KARACHI: Jeremy Dear, Deputy Gen. Sec. of Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), who is on a 4-day visit of Pakistan, addressed an event ‘Working Environment in Pakistan for Journalists’ organised by PFUJ and KUJ at the Ball Room of Hotel Pearl Continental here today. 

KARACHI: President PFUJ G. M. Jamali snapped receiving the Governor of Sindh Imran IsmailKARACHI: Governor of Sindh Imran Ismail also graced the occasion.Jeremy Dear held: “It is normal to start such events by saying how pleased you are to be here. But the truth is I am not. Before you think me rude or ungrateful for your hospitality let me explain.

When I was preparing some thoughts about what to say in advance of coming here, I thought I would start my comments expressing the IFJ’s anger at the death of ZAFAR ABBAS.

But then our colleague AZIZ MEMON was brutally murdered, strangled his body tied up and dumped in an irrigation canal.

Or I thought I would talk about the threat posed to media freedom by the physical threats and intimidation faced by Dawn employees but then came the sentencing of NASARULLAH CHAUDHARY, convicted under the terrorism act for simply possessing banned literature.

Or I I thought I would talk about the unjustified loss of jobs at ARY and AAJ News but then almost 80 workers were fired at JANG MULTAN just last week.

Or I would talk about proposals to set up special media tribunals but then new social media regulations that threaten sweeping control of internet news program were introduced.

Or I would talk about the threat which brings shame on Pakistan’s media – the death by stress of yet another journalist or cameraman like RIZWAN MALIK.

And then NAFEEZ AHMED died of a heart attack after being admitted to hospital, after calling his employer from the hospital pleading for his unpaid wages and medical support.

Our heart goes out to the family, friends and colleagues of all those journalists killed – whether by the assassin’s hand or by corporate greed.
And it goes to show that not a day goes by, not a week passes without Pakistani journalists facing death threats, arrests, sackings, abuses of their professional and labour rights, without being unlawfully denied their wages, without being driven to despair and beyond.

Of course, it is true that across the world journalism is under threat.
Last year 49 journalists were killed, impunity reigns in 90% of cases, hundreds of internet shutdowns occurred – in Kashmir, journalists still face an unlawful and outrageous communications blackout.

New technologies which offered such opportunities to enhance journalism and for an extension of democratic rights and freedoms are instead being used by greedy employers to cut costs and undermine quality journalism or are controlled by undemocratic governments to silence or dictate the message.

Citizens rights to a diverse and pluralistic media are being denied by an increasing concentration of media ownership in the hand of a few rich individuals or corporations who care little for journalism but see media as a tool to promote their own image, their own business or political interests with little regard for journalists, journalism or citizens rights to information.

Journalists are increasingly freelance – not by choice – but forced in to non-contract and precarious work with few rights and no social protections.

Journalists, risking their life to get the story or working extra hours and second jobs receive not just low but in too many cases no wages, cruelly exploited by an industry which boasts some of the world’s largest and most profitable companies.

Laws designed to combat terrorism or hate speech or regulate online abuses are increasingly used by ever more anti-democratic governments to censor or close down media, jail journalists and silence independent reporting.

So, there could be no more important time for us to work together to build professional and worker solidarity.

And if the global situation is bad, it is no exaggeration to say that Pakistan’s journalists face the gravest threats they have done in decades.

Insecurity stalks the profession.

The threat to life is all too real for Pakistani journalists. Statistics vary but dozens of journalists have been killed in the past two decades.
Targeted for seeking the truth, targeted for exposing corruption or the abuse of political, tribal or corporate power, silenced by a bullet.

Journalists like SAEED BUTT, a reporter for Khabrain, ABID HUSSAIN, a correspondent for the daily Naya Daur or Noor Ul Hassan from Royal News TV or AMAN ULLAH GHARRO, who became the third journalist killed in KP province in a 12 month period.

But the threat to life is not the only fear factor which stalks Pakistani journalism.

JOBS
During this recent crisis in Pakistani media thousands of journalists and media workers have lost their jobs – many unlawfully and virtually all without their legal entitlement to notice or compensation. Media are closed on a whim. Workers told to pack their things and leave.

• Hundreds sacked at Express Newspapers
• Almost 300 journalists at Bol TV
• 650-plus at Jang/Geo TV
• Stations closed and hundreds fired the Duniya Group.
• Almost 200 at Samaa News
• 230 at 24 and City Media Group
• 243 at Century Publications
• 61 at GNN
• 180 at Dawn News
• Waqt, National, the Peshawar and Faisalabad offices and editions of the Daily Jang, 3 channels at ARY – all closed

Too many are dismissed without reason, compensation is unpaid, collective bargaining undermined.

• For too many of those who keep their jobs they are expected to live in fear or subjugation.

Workers have suffered pay cuts of between 10 and 40% at Geo, Dawn, Duniya, Samaa, AAP News, Hum News and others

Journalists are increasingly:
• Hired on daily wages
• Employed through unlawful third party contracts
• Expected to do the work of their dismissed colleagues for no extra pay
• Have the threat of dismissal – without notice or compensation – hanging over them
• The lack of implementation of labor and social laws results in low wages and job insecurity.
• Statutory obligations to pay wages on time, provide medical care and other benefits are ignored with apparent impunity.

And so they live with poverty, with stress, with illnesses they cannot afford to treat. And too many have succumbed. No-one can say for certain how many have died due to stress brought on by not being able to pay rent, school fees, medical bills and look after the family.

What we can say is that even one is far too many.

And all this would be bad enough if media was a failing business. But it is not. Yes, the economic crisis has had an impact on media, newspapers have suffered from changing media habits as more readers switch online and government’s austerity policies have hit media advertising revenues.

Advertising revenue grew between 2015 and 2017 from 66bn to 87bn. In 2018 it reached 81.7bn – a 7% decrease in profits – but still making profits and in no way justifying the corporate butchery witnessed in the past 2 years. We must ask – what happened to the 20bn Rupees extra they earned between 2015 and 2017?

Maybe some clues can be seen from the lifestyles of the media billionaires. Let those who own the media not plead poverty.

They keep their wealth secret but the families which own the Dawn media group are estimated to be the 8th and 16th richest in Pakistan. The Chairman is listed as the 11th richest individual in this country.

The owner of Dunya News survives and the Lakhani family are not short of homes here and abroad, luxury cars and the trappings of wealth.

As one media owner said: “I have nothing to do with journalism….for me it’s my business”

Instead of just enriching themselves and their families they could have used that 20bn to pay wages, pay compensation in the event of a proven need for redundancies and above all to provide training and new skills to those who want to transition from traditional media to online and digital.

The model of just a handful of rich individuals owning media is failing Pakistani journalism and failing its citizens.

And of course a government committed to media freedom would act to address this safety and financial crisis – repeal restrictive laws, promoting an enabling media act, the fair use of advertising, force the implementation of wages and labor laws. But the government have proved at best to be indifferent, at worst hostile to the very idea of independent journalism and critical voices.

Pakistani journalists have faced abduction – 3 in 2018 alone – assault, detention, threats from police, law enforcement agencies, militants, feudal lords and tribal leaders.

TV Channels, newspapers, websites and social media are blocked and banned.

Journalists and media workers and threatened and face pressure from state and non-state actors. They face arrest, the use of legal and financial cases to silence them, unlawful surveillance, fines under antiquated defamation laws and physical assaults. Attacking individual journalists homes is done to send a chilling message to all journalists. Online harassment and hate campaigns, especially against women journalists, is a growing danger that must be stamped out. The platforms must take responsibility.

All too often the authorities, if not complicit, turn a blind eye and allow those who seek to silence and censor independent media to act with impunity.

And to add to the crisis new laws or regulations muzzle the media – from the social media regulations adopted last week to proposals to set up special media tribunals to the use of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act and anti-terror laws the space for independent journalism is shrinking.

It is little wonder insecurity stalks the profession.

I applaud each of you and the PFUJ and its constituent unions for seeking to raise your voice against these abuses, demanding action, demanding justice.

I am here to support your demands for change, to deliver not just a message of solidarity but concrete and practical support to the PFUJ and to you.

It would be the easiest thing in the world to come here for 5 days and to promise you the earth, to reassure you everything will be ok. I won’t do that. I can’t do that. But I can promise you that this is a fight you will not have to fight alone.

Over these 5 days I will take your demands directly to ministers, to media companies, to the CEOs. We will ask the questions, demanded answers and will follow up. They will have no peace.

We have already agreed to take your case to the United Nations Human Rights Council – forcing Pakistani officials to answer in public, to be challenged directly by us and your union.

We can lodge a complaint against the government at the International Labour Organisation demanding action over the breach of your labour rights and over the failure to implement the laws.

We will mobilise our affiliates – 187 unions, 141 countries, 600,000 journalists around the world to protest and lobby the Pakistani embassies and consulates in their countries. From Colombia to Sydney, from Athens to London journalists unions will take your case to the door of your government in a coordinated global campaign.

And, we will help help those who face to serious and imminent threats to move, help the families of those who have been killed by stress and non-payment of wages to apply for support through the IFJ’s Safety Fund, – a fund created by journalists for journalists – the best example of what we mean by practical solidarity.

We have already secured some small initial funding to help build the caoacity of the PFUJ to strengthen its advocacy and campaigning, to raise awareness of rights and solidarity and the need for a stronger collective response.

And we will work to rebuild a unity among journalists in Pakistan, asking all those who do to put aside past antagonisms and focus on the urgent needs of all Pakistani journalists.

But as well as that, today is a chance for me to listen, to learn from you more about the causes and impact of this crisis, to sit with you and your union to discuss strategies, support and ways we can build solidarity with your fight and help to provide training and support to strengthen their capacity to act.”

KARACHI: “I cannot promise we will succeed but I can promise we will fight with you for justice – justice for the killed, justice for the jailed, justice for those sacked, those denied their rights, those owed their wages, for journalists,” Jeremy Dear.

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Resolution Adopted on Feb 19, 2020 in Karachi, Pakistan

The Government of Pakistan should ensure that there will be no ban on the media – print, electronic and social media. In addition, ensure that there is no kind of legislation is made and passed that usurps the media’s right to freedom of expression.

Article 19 of the Constitution of Pakistan gives Pakistanis ‘right to freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of the Press, subject to any ‘reasonable restriction’, imposed by law in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defense of Pakistan or any part thereof….’

This meeting acknowledges that by using the PEMRA laws to pressurize the media will also be considered a ban on free expression. The Federal Government will meet with the four provincial governments. Gilgit-Baltistan calls on the government to take concrete and urgent steps to ensure the safety and security of all media workers, including journalists.

This meeting demands that those responsible for the killings of journalists martyred in the last 20 years in Pakistan and be given the toughest sentences by bringing their killers to justice. The government of Pakistan should take responsibility for the families of the martyred journalists.

This meeting demands that the federal and provincial governments jointly formulate strategies to overcome the problems of forced-firing of media workers over the past year-and-a-half. The process of strategies has to be faster so that the rate of unemployment in the media can go down, and the workers saved from falling prey to stress and even death.

Steps to save jobs by developing new digital startups and thereafter jobs for the experienced and new journalists – the former after they received training to use digital tools for journalism. This will ensure that they can support their families and their children can get the basics like health and education.

The meeting demands that the government take notice of non-payment of salaries for several months in various media houses and inform the media organizations which media houses have received dues from the government but still have not paid salaries.

The meeting demands that all four provincial governments be obliged to make regular visits to inspect the conditions of the media houses and to meet with the workers working with the management to reach a comprehensive conclusion based on facts.

Take legal action against anyone who does not pay salaries on time.

This meeting demands that any legislation relating to journalists be done with the consultation of their representative organizations.

This meeting demands that all Media House owners make sure they provide group insurance and health care to their employees.

This meeting demands that Media Houses administration appoints a female focal person to protect women journalists from harassment and solve their problems.

This meeting also demands that during maternity leave salaries of women journalists/media workers will not be deducted, but that they will be paid an additional salary.

Moreover, provide women journalists equal opportunities for development.
The meeting shares an equal share in the grief of the family of all the journalists killed, including Aziz Memon and demands that the government provide the families with compensation and make efforts to catch the culprits responsible for these crimes. And in-house safety and on the field by provided by law in the media organizations.

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KARACHI: President PFUJ G. M. Jamali also spoke on the occasion. 

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Deputy General Secretary of IFJ’s  two-day visit to Karachi to discuss media issues

IFJ’s Deputy General Secretary Jeremy Dear came to Karachi on 18th Feb, 2020 for a 2-day visit. On the first day, Jeremy Dear met PFUJ-KUJ delegations that included PFUJ President GM Jamali, KUJ President Syed Hasan Abbas, General Secretary Aajiz Jamali and members of the Executive Body to discuss the media crisis in Pakistan.

Some of the main points that came under discussion included the investigation of the murder of journalist Aziz Memon, death of journalists due to financial problems & non-payment of salaries and mass layoffs across Sindh and Pakistan and the new Social Media policy that was passed without the consultation of the main stakeholders, the media.

Dear also met Adviser to Chief Minister of Sindh on Law, Anti-Corruption Establishment, and information Adviser Barrister Murtaza Wahab on the first day. He asked Senator Murtaza Wahab about the investigations into journalist Aziz Memon’s murder. He spoke about the non-payment of salaries and how this is linked to the government advertisements and what steps should be taken to solve this issue, which was a major cause of death by stress of journalists.

Senator Wahab assured Dear that his Provincial government, which was a champion of freedom of expression and a free media, was working on Memon’s murder investigation. Adding that he was soon going to receive a detailed report from the police, which he promised to share with the media. Wahab also said that the Provincial Government would continue to support the freedom of media and would take any step to help to improve the situation of the media in the province.

After this, the IFJ Deputy General Secretary accompanied PFUJ-KUJ delegations to meet with editors and senior journalists at the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) office.

Financial issues, threats to media workers, job insecurity and severe censorship were the main points that came under discussion, as well as the shrinking freedom of the media after laws and regulations came into force. Dear said that regulation of the media happened all over the world and laws were designed to combat terrorism or hate speech or regulate online abuses but these were now being ‘increasingly used by ever more anti-democratic governments to censor or close down media, jail journalists and silence independent reporting.’

He said it was necessary that a conversation began on this important issue and the misuse of rules and regulations especially against the media.

Later in the evening, IFJ’s Deputy General Secretary Jeremy Dear and PFUJ President GM Jamali attended a reception to celebrate the US Independence Day hosted by H. E. Paul Jones Ambassador and Robert Silberstein Consul General of USA.Besides discussing various matters with the US Envoy. Jeremy Dear met many diplomats, entrepreneurs and senior journalists including Italian Consul Anna Ruffino,  Japanese CG Toshikazu Isomura, MQM-P’s Nasreen Jalil, Behrouz Sabzwari, PPP-P’s  Nisar Khuhro, Behram Avari, Goshpi Avari, Squash legend Jahangir Khan and journalist M. M. Alam.

The second day started with a seminar organized by Karachi Union of Journalists titled ‘Working Environment in Pakistan for Journalists’ which was divided into three sessions and a presentation detailing the main points that were faced by the journalists in Karachi and the rest of Sindh.

The Governor of Sindh Imran Ismail was the chief guest at this event and the panels that comprised IFJ Jeremy Dear, PFUJ President GM Jamali, KUJ President Syed Hassan Abbas and General Secretary Aajiz Jamali stressed on the issues that the journalists and media workers were facing in Karachi and Sindh, as well as the rest of the country.

Dear once again emphasized the dire situation faced by the media in Pakistan and said, “Over these 5 days I will take your demands directly to ministers, to media companies, to the CEOs. We will ask the questions, demanded answers and will follow up. They will have no peace.”

“We have already agreed to take your case to the United Nations Human Rights Council – forcing Pakistani officials to answer in public, to be challenged directly by us and your union.

“We can lodge a complaint against the government at the International Labour Organization demanding action over the breach of your labor rights and over the failure to implement the laws.

“We will mobilize our affiliates – 187 unions, 141 countries, 600,000 journalists around the world to protest and lobby the Pakistani embassies and consulates in their countries. From Colombia to Sydney, from Athens to London journalists unions will take your case to the door of your government in a co-ordinated global campaign.”

A presentation by KUJ paid tribute to fallen colleagues, as well as the figures of the layoffs in different organizations and delayed salaries.

Followed by a panel discussion on the legalities of the delayed and non-payment of salaries; the rights of media workers, solutions to these problems were discussed followed by a Q&A session. The panel comprised Jeremy Dear, legal adviser of PFUJ and KUJ Advocate Shoaib Ashraf, eminent trade union leader and Executive Director of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Karamat Ali, journalist and trade unionist Bachal Laghari, VP PFUJ Sheher Bano PFUJ President GM Jamali and KUJ President Syed Hassan Abbas.

A round-table discussion examined the existing laws especially the labor laws and their effectiveness and implementation to protect journalists.

The recent PEMRA draft policy for a ban on social media is a great blow to the journalist cause. Gm Jamali, Syed Hassan Abbas and their teams were especially concerned on this as many laid off employees in Pakistan are making their little livelihood through YouTube channels or websites.

Conspicuous among others in the group there were legal adviser of PFUJ and KUJ Advocate Shoaib Ashraf, eminent trade union leader and Executive Director of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Karamat Ali, journalist and trade unionist Bachal Laghari, VP PFUJ Sheher Bano PFUJ President GM Jamali, KUJ’s General Secretary Aajiz Jamali, KUJ’s Joint Secretary Lubna Jerar and others.

The group discussed possible amendments and making new laws to provide media workers and journalists’ protection.

Dear shared that there are many similarities in terms of implementation of Laws, whether it is in the developed world or a developing country. Pakistan lacks specific laws for journalist community and we need to work on this.

At the end of the day, KUJ presented a resolution that was unanimously passed.

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