{"id":125115,"date":"2026-05-01T09:32:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T04:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=125115"},"modified":"2026-05-01T09:32:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T04:32:58","slug":"journalists-compelled-to-self-censor-to-avoid-legal-trouble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125115\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Journalists compelled to self-censor to avoid legal trouble\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>ISLAMABAD(National Times)- The weaponisation of the country\u2019s cybercrime laws is one of the most serious threats to media freedom in Pakistan, press freedom watchdog Freedom Network said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In its report, Regulatory Repres\u00adsion of Freedom of Expression \u2014 Legal Controls and Peca Undermine Media and Journalism in Pakistan, the watchdog said that amendments to the Prevention of Elec\u00adtronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016 had created a climate of fear, where journalists are compelled to self-censor to avoid legal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The report was released to mark World Press Freedom Day, observed globally on May 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The report highlighted high-profile convictions of human rights lawyers, including Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha, as examples of how custodial sentences were used to deter dissent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition, dozens of journalists have faced charges under expanded provisions of Peca, while defamation suits, regulatory suspensions and internet shutdowns further constrained independent journalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The report also notes that state-led efforts to counter disinformation and hate-speech are often accompanied by increased surveillance and selective enforcement. Regulatory bodies monitoring online content, coupled with vague definitions of \u201cfabricated news,\u201d blur the line between misinformation and legitimate dissent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In terms of journalist safety, the report documented at least 129 verified incidents of violations during the review period, which ranged between April-2025 and March-2026. Legal threats and physical violence accounted for nearly two-thirds of these cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among these violations include two murders, five cases of threats to murder, 58 legal cases (mostly Peca-invoked), 16 cases of assault, 11 cases of threats to harm and two cases of kidnapping and enforced disappearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Punjab and Khyber Pakhtun\u00adkhwa emerged as the most dangerous regions for journalists, while murders in Sindh and Balochistan underscored the persistent risks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD(National Times)- The weaponisation of the country\u2019s cybercrime laws is one of the most serious threats to media freedom in Pakistan, press freedom watchdog Freedom Network said. In its report, Regulatory Repres\u00adsion of Freedom of Expression \u2014 Legal Controls and Peca Undermine Media and Journalism in Pakistan, the watchdog said that amendments to the Prevention [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u2018Journalists compelled to self-censor to avoid legal trouble\u2019 - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125115\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Journalists compelled to self-censor to avoid legal trouble\u2019 - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ISLAMABAD(National Times)- The weaponisation of the country\u2019s cybercrime laws is one of the most serious threats to media freedom in Pakistan, press freedom watchdog Freedom Network said. In its report, Regulatory Repres\u00adsion of Freedom of Expression \u2014 Legal Controls and Peca Undermine Media and Journalism in Pakistan, the watchdog said that amendments to the Prevention [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125115\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-01T04:32:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-01T04:32:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-670x370-47.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125115\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125115\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018Journalists compelled to self-censor to avoid legal trouble\u2019 - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125115\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125115\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-670x370-47.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-01T04:32:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-01T04:32:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125115\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125115\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125115\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-670x370-47.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-670x370-47.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125115\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018Journalists compelled to self-censor to avoid legal trouble\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018Journalists compelled to self-censor to avoid legal trouble\u2019 - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125115\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018Journalists compelled to self-censor to avoid legal trouble\u2019 - Nation","og_description":"ISLAMABAD(National Times)- The weaponisation of the country\u2019s cybercrime laws is one of the most serious threats to media freedom in Pakistan, press freedom watchdog Freedom Network said. 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