IFJ to Pakistan government: respect press freedom

JournalismPakistan.com | Published 4 years ago

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has urged the government of Pakistan to respect press freedom, saying that pressuring a media outlet to off-screen a journalist is a clear attempt to undermine the media’s independence and silence critical voices.

In a statement, the IFJ, while criticizing Geo News for accepting pressure, also asked the TV management to allow prominent TV anchor Hamid Mir to resume hosting his talk show.

Mir was hosting Capital Talk, one of the most popular prime-time TV shows since 2002. However, Geo News management recently took him off-screen.

According to Geo News and Jang group, he was suspended for speaking at a protest to condemn the assault on journalist and YouTuber Asad Ali Toor. Mir’s remarks resulted “in a backlash from different segments of society.” - Photo: AFP

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