IMPACT OF ‘WAR ON TERROR’ ON MEDIA IN PAKISTAN: A CASE STUDY OF KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA AND EARSTWHILE FATA (2004-2014)
Keywords:
Media, war on terror, journalists, Freedom of expressionAbstract
T
he ‘war on terror’ brought both blessings and curses for media in Pakistan especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Its curses, however, surmounted the blessings. The media saw a boom after the ‘war on terror’, working conditions for media professionals improved and a competition was witnessed both among media professionals as well as owners. The influx of foreign journalists in search of investigative reports also provided an opportunity to the local media personnel to get better exposure and be connected with foreign media. But with the rapid increase in media houses and space for media professional what suffered the most was professionalism which was replaced by the race for ‘breaking news’. Naïve people were seen joining media without having any training. The attitude of the warring sides – militants and the security forces – was also strange. They too would want to have their version dominated the mainstream media. For the purpose the used both hook and crook. The media professional were also not trained for covering conflict due to which scores of journalists lost their lives, a number of others got injured and several suffered kidnapping and torture. This article deals with the state of media during the ‘war on terror’, sufferings of media people and freedom of expression.
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