Tag: Journalist freedom

  • Journalist removed from PTV panel after questioning PM Shehbaz

    Journalist removed from PTV panel after questioning PM Shehbaz

    President of Lahore Press Club, Azam Chaudhry, was dismissed by state-run PTV after questioning Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the “diminishing space for freedom of speech” and the increased restrictions over media in Pakistan during a press conference in the provincial capital. 

    Chaudhry posed a two-part question to the prime minister, addressing both widespread media restrictions in the country as well as the interim government’s plan to continue executing the current economic policy. He inquired about the end of media restrictions, specifically, when would journalists be granted the freedom to speak and write without constraint. 

    In response, Prime Minister Shehbaz expressed his disapproval of curbs on media freedom but deflected responsibility to Federal Minister for Information & Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb, while acknowledging the need to distinguish between politics and the authority of the state, emphasized that the two should be treated separately.

    In a conversation with The Current, Chaudhry revealed that he was reportedly told by PTV right after the conference that he would not be invited back to his regularly scheduled program Ba-khaber, of which he is one of the pioneer journalists since 2022. 

    He also shared that he was informed earlier in the day that PTV would be doing a panel program after the press conference with two other journalists, Sajjad Mir and Salman Ghani. However, after his questions to PM Shehbaz, he was taken off-air and told that he was no longer with PTV.

    Many news platforms have reported that Azam Chaudhry lost his contract with the state channel; he asserts that he never claimed to be an employee of PTV. He was working as a freelance journalist, with an ‘approval letter’ stating he would be paid PKR 18,000 per program appearance (for Ba-khaber), for three programs per week. 

    According to Chaudhry, the moment the press conference concluded, PTV verbally conveyed to him that he would not be invited back to present on Ba-khaber, so he could take his leave. 

    Speaking to The Current, Chaudhry chuckled at how well-punctuated his point at the press conference became after his dismissal. “I talked about freedom of expression at the press conference, and I was off-aired right after – it proves my initial point [of ongoing media restrictions]”. 

    Ironically enough, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was reportedly discussing his government’s media-friendly policy at the very same press conference, chiding the previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for only inviting “chosen journalists” to media interactions. According to the Tribune, however, leading journalists from prominent English dailies were excluded from this particular press conference.

    Marriyum Aurangzeb tweeted earlier that the story is “completely false and baseless”. She reiterated Dar’s point of the previous PTI government being declared a ‘Press Freedom Predator’ by Reporters Without Borders, and only allowing selected reporters and journalists to its press conferences. 

    In conversation with the Express Tribune, Chaudhry said journalists in Pakistan were operating in a “very suffocating environment”, where they were not allowed to express themselves freely. 

    “I was not fired on establishment’s orders, I was fired by this government, but in the larger scheme of things, people would blame them.” he said, adding that this tenure also “exposes Pakistan People’s Party and their claims of being upholders of democratic principles”.

  • Twitter receives record number of govt requests to remove content, including India’s

    Twitter receives record number of govt requests to remove content, including India’s

    Twitter has revealed that a record number of requests have been made from several governments around the world to remove content from the social media platform between January and June 2021.

    According to the platform, 95 per cent of the demands came from five countries which include Japan, Russia, Turkey, India and South Korea.

    The company said that in July 2021, it had seen a surge in government demands to take down content posted by journalists and news outlets.

    In a report, they said that 43,387 legal demands for the removal of content from 196,878 accounts were made in the six months. It is the largest number of such requests in a reporting period since Twitter started releasing its transparency reports in 2012.

    Sinead McSweeney, Twitter’s vice president of global public policy and philanthropy, said, “We’re facing unprecedented challenges as governments around the world increasingly attempt to intervene and remove content. This threat to privacy and freedom of expression is a deeply worrying trend that requires our full attention.”

    Previously, Twitter faced high-profile tussles with governments from India to Nigeria over content moderation and regulation.

  • Journalist Ahmad Noorani says linking ‘an incident of attack in Lahore’ with his Saqib Nisar audio leak is ‘incorrect’

    Journalist Ahmad Noorani says linking ‘an incident of attack in Lahore’ with his Saqib Nisar audio leak is ‘incorrect’

    Investigative Journalist Ahmad Noorani has clarified the story about the attack on his wife by saying that “linking an attack incident with his [former Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar] story is incorrect.”

    He tweeted, “Many media persons and friends are connecting an incident of attack in Lahore with me and my recent story about Justice Saqib Nisar’s audio. This is incorrect. I have stated many times and I reiterate that a high-powered judicial commission should probe all allegations against Saqib Nisar.”

    Earlier, it was reported that his wife Ambreen Fatima was attacked in Lahore on Wednesday.

    Punjab Police, confirming the incident tweeted, “An investigation was initiated when the lady in question came to the station with the car,” the statement said, adding that a case had been registered against an unidentified person.

    “Teams led by the concerned Superintendent of Police (SP) are working on arresting and identifying the accused with the help of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras,” police added.

    Moreover, Dawn reported that in a First Information Report (FIR) Ambreen Fatima, who is also a journalist, stated that she and her children left their house at 8pm on Wednesday.

    Her statement reads: “When we reached an adjoining street, an unidentified person raced towards the car and struck the vehicle’s windscreen three to four times with an iron object with the intention to cause me harm.”

    Fatima said the person also hurled death threats before running away.

    Fatima added that she did not have rivalry with anyone and urged police to take action and provide her with protection.

    This suspicious incident took place after her husband, Ahmad Noorani published a story about the former CJP Saqib Nisar, who has become controversial after the alleged audio tape (which story was reported by Ahmad) and a signed affidavit by former Chief Judge (CJ) of the apex court of Gilgit Baltistan Rana M Shamim.

    After the news, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s (PML-N) spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb revealed that she had personally spoken to Fatima about the incident and said Fatima’s strength was admirable.

    PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, while condemning the attack, said that the incident should be investigated at the highest level and the perpetrators should be punished in accordance with the law.