the leadership of mainstream media groups in Pakistan. Some of these will include the following:

Media Safety Protocols

This will include technical support and facilitation to introduce and institutionalize Media Safety Protocols entailing a draft of best practices on the subject that can be discussed and developed collectively or individually and put up for voluntary adoption within individual Newsrooms across Pakistan supported by their respective senior editorial management.

Best Practices Guide on Media Safety

A Best Practices Guidebook on Safety for Media will be developed in both English and Urdu for wide dissemination among the media practitioners to increase their knowledge about the subject as well as offering practical guidelines on reducing the risk margins for themselves in the field.

Training on Journalism Safety

A series of 4-day training workshops for journalists from across Pakistan on safe journalism practices and keeping themselves from harm through professional techniques. Practical training techniques will be imparted in tandem with internationally recognized safety trainers and a security firm.

Dialogues on Media Safety

A series of dialogues between media and key national stakeholders such as government authorities, security establishment, civil society and others will be held to raise awareness about the risks that media faces and to develop consensus and support for media.

Helping Journalists in Distress

An independent Pakistan Journalist Safety Fund has been established to offer a broad range of technical, material and/or financial support to journalists in distress anywhere in Pakistan. It is administered by a Steering Committee comprising independent and widely respected peers from among the media, legal fraternity and civil society sectors.

Adnan Rehmat is a media analyst based in Islamabad. He can be contacted on adrehmat@gmail.com