FFFJ supports the Global Day of Action and condemns media restrictions in Pakistan

The Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ), a coalition of six media organizations formed in 2003 to address the numerous attacks against journalists and news organizations in the Philippines, supports the Global Day of Action today, November 15, protesting the media crackdown in Pakistan.

FFFJ is deeply concerned over the draconian clampdown on free expression under the state of national emergency declared by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf last November 3. Since then, crippling legal restrictions, imposed through amendments of Pakistani law, have been put in place. The restrictions have severely impaired Pakistan media’s function to report the truth and to hold the government accountable.

The amendments have also provided government excessive powers, among them to suspend news publications for up to thirty days, confiscate media equipment, and impose stiff fines on violators of the new regulations, all of which have created a hostile environment for the practice of free expression. Aside from the imposition of these unacceptable restrictions, under emergency rule the government has also suspended a number of local and international news channels and blocked local and international news websites.

Local and international journalists covering street protests denouncing the declaration of the state of emergency have also been harassed, attacked, and detained. Three reporters from the U.K.-based publication The Daily Telegraph have also been expelled from Pakistan because of an “offensive” editorial from the newspaper about the political crisis.

FFFJ believes that the recent turn of events has corroded Pakistan’s democratic institutions, directly affecting the practice of free expression. FFFJ calls for the immediate withdrawal of amendments in Pakistani law, which has resulted in severe restrictions on media practice in the country, and the restoration of democratic rule. FFFJ believes that free and independent media is of paramount importance to the development of society.

The FFFJ members are the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, the Philippine Press Institute, the Center for Community Journalism and Development, the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines), and the California-based newspaper The Philippine News. FFFJ provides financial assistance to the families of slain journalists, as well as legal support in the prosecution of their cases.

(Released by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, which serves as the FFFJ Secretariat.)

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