Al Jazeera English: Pakistan mulls law to gag media

[SealLion]

media getting gagged even in Asia.
Actually, that isn't much of a surprise.

There is a new government in that country which before was controlled by the government which, during it's reign (according to the video), had a fleury of news stations and programs. Now, with a new government in office, it doesn't like to having much critism of it's actions such as military actions along it's borders, for example.

There's a short 3 min. video on the website which briefly talks about

In Pakistan, the media has been able to operate with relative freedom only in recent times.

But now the government wants to reign in news organisations.

Authorities want a new law that would ban certain pictures and videos criticising the government and security forces. ......

Here's the link:

Al Jazeera English - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - Pakistan mulls law to gag media

Apparantly, there is some mixed public reaction. Some don't want to see dead bodies on TV, other's aren't too keen on having media censorship at all.

Though, it's not really just about 'dead bodies' on TV, .....it's a bit more than that.

If media censorship does occur with this new law, it won't be much of a surprise that media censorship will continue to occur elsewhere.

It already occurs in some parts of Europe, Asia, and even in Norht America where the media is controlled to an extent with regards to what is made known by the general media. ...or at least requested to be not covered, if you want to put it that way.

Enjoy the short video. :)

[slikrapid]

Apparantly, there is some mixed public reaction. Some don't want to see dead bodies on TV, other's aren't too keen on having media censorship at all.

i can understand why people don't want to see images of dead bodies as they do inspire fear & insecurity, yet if the situation is really that serious there should be enough coverage, imo its all in the balance - there is no need to lean towards sensationalism (who shows more dead bodies or more severe death images), but the public should be aware of the reality - take a look at the usa tv situation - it seems that they almost perversely enjoy spreading fear among their citizens with constant airing of negative content as the positive is not sensational enough, a nation living in fear with predominantly aired images of violence simply cannot function normally in real life, its like a form of television brainwashing, which may also to some extent explain their daily death toll in the country

a new law that would ban certain pictures and videos criticising the government

this is obviously not democratic

It already occurs in some parts of Europe, Asia, and even in Norht America where the media is controlled to an extent with regards to what is made known by the general media.

i would go even further to say that everywhere in the world in every single media organization exists some form of censorship (at least at the level of reporter's self-censorship ie. morality/personal interest) as the media are either privately owned (owners interests come first, after that comes everything else) or state owned (governments interests come first), the only thing that varies is the implemented/practiced level of censorship (or news 'polishing' if put mildly)

[banneduser]

Pakistan state will never improve , with the present military especially ISI status
Its a failed state and contains all the classical factors of a failed state .
Ban is to control and gag the public
the government is not in control with full political and bureaucratic interference from the military
there s one book which i liked most was the Bear trap
I have read others too but this one blatantly sets all issues correct for me atleast
I had read it in 2002 and loved it
not much has changed though

[SealLion]

I wuoln'd be surprised that Reporters Without Borders has also had some trouble with Pakistan. There's been enough situations where RWB had thier journalist's imprisioned in places like PAkistan and Afghanistan.

Here's a small excerpt from the RWB webpage:

Afghan journalist Janullah Hashimzada’s.........the 27th murder of a journalist in Pakistan since 2001,,,,,,,. covered sensitive subjects such as the war against terrorism and relations between Afghans and Pakistanis in the border region.....(it is suspected that) his murder was organised by Afghan Taliban who had been threatening him for a long time

''


It's not just Pakistan.
It's the whole region.
When a journalist reports on news that someone else doesn't want known, somebody else takes action.

This occurs everywhere.
North America, Europe, ....you name it.
IN many cases, just like slikrapid mentioned, albeit for something different, journalists inspire fear & insecurity to those that it affects. Namely officials who don't want s ome news let out.
All media, with perhaps a few exceptions are privately owned.