What happened: Media censorship is defined as the suppression of speech, communication, or any other significant information. The censorship of media in Pakistan is considered the suppression of words and ideas deemed offensive. The reporters at ProperGaanda had to censor a few of their reports considering the societal rules and the ‘so-called,’ restrictions enforced by the social media users.
What you need to know: The Reporters Without Borders has said that the journalists in Pakistan face extreme restrictions and strict censorship guidelines. At the same time, the Information & Broadcasting Minister, Fawad Chaudhry, had planned to introduce a new bill introducing a new entity called the Pakistani Media Development Authority in a bid to censor the reporting. The Federal Minister has also sought different amendments to regulate the content, and journalists had called it a “Media Martial Law.”
Also: Online censorship has also been a concerning factor, as the government had banned TikTok while restricting the content being published on the social media news agencies. The practice of limiting information, and ideas, is not encouraged, and its effects include a lack of clarity and transparency. At the same time, censorship would develop a lack of independent oversight and would most likely set the wrong tone, for generations to come. Censorship deprives an individual of their major right of freely expressing their views, hence, listening to the views and censoring news is the resort that can be opted for. Resorting to censorship is considered an option that hinders the capability of ideating freely, and strictly following one guided path.