Results matching “press freedom in pakistan”

According to several sources, the Commonwealth Press Union will cease to exist as of December 31, 2008.

An internal memo from the October 15 meeting stated:

"It was unanimously agreed by the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Press Union that the CPU Secretariat in London would cease operation on 31 December 2008.  

"It was unanimously agreed that the name, mission and future work of the organisation would be handed over to the Commonwealth Press Training & Education Trust (CPTET) together with any funds, to continue this work as deemed appropriate by the Trustees."

On Friday, Pakistan's newly elected government introduced a bill in Parliament to lift the restrains on the independent media imposed by President Pervez Musharraf last year.

"The draconian laws that threatened coercive action against the press will be removed via this bill to begin the process of providing a free press in Pakistan," said Sherry Rehman, the information minister. She hopes the bill will become a law.

In November, Musharraf made an emergency decree that allowed the government to "seal the offices of independent television networks, confiscate their equipment, revoke licenses arbitrarily and stop live coverage." If television journalists had broadcasted anything that was considered to defame or ridicule the heard of state or army, they were presented with significant fines and a maximum 3 year jail sentence. All independent television networks were taken off air and were only allowed to resume broadcasting if they signed a code of conduct.

Rehman said the new government "would take steps to protect journalists and promised new measures for print and electronic media."

Source: The New York Times

Following the declared state of emergency and new ordinances to curb media rights in Pakistan, media-persons from both the print and electronic media, representing various media bodies, various press clubs and journalist unions, writers and civil society representatives from across Pakistan have met to deliberate upon the state of media, its freedom, media laws, safety of journalists, closer and sustenance of media enterprises. Here are some of the conclusions, objectives, and demands:

Steve Metcalf of BBC Monitoring has synthesized some of the latest developments in the press landscape in Pakistan, since the state of emergency was declared a few days ago and the adoption of two ordinances meant to curb media’s rights. The media continue to exercise their freedom of speech and vehemently criticize the new policies.

Following the release of Imtiaz Alam, Sec Gen of the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA), after a 36-hour detention, the association will express its solidarity with Pakistani media on Nov. 15 and 20. “The media remains under extreme pressure,” wrote Alam, in a letter to the World Editors Forum.

Imtiaz Alam, Secretary General of the South Asian Free Media Association and World Editors Forum Board member, was released after a 36-hour detention. The World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum have sent a letter to President Musharraf to protest against the recent media crackdown.

Since November 3rd and the declared state of emergency in Pakistan, crackdowns on the press have worsened- in a country where the press freedom had reportedly improved in recent years.

According to the Rural Media Network in Pakistan, Imtiaz Alam, Secretary General of the South Asian Free Media Association and World Editors Forum Board member, was arrested by the Pakistani police.

The President General of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, is working with the National Security Council to create an ordinance that would restrict the publication of objectionable cartoons or articles in newspapers and magazines the could defame the armed forces or other state institutions. 

At the ‘New Media: The Press Freedom Dimension’ conference in Paris last week experts in Blogging and Citizen media discussed the evolution of this new media and press freedom dimensions. Here, Declan McCullagh of CNET looks at the discussion of the legal divisions and rules between journalists and bloggers.

Seventy-five journalists have been killed so far this year, making 2006 the deadliest year for journalists on record, the World Association of Newspapers said Thursday.Twenty-six of the deaths occurred in Iraq, where journalists continue to be targetted and murdered.

77-years-old Italian journalist and writer Oriana Fallaci died last night in Florence. She lived in New York, and had returned secretly to her native city last week. Fallaci had been sick with cancer for several years.

The hottest debate at this year's World Editor Forum was about -- you guessed it -- the lessons learned from the Danish cartoon crisis...

Lessons from the Mohammed cartoon clash will be the focus of the fifth session of the 13th World Editors Forum, which begins June 4 in Moscow. On 30 September 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published twelve cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. Sixteen years after the fatwa against Salman Rushdie and his "Satanic Verses," the clash between freedom of expression and religious values exploded once more. Panelists will discuss if there are limits for press freedom and how media responsibility can work in a globalized world. Don’t miss this special panel focused on 2006’s most fascinating editorial debate.

Supporters of press freedom are growing more vocal in Pakistan, where a Rural Media Network Web site has launched to defend freedom of expression and support journalists in the country’s rural areas.

The Danish newspaper at the heart of the Mohammed cartoon clash has agreed to discuss the controversy in a special session at the World Editors Forum conference to be held in Moscow in June. A senior representative of Jyllands-Posten, which published the cartoons that set off a furore in the Islamic world, will take part in a panel discussion of "Lessons from the Mohammed cartoon clash" at the World Editors Forum, which runs concurrently with the World Newspaper Congress from 4 to 7 June next.

Fifty-eight journalists and other media workers were killed world-wide because of their professional activities in 2005, with 22 of them killed in Iraq, by far the most dangerous place for journalists on the planet, the
World Association of Newspapers said Monday.

The President of a Pakistani religious youth group who allegedly promised a bounty for the heads of Danish cartoonist who authored caricatures of Mohammed today told AFP that there had been a misunderstanding.

The Pakistani urdu daily Nawa-i-Waqt has reported that Shahid Gilani, President of the youth organisation Shabab-i-Milli attached to religious party Jamaat-e-Islami, promised, at a recent rally, a 500 000 rupee  (7000 Euro) reward for anyone who kills the cartoonist who drew caricatures of Mohammed. This comes after Jyllands Posten and Reporters Without Borders reported death threats were issued from inside Denmark against two of the cartoonists.

Received from Ehsan Ahmed Sehar, convenor of the Rural Media Network in Pakistan about the latest Al-Jazeera story. It begun with an article in a British newspaper last week, it spreads all over the world and now it reaches Peshawar in one of the most remote parts of Pakistan. Good case study about globalization (and anti-Americanism).

"Like other parts of the country, media persons in Peshawar staged a protest demonstration to condemn the statement of US President Bush and UK Prime Minster Tony Blair regarding attacks on Al-Jazeera offices..."