By Muddassir Rizvi
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan's military government says that a set of new press laws
it approved this week would reform the media and make it more objective,
but journalists say they will undercut press freedom in this South
Asian country.
They
point to the fact that journalists and publishers could find themselves
jailed for three 
months
or fined at least 50,000 Pakistani rupees (850 U.S. dollars) for
publishing anything that is proven to be defamatory under these
laws.
Apart
from the Defamation Ordinance, the new laws are the Press Council
Ordinance, and Publication of Press and Periodicals Registration
Ordinance.
''The government only consulted media owners and their associations
before finalising these laws,'' commented IH Rashed, president of
the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), an umbrella organisation
of
smaller journalists' groups across the country.
He
said that the Defamation Ordinance is clearly crafted to target
independent journalists and force them to fall in line.''It
will be journalists who will be held responsible for the publication
of any libellous and slanderous material while the newspaper owners
would wriggle out on the plea that they were not aware of it,''
he observed, referring to vague provisions of the ordinance.
While
the government is yet to release the text of the defamation ordinance,
some media leaks suggest that it completely ignores the right of
a reporter, editor or publisher to defend the validity of published
material by producing official documents, summaries or other required
evidence.
These
reports suggest that a clause in the ordinance narrows the defence
available to a person involved in defamation proceedings to showing
that ''he was not author, editor publisher or printer of a statement
complained against...or assent was given for publication by the
plaintiff''. Most journalists, who are lowly and irregularly paid,
are already intimidated by the amount of fine prescribed by the
Defamation Ordinance.
On
average, the monthly salaries of reporters, sub-editors, senior
correspondents and editors range between 3,000 (50 U.S. dollars)
to 25,000 (420 U.S. dollars) rupees, depending on the size of the
newspaper.
''Journalists
are perhaps the one of the most lowly paid segments of society in
comparison to the important work they do. The high fine or jail
would be enough of a deterrent for journalists to avoid stories
that may somehow be controversial,'' commented CR Shamsi, a senior
editor with 'Ausaf', an Urdu-language newspaper published in Islamabad.
The
government, on the other hand, claims that the defamation ordinance
has been framed in response to public demand and to ensure responsible
reporting. ''People
have long been demanding sufficient safeguard of their rights to
be protected against defamatory acts of slander and libel. This
ordinance will also help in developing a sense of responsibility
in
electronic and print media,'' said Nisar Memon, the country's information
minister.
However,
lawyers ridicule Memon's ''public demand theory'' as based on lack
of information. They say that the country already has well defined
defamatory laws that are applicable to all, including the media.
''As such, there is no need for the promulgation of the press-specific
defamation ordinance, for its adverse impacts on press freedom,''
said a representative of the Pakistan Bar Association, the apex
body of lawyers in the country.
The
representative said the remedy against defamation is available under
the Pakistan Penal Code. ''This ordinance would amount to a multifarious
mess of laws, causing duplications and confusions in legal terms,''
he said.
In
addition to opposing the new defamation clauses, the journalist
associations have also rejected the creation of a Press Council
as being an encroachment on press affairs. What
does not fall in the purview of the Defamation Ordinance can be
taken up at this council as a breach of a code of conduct for the
press devised by the government in consultation with media owners,
commented a representative for the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of
Journalists.
The
Press Council, as approved by the cabinet, will be headed by the
nominee of the president and comprise three editors, three publishers
and three journalists, in addition to nominees of the prime minister,
the leader of the opposition and provincial governors.
''We
have already made it clear to the government that working journalists
are against the very concept of the Press Council, as any such body
could be used to further curb press freedom,'' said PFUJ President
Rashed. The PFUJ has also announced a boycott of the council, saying
it will not nominate any representatives. It says that the strict
regulatory mechanism being put in place by the government will be
in addition to more than a dozen existing laws that curtail press
freedom in one way or another.
''Press
councils in many other countries have no powers to punish journalists
whereas the proposed council would have such powers,'' Rashed said,
responding to the government's explanation that such councils exist
in more than 50 countries.
To
some extent, media owners also share working journalists' perceptions
of the Press Council. They say that the government earlier guaranteed
that the new press laws would be accompanied by a law allowing freedom
of information in the country.
''It
was agreed that the package of laws, including a Freedom of Information
Act, would be released simultaneously whereas the Freedom of Information
Act has not yet been issued. Without this Act, these laws would
negate the freedom of press,'' observed Kazi Asad Abid, who is secretary-general
of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), an association of
media owners.
Abid
said that by holding on to the power to appoint members to the Press
Council, the government would jeopardise its independent nature.
However, he offered no criticism to the defamation ordinance, saying
the government never provided his group with its full text. He agreed
with the provision of a fine, but had concerns over what he said
is its ''high minimum ceiling''. - IPS
Pakistani journalists in uproar over new press laws
Reporters
Without Borders on Sept 6 endorsed the objections being voiced by
Pakistani journalists to three new ordinances on the press and called
on the government to revise them. Adopted by the government on 31
August, the ordinances increase the penalties for defamation, impose
a system of prior authorisation for the news media, and create a
press council under the government's thumb. A new law on press freedom,
which had been expected, was not however adopted.
"Although
always quick to voice support for the principle of press freedom,
the Pakistani government, without heed to yet another contradiction,
is once again digging its grave", Reporters Without Borders
secretary-general Robert Ménard said in a letter to Information
Minister Aziz Memom. Ménard said the organisation fully supported
the Pakistani press mobilisation against the new laws and urged
the government to revise them in consultation with the country's
press bodies.
The
organisation also called for the press to be accorded open access
to government documents which are currently subject to very restrictive
classification that makes them inaccessible and impedes investigative
journalism.
Pakistan's
main press organisations have been unanimous in their condemnation
of the three ordinances, which the information ministry has so far
refused to publish in full and has only released extracts. The All-Pakistan
Newspaper Society (APNS), the Pakistan Federal Union of
Journalists (PFUJ) and the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors
(CPNE) have all raised their voices against the new regulations,
deeming them to have breached agreements they had reached with the
government.
On
23 July, the government had given the APNS and CPNE an undertaking
to amend the pending ordinances in order to exclude government appointees
from the press council and limit fines for defamation to a maximum
of $800. However, the ordinances finally adopted stipulate that
several members of the council, including its president, are appointed
by the government and that the penalties for defamation range from
a minimum of $800 to prison sentences.
Furthermore,
the topics governed by the new law are taken from an old press code
that bans any vilification of "friendly nations" or infringement
of "decency" - the vaguest of terms that give the authorities
too much latitude and lend themselves to arbitrary implementation.
