At least five journalists lost their lives in the line of duty in 2021 according to the Pakistan Media Freedom Report, 2021 which declared the year “unsafe for media workers”.

It also reported nine journalists died of Covid-19 and two newsmen committed suicide due to lingering unemployment.

The report published by the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) also mentioned the killing of Nazim Jokhio, a Karachi-based young social media activist and community journalist, who was abducted and killed. It is widely believed he was mercilessly murdered for sharing a video of an Arab hunter who was allegedly engaged in illegal hunting on the northern outskirt of Karachi in November.

The report identified the deaths of journalists Ajay Lalwani, Abdul Wahid Raseeni, Shahid Zehri and Mohammad Zada Agarwal who lost their lives on the job. “The family members of the affected journalists were also subjected to physical and mental torture,” it added.

According to the report, the situation of media freedom has gotten worse in comparison to the previous two years. “Freedom of the the press and freedom of expression remained under severe pressure and faced a myraid of challenges during the previous year,” read the report.

The report claimed different governmental institutions, non-governmental organisations and state organisations have continuously attempted to keep the journalist community under pressure through direct, indirect and intolerant behaviour and tactics.

A number of journalists had to face life attempts, threats, lawsuits and telephone calls from “unknown numbers” in addition to online harassment on various occasions, it said.

“At least seven journalists were injured in life attempts, four were abducted, two were harassed online, whereas the houses of at least another four journalists were either raided by the police, stormed by attackers or robbers,” it read.

Apart from murders and threats, the police and other state institutions, including the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) registered cases against several journalists during 2021.

The report also talked about the “controversial” Pakistan Media Development Authority law, saying the government desired “to control media by hook or by crook.”

According to the report, the attempts to control media included “taking several shows and hosts off air, getting them expelled from their organisations and removing a significant number of genuine and authentic newspapers from the state media list”.

The financial crisis that Pakistan media houses has been facing is not the outcome of the coronavirus pandemic, the report stated, adding that it started before the pandemic hit global companies.

However, the report acknowledged the raging pandemic has further aggravated the already deepening financial crisis.

Talking about the attempts to harass and kill journalists, the report stated: “Senior journalist and former Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) chairperson Absar Alam was shot and injured, journalist and blogger Asad Toor was dragged out of his house and tortured by unknown attackers, anchorperson Gharida Farooqi was tragetted through online trolling and anchorperson Asma Sherazi was targetted for a critical column in BBC Urdu.

“Anchorperson Muhammad Malik’s show was forcefully stopped after 16 minutes of airing on Hum TV. The FIA sent notices to senior journalist and anchorperson Nadeem Malik for his critical reporting.”

The report also talked about a sub-judice case in the Islamabad High Court against Editor-in-chief of Jang Group Mir Shakil ur Rehman, senior journalists Ansar Abbasi and Aamir Ghouri in a contempt of court case for publishing the affidavit of former CJ of Gilgit Baltistan.

It also highlighted that the Pakistan Telecom Authority blocked social media application TikTok twice during the last year. It noted how Pemra, time and again, issued notices to several TV channels and suspended license of one TV channel for their critical reporting of issues related to inflation, rising price-hike, protests and increase in petroleum prices.

In the report, the CPNE hailed the passage of Journalist Protection Bill by the federal government and Sindh Protection of Journalists and Other Media Practitioners Bill 2021 by the provincial government. It urged other provinces to follow the suit.

Quoting a report, the CPNE noted the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) blocked around 19,000 social media accounts.

The CPNE compiled the report under the supervision of the council’s Press Freedom and Monitoring Committee in the light of information acquired directly as well as material collected from various media outlets and websites.