The gun and the press in Pakistan

When news broke from Pakistan that a 14-year-old girl had been shot by members of the Taliban just for promoting female education on her blog, news organisations around the world jumped on the story. In Pakistan, however, they had to treat the subject with care. The Taliban warned local media to curb their reporting, or deal with the consequences. This is not just a story about one attack - it is a tale of how the journalistic environment in Pakistan has grown so dangerous. According to media watchdog groups, at least 20 journalists have been murdered since 2010 and not one of those cases has resulted in a conviction.


From  CNN

As coverage of the shooting -- and the appalled reaction to it -- swept across the Pakistani and international news media, the Taliban began issuing lengthy statements trying to justify the targeting of Malala, who had defied them by insisting on the right of girls to go to school.

They also complained that "this filthy, godless media has taken huge advantage of this situation, and journalists have started passing judgment on us," raising the prospect of killing those journalists.

Reporters in northwestern Pakistan, the region where the Taliban are active, say they have been alerted by authorities of an increased risk to their security and some of them have received warnings that they are being specifically targeted.

"Things after Malala have become more tense, as the Taliban is very angry with the way the attack was reported," said a veteran journalist in Peshawar, the main city in the restive northwestern region near the border with Afghanistan. "We are scared, but what can we do? We have to work."

Tanvir Ahmed Tahir, the executive director of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society, a trade body of publishers, said the organization had requested extra security from the government to protect its members' operations and staff in light of the Taliban statements.

According to the BBC, Hakimullah Mehsud, the head of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), ordered subordinates to target news media in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad and other cities. The media that criticized the schoolgirl blogger’s shooting are being targeted in particular.

Reporters Without Borders hails the speed with which the Pakistani police have reacted and their efforts to guarantee the safety of journalists targeted by the Taliban. At the same time, it condemns the death threats being made against journalists, which have the sole aim of creating a climate of terror in order to silence dissent.

"Even if Malala Yousafzai’s prognosis continues to be uncertain, the media’s coverage of the attempt to murder this young activist and the developments in her state of health is essential," Reporters Without Borders said. "Freedom of information must be respected and the Taliban threats must not serve as a spearhead for the imposition of self-censorship."