Islamabad - Pakistan is a signatory of UN plan of action on the safety of journalists, therefore the government needs to ensure security and protection of media persons, said participants at a national media conference.
Pakistan remains the world’s most dangerous country for journalists as 14 media persons lost their lives between May 2014 and April 2015 as speakers called on the government as well as media houses to take effective safety measures for protection of journalists.
They said this during the 4th National Media Conference organised by Individualland Pakistan in collaboration with Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FnF) on Thursday.
Iqbal Khattak, senior journalist while in a conversation on ending impunity against violence against journalists said: “It is not only the responsibility of the government to ensure the safety of journalists in the line of duty, the media houses are equally responsible to make certain the safety measures.”
Muhammad Aftab Alam, legal expert added that since Pakistan is a signatory of UN Plan of action on the safety of journalists, it has the responsibility of fulfilling its commitment.
Fazil Jamili, President Karachi Press Club while speaking at the concluding session of media conference said; “In order to facilitate the working journalist press clubs have been established all over Pakistan but unfortunately they are not operating effectively due to various reasons.
There is a need to ensure that press clubs are functioning effectively and facilitating their members in all respects.”
Syed Asif Salah-ud-Din, CEO of Adgroup spoke in detail about the dynamics of media economy and stated: “Advertising gets a lot of criticism but if there were no advertisements, journalists would not get paid. It is the dynamics of media economy that news is delivered to the citizen at the cost of Rs19.”
Mohsin Shah Nawaz Ranjha, Parliamentary Secretary Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said on the occasion one cannot ignore the role of media today.
The issues raised by senior representatives of media at this platform identify a clear gap between media owners and employees.