A new ‘headquarter of censorship’ for Pakistan?
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The Pakistani government is looking to create what has been widely perceived as a new ‘headquarter of censorship’ in the shape of a proposed centralized media regulator even as the media, civil society, legal community and political parties have rejected the proposal and vowed to resist it.
At stake with the establishment of the proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) are some of the last remaining independent voices in legacy media including print and electronic, and the burgeoning ecosystem of the bold new public interest digital journalism platforms that are holding the torch for a critical mass of diversity and pluralism in voices and opinions.
Leaked texts of an ordinance of a new law that seeks to establish the PMDA suggest the repeal of five existing media laws that would see current regulators for electronic, print, Internet and film media scrapped and the single new ‘media regulator’ given to the bureaucrats to run. It also suggests expanding censorship on criticism of military, judiciary and Islam to now also the president and the parliament. Also proposed is a tribunal that will hand Rs. 25 million in fines and three-year jail terms for violations as well as annual renewal of licenses to operate media.
Even with Pakistan’s tradition of discouraging free speech and browbeating of media, these new provisions, if they come to pass in the shape of PMDA, would be akin to the country passing the rubicon into established authoritarianism, thereby rendering democratic pretensions a state of farce.
The media and civil society are aghast. For a fortnight now, they have been issuing a string of separate condemnations and joint statements daily, voicing opposition to the proposal fearing that the increasing marginalization of media will be taken to the next level, where even private media operators will air no criticism and only praises of the government.
The government says they aim to help the media become more professional with PMDA and discourage hate speech, fake news and disinformation.
But the legacy of this leadership has led to many doubting this narrative. The top leadership of most political parties cannot appear on TV or be interviewed, live broadcasts of opposition press conferences or political rallies are not allowed, retired military officials are fixed features in talk shows on most of the 40 prime time television news channels, focused on discrediting politicians and preventing criticism of the security establishment.
Pakistan must abandon any anti-democratic approach to diversity and pluralism in media narratives.
Adnan Rehmat
The opposition and media say that the new proposed regulations will make matters even worse. One key stakeholder is the Digital Media Alliance of Pakistan, which represents dozens of non-legacy independent digital media platforms offering the kind of news and opinion discouraged or banned in print and electronic media. In a joint statement issued with Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Pakistan Bar Council it termed the proposed PMDA and akin to imposing a ‘media martial law.’
The Alliance says the proposals to make it mandatory to register websites, with people dabbling in journalism on social media liable to be slapped with stringent fines and jail terms for any offending news or opinion online, is unacceptable and will result in purging socio-political pluralisms and diversity from the Internet medium as has already happened in legacy, offline media.
Detractors agree that the proposal needs to be shunned as there is popular rejection of and no support for PMDA-- as it will undermine democracy by resulting in centralizing censorship practices, restricting the environment for freedom of expression and right to information, discourage diversity of voices and opinions in media, blunting inclusivity of Pakistan’s socio-political pluralisms in socio-political media narratives and deterring the media from serving its mission of being the guardian of public interest by holding the government and its power bearers accountable. With public interest independent digital journalism also being targeted, these will have the cumulative effect of undermining Pakistan’s very democratic polity and aspirations.
Pakistan must abandon any anti-democratic approach to diversity and pluralism in media narratives. The government should restrict any influence on public narratives to using state media only and leave independent media alone to allow pluralism and democracy to flourish. The PMDA will effectively take Pakistan back to pre-2002 days when only state media existed singing the praises of the government.
- Adnan Rehmat is a Pakistan-based journalist, researcher and analyst with interests in politics, media, development and science.
Twitter: @adnanrehmat1
