Article 19

In 1971 crisis, journalists and newspapers were under strict observation and no journalist or newspaper

was permitted to write about situation or incidents happening in East Pakistan, to keep the people blind

of the situation. Freedom of press which was bestowed on newspapers and journalists was for obscene

and immoral things, not for objective or unbiased reporting. People’s right to know was an unacceptable

thing to the government.

Later, nation’s anger over country’s humiliating defeat by India boiled into street demonstrations

throughout country. To forestall further unrest, General Yahya hastily surrendered his powers to

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan People’s Party.

After Dhaka fall media played a great role in re-boasting nation’s morale that were very disappointed

over country’s division into two parts and brought them back to the real life. Even then Draconian law,

PPO was revived again and used against the press by the new government. Weekly Outlook and Punjab

Punch were closed down using this ordinance despite the fact that Punjab punch and outlook were

among those papers that supported PPP in election.

Different governments used different actions against newspapers and journalists in different times.

However most actions usually taken by the governments against newspapers to show their anger and to

punish them are:

• Quota of Official ads is reduced or abandoned.

• Newsprint quota is reduced.

• Ending up subscription of newspapers in public institutions.

• Not inviting journalists to official functions and not to let them cover official meetings,

seminars or functions.







Declaration of Rights.

Declaration of Principles on the Conduct of Journalists

Adopted by the Second World Congress of the International Federation of Journalists at Bordeaux on

25-28 April 1954 and amended by the 18th IFJ World Congress in Helsingör on 2-6 June 1986. This

international Declaration is proclaimed as a standard of professional conduct for journalists engaged in

gathering, transmitting, disseminating and commenting on news and information and in describing

events.

1. Respect for truth and for the right of the public to truth is the first duty of the journalist.

2. In pursuance of this duty, the journalist shall at all times defend the principles of freedom in the

honest collection and publication of news, and of the right of fair comment and criticism.

3. The journalist shall report only in accordance with facts of which he/ she knows the origin. The

journalist shall not suppress essential information or falsify documents.

4. The journalist shall use only fair methods to obtain news, photographs and documents.

5. The journalist shall do the utmost to rectify any published information which is found to be

harmfully inaccurate.

6. The journalist shall observe professional secrecy regarding the source of information obtained

in confidence.

7. The journalist shall be aware of the danger of discrimination being furthered by the media, and

shall do the utmost to avoid facilitating such discrimination based on, among other things, race,

sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinions, and national or social

origins.

8. The journalist shall regard as grave professional offences the following:

- Plagiarism.

- Malicious misrepresentation.

- Calumny, slander, libel, unfounded accusations.

- Acceptance of a bribe in any form in consideration of either publication or suppression.

9. Journalists worthy of that name shall deem in their duty to observe faithfully the principles

stated above. Within the general law of each country the journalist shall recognize in

professional matters the jurisdiction of colleagues only, to the exclusion of every kind of

interference by governments or others.

In Pakistan three major organizations have been formed to secure the journalists’, newspapers’

and editors’ rights. They are discussed below:

APNS

All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) is the organization of the Pakistani newspapers’ owners. Its

election is held every year; three major groups of newspapers are the major players of APNS that are:

Jang Group, Dawn Group and Nawa-i-Waqt Group. These groups are accused for bribing the smaller

newspapers and getting benefit at large from the successive governments. This is the major body which

refuses to give the Wage Board Award to the working journalists. According to the Pakistan Federal

Union of Journalists, the labor laws are violated in the Pakistani newspaper industry but no government

dares to take action against these powerful elite of the country.

It was founded in 1953 by the major, pioneering editors and publishers of they day to facilitate the

exchange of views between the editors of the major publications of Pakistan and to protect the rights of

newspapers by giving them a voice to appeal unfair decisions against them.

Today, the APNS is a clearing house of sorts for its member publications, safeguarding the commercial

interests of newspapers under its membership (including tax payment). For example, if a company

advertises in a publication but refuses to pay, the publication complains to the APNS. The APNS gives

the agency an ultimatum: pay or get blacklisted.

Its founders were: Hamid Nizami, Altaf Hussain – all the important, pioneering editors of the day.

Before APNS in 1950, the Pakistan Newspapers Society (PNS) was founded (to emerge the existing

publishers), when the editors of the time realized that the print media needed organization and needed a

clearing house. However, the PNS didn’t last for very long as it didn’t receive much support from

publishers, advertisers or authorities.

Three years later in 1953 the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) came into being. It was badly

needed to ‘facilitate the exchange of views amongst newspaper owners on matters of common interest.

APNS successfully gave newspaper owners the means to watch over, protect, preserve and promote the

rights and interest of the newspaper industry on matters directly or indirectly affecting its rights and

interests.’ The Daily DAWN was the founding member.

CPNE

A couple of years later after APNS came into existence, in 1955, the Council of Pakistan Newspaper’s

Editors (CPNE) was established as a representative body of the editors of the publications of Pakistan.

Both the CPNE and the APNS struggled against black press laws that trampled over the freedom of the

press.

PFUJ

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) is located in Islamabad, Pakistan. PFUJ is arguably South

Asia’s first association representing the journalists of an entire country. To its credit, in the 50-odd years

since its inception it has always stood out as a symbol of freedom of speech. The battles it waged for

press freedom and for a democratic dispensation in the country will always remain etched in the

collective memory of Pakistanis.

To this day, PFUJ remains committed to the ideals for which it was established in 1950. Set up

primarily to work towards a better working environment for Pakistani journalists, it didn’t remain

isolated from the struggles and campaigns launched by the civil society. In fact, it was in the vanguard

whenever sacrifices needed to be made and freedoms were to be won.

Pakistani journalists are although following some code of ethics on their own as different media

organizations and newspapers have their own code of ethics but there is no unanimous written code of

ethics for the country’s press which is mainly because PFUJ has always stood on the demand that the

government should first abolish the black laws against press and after that talk about the code of ethics.

In established democracies, press and media have their own independent bodies, court of honours and

code of ethics to keep the media, press and journalists accountable.

Among the laws that are used against press, newspapers and journalists, other than press/ media laws,

are laws of defamation and liable. Another law of contempt of court is also used against press and

journalists particularly in case of court reporting.



1977 till date

1977- till date

General Zia-ul-Haq came to power by overthrowing Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, after

widespread civil disorder, in a military coup on July 5, 1977 and imposed Martial Law. He assumed the

post of President of Pakistan in 1978 which he held till his death. He was assassinated in a planned

aircraft crash on August 17, 1988 under mysterious circumstances.

18 magazines and newspapers were closed down and almost 150 journalists were arrested and given

different punishments by the Marshal Law courts in this period. For a long time pre-censorship was also

imposed on the newspapers, no newspaper could publish anything without prior approval from the

Information department. In protest for quite a time newspapers kept publishing leaving an empty space

for censored news but then they were ordered by the Information Department to publish or give some

other news in place of censored news. Till 1988 these restrictions continued. In 1988, General Zia-ul-

Haq died in a planned aircraft crash. After that the new caretaker government repealed PPO and

introduced a new and a better ordinance Registration of Printing Press and Publications Ordinance

(RPPPO). RPPPO was a sigh of relief for the journalists and newspapers since then press is

comparatively enjoying and working in a better environment and did not have a major clash with the

government. It was just in 1997-99 Nawaz Sharif’s government had some problems with the Jang Group

of Newspapers.

On 12h October, 1999 General Musharraf took over but no new law or additional restrictions were

imposed on the press rather Musharraf’s government appreciated the private sector and gave them a

chance to invest more in electronic media which resulted into many new radio and TV channels.

People’s right to know

Freedom of press is something that is linked with the people’s right to know or free excess to

information that ensures accountability and a true democratic society. In all democratic societies,

government accepts people’s right to know and therefore cannot stop anyone from getting any

information. It is an accepted basic human right in democratic societies to keep the governments

accountable to public.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all

Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed,

read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based

on the political status of countries or territories."

Article 19

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to

hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any

media and regardless of frontiers.”

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)



Article 19



1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.

2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek,

receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in

writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.

3. The exercise of the rights provided for in paragraph 2 of this article carries with it special duties

and responsibilities. It may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be

such as are provided by law and are necessary:

• For respect of the rights or reputations of others.

• For the protection of national security or of public order (order public), or of public

health or morals.

Till 2002 this basic right was not approved or accepted in Pakistan. Freedom of expression and freedom

of press is mentioned in Constitution of Pakistan 1973 but with conditions that are very vague and can

be used by the government to exploit any journalist, newspaper or media organization.

Constitution of Pakistan 1973



Article 19



“Every citizen shall have the right of freedom of speech and expression, and there shall be freedom of

the press, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the glory of Islam or

the integrity, security, or defense of Pakistan or any part thereof, friendly relations with foreign states,

public order, decency or morality or in relation to the contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an

office.”

During the caretaker government of Malik Mairaj Khalid (Nov. 1996 – Feb. 1997), Information

Minister Javed Jabbar introduced an ordinance “Right to know”. But the government that came later did

not forward it in the assembly and therefore the ordinance died its own death.

In October 2002, when international donors insisted on legislation on the people's right to know, an

ordinance called the Freedom of Information Ordinance was hurriedly promulgated by General

Musharaf’s government. The fact that the parliament that had come into being at that time was

deliberately bypassed in making the law throws some light on the negative attitude of the government of

the day on the issue.

Some of the serious flaws in the Freedom of Information Law stand out. First, the ordinance is in

addition to, and not in derogation of, anything contained in any other law for the time being in force. It

means that if there is any law that militates against the right to know, that will take precedence over the

ordinance and nullify its effect.

Secondly, the ordinance prohibits making public several important documents which throw light on the

decision-making process in government departments. These include noting on files, minutes of

meetings, any interim orders, records of banking companies relating to the accounts of their customers

and the record of private documents furnished to public offices among others. Denying access to these

important documents means shielding the government against charges of mis-governance and

corruption in hatching schemes and making purchases that might be utterly useless or downright

harmful.