"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." -Voltaire
The latest Press Freedom Index of 2009, compiled on the basis of questionnaires completed by hundreds of journalists and media experts around the world, Pakistan ranked 159 out of 175 countries.
"The press is caught in a vice between the Taliban which has stepped up its attacks and the security forces who continue in their old ways of harassing journalists. The country has scores of privately owned television and radio stations, putting it on the path of an information revolution comparable to that experienced by India about ten years ago. The media is increasingly belligerent in its coverage of political and socio-economic problems, despite the huge risks."
Given that Pakistan’s media revolution occurred at the inception of the country, during partition/independence the rankings reflect the increasing need for the media to critique itself to assess what has gone so horribly wrong in our country .
Media independence and unbiased reporting are the corner stones of a successful democracy and society. They are meant to be the voice of the downtrodden, the abused and the neglected. Their function is meant to help alleviate and correct the inconsistencies that exist in a society. It is only in our BEST INTEREST that a free, powerful, competitive and independent Press exists for a 2 main reasons:
- A powerful press will give a voice to the neglected and the weak, and publicize wrongs in our society so that they do not spread like a plague.
- A powerful competitive press will keep the checks and balances upon each other so that they themselves are not part of the process of abuse.
It is our duty as citizens to ensure that a Free Press exists without harassment without impediment. It is in our mutual benefit as citizen's that we protect our rights, and enable them to voice our concerns. In a country increasingly dominated by the rich and powerful, a free press enables us to fight back with what little we do have.
Recently, the PPP-led government suggested the Pakistani press be more “guarded” in their reporting, leading many to bristle immediately, suspicious that caution would inevitably mean censorship. PPP politician and former information minister Sherry Rehman spoke to Al Jazeera saying she appreciated the media’s concerns and noted, “They need to be made stakeholders in this consultation, because if we don’t do that, then there’s going to be polarization…and that will not profit either the government or the media or society.”
Such hypocritical rhetoric is painful to see especially in an elected government.
- Why should the government, of all organizations, be scared of what the Media has to say?
- What is it that they fear we will find out?
- Do they not remember that it was our VOTES that gave them that position of authority?
I leave you with a few thoughts from History:
- "Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime." — Potter Stewart
- "Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. — Alfred Whitney Griswold, New York Times, 24 February 1959
- "The test of democracy is freedom of criticism." — David Ben-Gurion
- "For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people." — John F. Kennedy
- "I fear the newspapers more than a hundred thousand bayonets." — Napoleon Bonaparte
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