DISCREDITING the media seems to have become a national

pastime. On Tuesday, it was dialled up a notch when the PTI’s

official Twitter account fired off over two dozen tweets in English
and Urdu suggesting that some journalists were engaged in anti-
state propaganda and that certain reportage could be considered
“treason”. In the echo chamber that is social media, several
hashtags targeting journalism soon made an appearance, with
two of them trending at the top in Pakistan. Analysing some of
the data, a report in Dawn on Thursday revealed that besides the
PTI’s official account, several verified Twitter accounts of the
ruling party’s regional chapters were participating in the
campaign. The prime minister’s focal person on digital media
described the Twitter campaign to this paper as an effort to
“educate” journalists which had been “blown out of context”.

The PTI’s antipathy to a vibrant media that presents diverse points of view
has become quite apparent since it came to power last year. The party’s
supporters on social media also tend to display a rigid mindset that brooks
no dissent, a characteristic that by definition puts them at odds with what
journalism stands for — not a public relations exercise but a means to hold
the powerful to account. Some journalists have in the recent past been
accused of anti-state activities; some are still under a cloud of suspicion,
deliberately created to silence them and discredit their views as being
dictated by a foreign agenda. However, for the government to imply from
an official platform that some media persons are guilty of committing
treason is dog-whistle tactics of the worst kind and should be roundly
condemned. Pakistan, particularly under authoritarian governments, has a
disgraceful history of labelling as a traitor anyone who can act as a check on
absolute power or who propagates a point of view that does not conform to
the official narrative. Let alone others, even the sister of the nation’s
founder was not spared. To conflate journalism — or certain types of
journalism — with crimes against the state, even while lauding the concept
of freedom of speech as a pillar of democracy, is sheer sophistry. Moreover,
in Pakistan’s polarised and hyper-nationalistic atmosphere, the dangerous
consequences of being labelled a traitor can never be underestimated.
There is a vast difference between critiquing policy — in other words, fair
comment — and conspiring to overthrow the state. Perhaps the government
needs to “educate” itself.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2019

The ruling party has linking critical coverage by the press to

potential “treason” in its latest broadside against the country's
beleaguered media.
The official account of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) fired off over two
dozen tweets in English and Urdu late Tuesday, lambasting the press for
criticism, saying it can be deemed “Anti-State”.

“Freedom of Expression is beauty of Democracy. Expressing Enemy's

Stance is Not Freedom of speech but treason against its people,” read one
tweet.

“Media houses & journalists must take care that in their quest for criticism
on State, they intentionally or unintentionally do not end up propagating
enemy's stance,” read another, with the hashtag JournalismNotAgenda.

Pakistan routinely ranks among the world's most dangerous countries for
media workers, and reporters have frequently been detained, beaten and
even killed for being critical of the government or military.

In recent years, the space for dissent has shrunk further, with the
government announcing a crackdown on social networks and traditional
media houses decrying pressure from authorities that they say has resulted
in widespread self-censorship.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders recently warned of “disturbing

dictatorial tendencies” after three Pakistani TV stations were briefly taken
off air in what it called “brazen censorship”.

The Committee to Protect Journalists last year warned that the military had
“quietly, but effectively, set restrictions on reporting”.

The government has defended its record, and last week Foreign Minister
Shah Mehmood Qureshi told a media freedom conference in London that
there was “no question of gagging” journalists after being challenged on his
country's record.

Among other tweets, the PTI also warned that the media was a “powerful
tool of depicting the positive image of our country. Anti-State actions not
only impact the credibility of our journalism community but also sends out
a wrong message to the worl