CIJ: Can you talk about the mission to Pakistan?
Ong: The mission was an international election observation mission organised by the IRI (International Republican Institute) to observe Pakistan's General Elections originally due on 8 January but later postponed to 18 February following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, a leading Opposition leader. The problematic elections in Pakistan has been attracting international attention for some time and foreign observers are welcome by both sides of politics as a way to prove the integrity of the electoral process.
CIJ: How would you describe the position of the journalists in Pakistan now?
Ong: The journalists in Pakistan have been suffering from oppressive working environment throughout the reigns of various regimes in Pakistan. Many have been killed, injured, assassinated and imprisoned in the line of duty. However their perseverance on press freedom paid off when General Musharraf liberalised the media at the beginning of his regime mostly as a charm offensive to cover up his military rule. Private TV stations grew profusely and pushed the boundaries of press freedom to where it had never been done before, to the delight of a quickly addicted public. When General Musharraf later showed his true colour and wanted to restrain the media, who openly called for his resignation, he faced a resolute media fraternity who dug in to fight his media clampdown. Being a journalist is still dangerous in Pakistan but there are many journalists who are braving all risks to report the truths under a military regime.
CIJ: How did the media fare under the different regimes?
Ong: Until Musharraf liberalised the media, the media in Pakistan were tightly controlled by all the previous regimes, with many journalists we met recounting their bitter experiences under various regimes. The blessing in disguise from this bad experience is the growth of a non-partisan media fraternity - a cornerstone of the civil society of Pakistan. I witnessed first hand the interesting play of diversity in opinions among the journalists in two press clubs that our mission visited. No party can claim to have good record when it comes to treating the media workers. Media oppression now extends to print, TV and internet.
CIJ: To what extent do the journalists face threats and intimidation?
Ong: Pakistan journalists perhaps suffer more than the public in terms of being detained, tortured, sacked, killed, injured, threatened and harassed by the police, intelligence services, tribal groups, religious militants and the military. Reporters Without Frontiers keeps a good documentation of such cases in its annual reports. Impressionistically the obvious vitality of Pakistan's press and TVs under such oppressive conditions speak volumes of the resoluteness of the press freedom culture here.
CIJ: What is the level of solidarity among journalists?
Ong: The level of solidarity in terms of media freedom is best measured by the crossing of political lines when it comes to defending journalists' freedom to do their reporting work. Popular but mainstream media like Geo Network was closed down, among others, under Emergency, but was not allowed to reopen after others regained their permission to operate later. Other media networks and journalists working within them, who stand to gain from Geo's (their rival's) absence supported Geo's reopening.
CIJ: How do they organise themselves and what values bring them together?
Ong: There are two kinds of organisations for journalists that I encountered: press clubs and journalists unions. Of the two, press clubs seems to be more popular. The press clubs are pretty well established in each city, each with their own building. I visited the press club in Hyderabad and Karachi and saw with my own eyes their interesting and gutsy operation. The respect that the press clubs had earned from the public made the public run to the press clubs to conduct protests under the Emergency announced by Musharraf in Nov 2007, when protests were banned. Due to the persecution of journalists under various regimes the one central value that binds them is political non-partisanship especially when it comes to defending press freedom. Some good results from this are: relatively conservative/mainstream press are competing to report on the government's rots while the press here are unrestrained to pound on the Opposition's wrongdoings - quite different from Malaysia where the Opposition shields itself from criticisms by claiming victimhood. Often the progressive tag of a media cannot keep audience - they too have to perform in terms of getting the news break and good footages. Professional news values get more play here.
Ong (third from right) with the mission at the Hyderabad Press Club
Media obviously played an important role in the resistance to military rule in Pakistan. It seems that anti-military rule is also a consensus value in the media, whether conservative or liberal. And it is the mainstream media which get pushed/prodded into more balanced and professional reporting that does the trick. Learning from this, Malaysia's social change agenda need to significantly crank up pressure on the mainstream media to act more professionally/responsibly while more alternative media need to be created to challenge the mainstream media as the monopoly news/views providers. As it is, NGOs' and Opposition parties' media in Malaysia seems underdeveloped and there is a lack of non-party partisan media (in contrast to media which are partisan to democratic values). More civil society contribution and interventions are certainly needed compared to the status quo to promote dialogue and debates as a way to create consensus and to advance people's views in relation to the parties'. Currently political parties are shouting across the fence when they `communicate' - not a very conducive way to deliberate on intricate and sensitive policy matters. Media need to create the space and debates, even specialised ones, to advance public interests. Parties need to be pressured into competing in creating better public policies where parties supporting better public policies get better support and coverage. Media can also help steer public away from others senseless competitions eg personal attacks/ challenges.
CIJ: Can you talk about alternative media in Pakistan? How do you compare them to Malaysia?
Ong: There are numerous alternative internet based media in Pakistan but they are not playing the roles like in Malaysia where alternative media are the ones providing a more balanced coverage. Pakistan's mainstream media already can provide that. Alternative media are providing more partisan views. A reversal of roles compared to Malaysia.
