In the Balance: Press Freedom in South Asia 2007-2008

The challenges for journalists and the media community in South Asia encompass a range of factors that indicate the level of press freedom in any country: Physical attacks, threats and questionable legal actions directed against journalists, media workers and media institutions with the intention of keeping critics quiet; the risks of reporting on events and issues in locations made dangerous by war and violent dissent; official and unofficial censorship; concentration of media ownership and the prevention of access to diverse sources of information; and the extent of transparency and accountability permitted by the local regulatory environment, including freedom of information and labour laws. All these factors are in play, to a lesser or greater extent, in the six countries reviewed. Press freedom cannot, generally speaking, be achieved in isolation. It requires the combined and collaborative efforts of multiple actors: Journalists and their organisations, media owners, political power-holders, community leaders and ordinary people. In this sense, the South Asia Media Solidarity Network (SAMSN), an alliance of journalists’ organisations and press freedom defenders supported by the IFJ, has an important role to play in encouraging South Asia as a whole to embrace press freedom. [Sixth Annual IJF Press Freeedom Report for South Asia]