Pakistan court suspends regulator’s ban on BOL News broadcaster
On January 22, 2021, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, the country’s broadcast regulator, ordered BOL News, a privately owned news channel, to be suspended for 30 days and fined the outlet 1 million rupees (US$6,225), according to news reports and a statement by the regulator. On January 25, when courts reopened after the weekend,…
Geo News reporter Ali Imran Syed abducted for 22 hours in Pakistan
On the evening of October 23, 2020, in Karachi, Pakistan, Geo News reporter Ali Imran Syed disappeared while he walking from his home to a nearby bakery, and was not seen until he reappeared physically unharmed at his mother’s home 22 hours later, according to news reports. After he reappeared, the government formed a fact-finding…
Getting Away with Murder
CPJ’s 2020 Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and their killers go free By Elana Beiser/CPJ Editorial Director Published October 28, 2020 Incremental progress toward reducing the murders of journalists worldwide is fragile and could be thwarted by legal appeals and lack of political leadership, CPJ found in its latest report on…
As ruling party fans spew online abuse, Pakistan’s female journalists call for government action
On August 16, Ramsha Jahangir should have been celebrating a journalistic triumph, the release of a long, deeply reported cover story for the weekend magazine of Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper on the government’s social media strategy and image-building. Instead, she spent the day watching in horror as a torrent of abuse filled her social media feeds. Eventually, she went offline. …
Pakistani journalists receive death threats after reporting called ‘fake news’ in TV program
Washington, D.C., September 1, 2020 — Pakistani authorities should investigate threats made to journalists Ahmad Noorani and Gul Bukhari and hold the perpetrators to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 27, Noorani, a co-founder and reporter at the independent investigative news website FactFocus, published an article that used pubic records to…
Journalist Matiullah Jan abducted in Pakistan 1 day before Supreme Court hearing
New York, July 21, 2020 – Pakistan authorities should conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the disappearance of journalist Matiullah Jan and ensure his safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. This morning, several unidentified men intercepted Jan’s car in Islamabad’s G-6 Sector, forced him into another vehicle, and drove away, according to…
Pakistani journalists beaten, detained in Balochistan prison without charge for 2 days
On June 19, 2020, agents with the Pakistani Balochistan Levies force, a law enforcement agency under the direction of the Balochistan district administration, detained and beat Saeed Ali Achakzai, a reporter with the privately owned TV channel Samaa TV, and Abdul Mateen Achakzai, a reporter for privately owned broadcaster Khyber TV, according to both journalists,…
Pakistan media regulator suspends 24NewsHD broadcaster indefinitely
Washington, D.C., July 6, 2020 — The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority should immediately lift the suspension of independent news channel 24NewsHD, and allow it to broadcast freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 3, the regulator ordered the station off the air indefinitely for the alleged “illegal transmission of news and…
Family of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl files to uphold convictions in 2002 murder
Washington, D.C., May 2, 2020 — The parents of murdered Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl today filed an appeal to the Pakistani Supreme Court to reverse the April 2 decision of the Sindh High Court that overturned convictions of four men in Pearl’s 2002 kidnapping and murder case, according to copies of court documents…
CPJ, 73 media and rights groups urge Asian heads of state to release jailed journalists
Given that a staggering number of imprisoned journalists are held in jails across the Asian continent, CPJ and other groups call on leaders of these countries to release them at this time of grave public health concern.