Zaffar Abbas

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A man reads a copy of the Dawn English-language newspaper in Karachi, Pakistan, on May 20, 2018. Demonstrators recently besieged Dawn's Islamabad offices and threatened its staffers. (AFP/Rizwan Tabassum)

Demonstrators block entrance to Dawn newspaper in Pakistan, call for staffers to be hanged

New York, December 3, 2019 — Pakistan authorities must prevent demonstrations against the Dawn newspaper from turning violent, and should investigate death threats made against its staffers, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Journalists work during a demonstration on May 3, 2018, to mark World Press Freedom Day in Islamabad, Pakistan. (Faisal Mahmood/Reuters)

Pakistani authorities disrupt distribution of Dawn newspaper

New York, May 22, 2018–Pakistani authorities should immediately halt any restrictions on the distribution of Dawn newspaper in Pakistan, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Distribution of the newspaper has been disrupted in many parts of the country in recent weeks, Dawn editor Zaffar Abbas told CPJ.

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More safety guidelines for Pakistan’s field reporters

Pakistan’s journalists, watching the domestic stories they are covering become increasingly more dangerous, have started taking safety matters into their own hands. Zaffar Abbas, editor at the English-language daily Dawn, just forwarded to me a safety guide for journalists he has been circulating around his paper. His explanation:

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Pakistan renews effort to restrict coverage of extremists

It’s not the first time the Pakistani government has tried to restrict broadcast coverage of extremist activities—and it probably won’t be the last. On Monday, a legislative committee forwarded a bill to the National Assembly that would restrict coverage “of suicide bombers, terrorists, bodies of victims of terrorism, statements and pronouncements of militants and extremist…

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The blast in Lower Dir, seen here, was just one of many recent deadly explosions in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province. (Reuters)

Time to step up protection for media in Pakistan

Three vicious bomb blasts in Pakistan in the last two days—one in Lower Dir that wounded three reporters on Thursday, and Friday’s double attack in Karachi that we’re still investigating—highlight just how dangerous it has become for journalists, particularly TV camera crews and photographers, but certainly any journalist assigned to cover a public event or…

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TV coverage guidelines drawn in Pakistan as violence rises

In November 2009, I received this e-mail message from a few people in Pakistan:TOP NEWS MANAGERS AGREE ON TV COVERAGE GUIDELINESISLAMABAD—Top news managers from Pakistan’s eight television channels have evolved a first-of-its-kind voluntary framework to standardize professional guidelines governing terrorism coverage. [A PDF of November’s message is here.]Since then there hasn’t been much more news about the issue,…

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