It is always tremendously sad to report on the killing of journalists, and here Chhetria Patrakar has to refer to the murder of Zakia Zaki on 5 June. Zazi (see pic) headed the private radio station Sada-e-Sulh (Peace Radio) in Afghanistan's northern province of Pawan. Her murder – by seven bullets fired point-blank – was seen as a warning for women not to work in the media. Hundreds of women have joined the profession since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Zaki, described by the Afghan Independent Journalists Association as "independent and courageous", had previously received death threats, and had faced down demands for Sada-e-Sulh to be taken off the air. Another woman journalist was also murdered in Afghanistan during the last month. Shakiba Sanga Amaj (see pic), a 22-year-old television presenter with the Pashtu channel Shamshad TV, was killed on 31 May. Amaj's death might have had something to do with a marriage-related family matter, but the loss of a professional reporter and presenter will be felt dearly by the fledgling Afghan media.
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We all liked to believe that Gen Musharraf was a libertarian when it came to the media, for the way in which he allowed journalists free reign all these years. Well, it turns out that that was only because he was confident about his hold on the polity, the lack of opposition from exiled leaders Nawaz and Benazir, and the Western support that propped him up, especially after 9/11. Also, because he knew that the English-language press represented no political challenge, the general was willing to indulge it in its independence. But with the unravelling of his control, the anti-media nature of the Musharraf regime is becoming clear.
During May, the transmission of three leading private television channels was blocked, in an attempt to contain the controversy surrounding the general's suspension of the chief justice. What scares Gen Musharraf, of course, is that these channels – ARY, Aaj and GEO – air in Urdu, and thus have the power to rouse mass sentiment. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has denied harassing the stations, claiming that cable operators had themselves begun censoring their own broadcasts. Well, we know otherwise. Following political opposition and vigorous protests by journalist organisations, the Pakistani government was forced to suspend implementation of an ordinance that would have increased PEMRA's powers. The authorities have instead announced the creation of a six-member committee to review the controversial ordinance, and to submit a report to the prime minister. But things will probably get worse for the media in Pakistan before they get better.
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Over in India, the central government is at least is a little circumspect when it comes to directing the press. And so, when the authorities decided that their journalists were getting out of hand in its coverage of the conflict between the Meena and Gujjar communities in Rajasthan (see accompanying story), Information Minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi (see pic) called in the television channels and asked them to show restraint. NDTV executive director Dibang indicated that the authorities even suggested that the names of the two communities not be used in newscasts. Responding to reports that he had issued veiled threats to the media, the minister said: "I am not advising or dictating. I have no right to dictate." Meanwhile, Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN-IBN stated that the minister had "made an appeal for self-regulation, which is fine."
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