by Tahreem Ashraf
In the turbulent times of media censorship in Pakistan, where journalists are being silenced and polarization is on the rise, the youth is growing skeptical of the credibility of mainstream media. However, youth-led independent journalism collectives are striving to build trust within the public and highlighting the often-overlooked issues with the aid of thriving digital platforms.
Today, Pakistan is encumbered by political propaganda and deepening mistrust towards the ruling regime and establishment. Political polarization is deeply rooted in the mainstream and digital media which has shaken the edifice of fairness and compelled the public to take political sides.
When Khan was ousted from power after losing a no-confidence vote, the opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif was elected as the next Prime Minister by the parliament. Nevertheless, Khan continues to dominate the country’s politics with political rallies, taking the army head on and criticizing the present government. The changing political landscapes deeply influenced how media operated in the country and what narratives the public want to adhere.
The media ecosystem started to change when Imran Khan became the Prime Minister in 2018 and only allowed those journalists to press conferences who supported his narrative. This created a political divide in the media and independent journalism became difficult and risky, according to Iqbal Khattak, director of Freedom Network— a watchdog organization advocating for press freedom and human rights in Pakistan.
“I think people are not taking interest in independent journalists. They want me to be either pro Imran Khan or anti Imran Khan,” he added. “That is quite a difficult situation and those who are trying to be ethical, trying to be neutral and objective have little space left for them. They do not have much audience and they do not have much following.”
This kind of media outlook of the public has also allowed for harassment and threatening attacks on journalists. Khattak highlighted that impunity for crimes against journalists is quite high and entrenched within the system that “encourages press freedom predators to keep attacking media in Pakistan.”
Now, young journalists frustrated over the downfall of free press in the country took it on themselves to effectively deliver objective truth to their audience, but this is not a smooth journey for them.
Aliza Fatima and Aina Nadeem were in their final year of high school when they started Irteqaa, an operation focused on educating youth and fighting fake news.
“[During Covid] we saw there was a massive rise of misinformation, especially on Instagram stories. We had our friends who were spreading false news without ever verifying it,” said Nadeem. “We felt there was no one platform which could keep up with all of the things that are happening in our social circle, especially when it comes to young teenagers of Pakistan.”
According to Fatima, Irteqaa’s main goal is raising awareness about events that are not covered in mainstream media and break the echo-chamber that will allow public to be more tolerant and empathetic to the marginalized communities.
Propergaanda is another digital media company involved in activism journalism through its investigative stories and sparking conversations about controversial issues.
“This is a lot with audiences in developing countries where you [public] don’t want to hear criticism. You want to have a more nationalistic [narrative] like ‘we are one, nothing is wrong’, but we’re against it [because] there are problems that are needed to be solved,” said Hamza Ghaznavi, the founder of the company.
His aim is to build credibility and employ a more meaningful approach in storytelling that broach the subject of injustice, negative stereotyping and conspiracies in Pakistani society.
However, it is much easier to target and take down such pages on social media because of public opposition to a particular story by reporting the page or Instagram itself deciding to censor it.
“We were investigating on Afghanistan when Taliban took over and U.S. forces were leaving. Our account was blocked because of going against [Instagram] community standards. We were like ‘Why? we are just giving news how does that make any sense?’” said Ghaznavi.
He reasoned that it may be the consequence of Propergaanda not being a verified news page or not having a news license which creates “unfair pressure” on such digital platforms.
On the other hand, The Centrum Media (TCM), Pakistan’s first digital company devoted to video storytelling, strives to create a balance in the stories to avoid being labeled as biased and prevent temporary censorship attacks.
“Whenever we do a story about someone, we tell their side of the story as well. I think that is the credibility we have built, if someone is a bit biased, they also know that it is sort of an objective story,” said Talha Ahad, the founder of TCM.
“People have started knowing about what is biased news and what is unbiased news. It is like a digital literacy or a news literacy I think what we are doing.”
Kiran Nazish, a Pakistani journalist and the founder of the Coalition for Women in Journalism, however, warns that such organizations “do not appeal to the old-school audience” who are the majority voters and heavily consume the traditional media.
“For every TCM, there are three biased platforms that have tens of thousands of followers and are widely shared,” she wrote in a message.
Even though Pakistan’s digital infrastructure is not secure, the media is undergoing a huge digital transformation and media literacy still has a long way to go.
“Communication platforms including YouTube and Instagram are supposed to help us evolve,” wrote Nazish. “But it can have a significantly negative effect, even damaging effect if we do not prepare ourselves on how to use that technology.”