Surrendering to Silence: An account of Self-censorship among Pakistani Journalists

"For some years now, media professionals and news industry insiders in Pakistan have spoken of a growing trend of self-censorship among local journalists. The self-censorship is argued to be a defense mechanism against threats, harassment, and acts of physical violence."

Because tangible data on self-censorship have been missing from the media policy discourse in Pakistan, this study set out to "test the claims of self-censorship in the Pakistani news media through a survey of journalists working in the country." Self-censorship as a coercive force or negative influence among journalists is a choice that is made "not to express whatever is being self-censored"... sometimes for self-protection. “The four causes were: unofficial government controls on reporting, the oligopoly of newspaper ownership, the laws related to journalism, and lack of security for journalists."

The study looked at how: local journalists perceive their own and their colleagues’ acts of self-censorship to determine the extent in professional role and the extent in private interactions on- and offline; journalists' perceptions of reasons and causes; their attempts to circumvent self-censored expression; and their knowledge of secure digital communication.

The study used a bilingual questionnaire to collect quantitative data.  Snowball sampling was used to move the respondent pool beyond Media Matters for Democracy contacts.

From the Executive summary, five key takeaways are:

1. "Pakistani journalists work in an environment that makes self-censorship diffi¬cult to avoid..." It has increased with time. "Journalists who participated in the survey for the study linked the concept of self-censorship with safety and reaction to threats of violence and physical attacks against journalists."
2. "Pakistani journalists exercise self-censorship in personal settings...Self-censorship is not limited to news reporting but also occurs in expression of opinions online and offline in social networks."
3. "Journalists perceive the policies of their own news organizations as major hurdles in the way of free expression....80% said it was due to the policies of their news organizations."
4. "Pakistani journalists especially likely to curtail expression about military and religion... Security-related matters and religion appear to be two main areas where journalists seem unwilling to take many risks."
5. "Not all journalists aware of securing digital communication but most interested in knowing more...." A third did not know how to use encryption, and nearly 80% said they would like to know more about keeping their digital communication safe. "The respondents also identified knowledge about secure communication tools and digital risk assessment as major capacity-building interventions."
6. "Popular self-censorship mitigation strategy offers encouragement for collaboration and editorial support..."

Half the respondents use sharing information with colleagues as a mitigation attempt. "If reporters are able to collaborate and support each other to prevent self-censorship, broader collaborations among news media organizations and journalist collectives could be made possible to resist the pressures of self-censorship."

Recommendations (page 38 - 40) are given for three groups:

• For the News Media and Journalist Unions, including, for example, safety training for professionals and uniting against self-censorship.
• For Civil Society Organizations, including, for example, continued research on the trend, advocacy and lobbying for press freedom, and training opportunities for journalists.
• For the Government and Political Parties, including, for example, taking steps to end crimes against journalists, ensure media regulation uninfluenced by pressure groups, and raise political awareness about press freedom.