Imran Riaz's arrest sparks debate in Pakistan on who is a journalist

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 8 July 2022 |  Daud Malik

The arrest of Imran Riaz Khan has raised questions about journalistic integrity and political bias in Pakistan. Supporters and critics are divided over his role as a journalist.

Summary

ISLAMABAD—The arrest of television anchor and vlogger Imran Riaz Khan has opened a fierce debate about who is a journalist in Pakistan.

Many journalists and others hinted in online posts and tweets that Khan should not be considered a journalist but a worker of a political party—in this case, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf.

However, the arrested journalist's supporters sprung to his defense. They pointed out the alleged support of journalists for various political parties and their diatribes against the military establishment in the near and far past.

Over the last 20 years, the journalistic landscape has changed dramatically, especially after Pakistan opened its airwaves. We witnessed a surge in the number of private TV channels and radio stations, along with the arrival of a new generation of journalists who became the face of journalism in the country.

Most of the time, they have been noisy, blabbering, self-righteous, with no regard for facts and figures. They became part of every political dispute and took sides without regard for objectivity in their reporting. As journalists, particularly the leading ones, have become partisan, they have been liked and disliked in line with the political party they support or oppose.

The question of who is a journalist comes up from time to time, especially when journalists go to the polls of the National Press Club in Islamabad. The list of the NPC members is vetted by all the contesting parties annually. Now NPC has decided to go for electronic club membership and the subsequent voting during the elections, with the cooperation of NADRA.

The journalists who seemed reluctant to accept Khan as a journalist tried to highlight that the YouTuber did not support them when they faced the music, especially during the tenure of PTI. They pointed out his overt support for the military establishment in the near past.

However, his supporters and PTI workers see him as a crusader for press freedom and democracy. But journalists, especially after the private TV channels took over the leading role in informing or misinforming people about events, have become somewhat passionate about their political affiliations, which also allegedly involves the question of financial benefits.

The law on the protection of journalists, passed by the National Assembly during the government of PTI, defines who a journalist is. It says a journalist in Pakistan is "any person who is professionally or regularly engaged by a newspaper, magazine, news website or other news broadcast medium (whether online or offline), or any person with a substantial track record of freelancing for at least three years for any newspaper, magazine, news website or other news broadcast medium."

It also defines a media professional as "any other person regularly or professionally engaged in the collection, processing and dissemination of information to the public via any means of mass communication, including cameraperson and photographers, technical supporting staff, drivers, and interpreters, editors, translators, publishers, broadcasters, printers, and distributors."

This is quite a broad definition, which makes many of us journalists, including Khan and others who, in the past, have had to face the rough state hand.

Looking at the political polarization, it seems that every journalist thinks they are the last of genuine journalists on the face of the earth. The others are the lackeys of the political parties and the establishment.

The political division between journalists will continue to widen. Calls for restraint have fallen on deaf ears. The editor's office is dead, and the owner's office is in complete control of the media landscape in Pakistan.

Technology has helped journalists find their voice and disseminate even when not part of mainstream journalism. This has given them another kind of independence where they are all in all. They have no qualms about the official policy.

It seems the day is not far when journalists will be routinely telling each other they are outside the pale of journalism. Hence everyone would be a journalist but would not consider colleagues and others a journalist.

KEY POINTS:

• Imran Riaz Khan's arrest has triggered debates on who qualifies as a journalist in Pakistan.
• Critics argue that Khan is aligned with a political party, while supporters defend his role in press freedom.
• The definition of a journalist under Pakistani law includes various media professionals, which complicates the discourse.
• The landscape of journalism in Pakistan has changed significantly with the rise of private media and political affiliations.
• Calls for objectivity in journalism are increasingly challenged by political partisanship.