Madiha Sattar, HuffingtonPost contributor, wrote a passionate opinion piece about how the media plays a crucial role in the fight against extremists. The writer said that Pakistan is unique in its region because it has a "news media that relentlessly pursues the country's failures, with journalists routinely speaking out against the government, extremists, and the notion of a theocratic state, among other things."

According to Sattar, Pakistani newspapers have always been independent. The only exception would be under extreme coercion from political parties. Sattar points out that the majority of the population talks about news events and tries to be quite involved, also adding that there is a "thin line" between news and commentary, and that sensationalism is not uncommon.

The media, Sattar says, can be considered "the most powerful element of civil soc iety in the country, with a wider reach than educational institutions, religious organizations, trade unions, cultural groups, NGOs, corporations or the lawyers' movement." Sattar mentions the threat of religious conservatives and nationalists in the news business, who support Taliban views and violence. Consequently, "if the press is muzzled, next time a political crisis emerges, the government will be losing a limb in its battle against the Taliban."

According to statistics in a Spring 2009 report in Global Journalist, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal are considered some of the most dangerous South Asian countries for reporters. The article written by Pakistani journalist Mazhar Abbas , talked about how "threats to journalists have increased manifold since the invasion of private TV news channels and increased terrorism-related incidents in the country."

Although the job is dangerous, Abbas and Sattar both reveal the importance of journalism in the fight against religious and political extremists. Abbas wrote, "it is a risky profession, but the urge to tell people the truth and bring them out of ignorance is worth all the pain and the threats that is a big part of journalism."

*The World Association of Newspapers has dedicated its 2009 World Press Freedom Day initiative to "Journalists in the Firing Line". WAN, the global organization for the world's press, is offering a package of materials for publication on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day, to bring attention to the plight of journalists who are persecuted merely for doing their jobs.

The materials, which newspapers are encouraged to publish on 3 May, can be found at http://www.worldpressfreedomday.org.

Source: Huffington Post, Global Journalist magazine