by Munazza Siddiqui in The News, Nov 14, 2020
The writer is an executive producer, Geo News.
….. The concept of casualty is central to the idea of free will; that effects have causes. So what happens when equal enticements are replaced with equal threats, when two alternatives are judged to carry equally frightening consequences. Deriving from the conclusion of 14th century French philosopher Jean Buridan of the Donkey Paradox that in such a situation no rational choice can be made and action must be suspended until circumstances change, it would be logical to conclude that in case of equal threats one has no choice but to freeze from indecision.
Journalists in Pakistan today are being forced to do exactly that. Fear is freezing honest-to-God journalists every day. As if there weren’t enough menaces impeding sound judgement already, the last few of years have seen a dramatic rise in multidirectional yet equally menacing reasons for practicing indecision.
There was a time when pressures to censor were – for lack of a better word – distinctly unidirectional. We never came to terms with the pressures but at least we knew what they were about and how to play around them. It gave a semblance of liberty and allowed us the freedom to do our jobs, albeit creatively. Not so much anymore. Every pillar of journalism is struggling to cope with fear, and laws meant to protect journalists as professionals and as citizens no longer work as well as before. Yet they should, more than ever before, because laws are not there just to protect the weak but also to protect us from our individual and institutional autocratic impulses.
To give an example, journalists in Pakistan are being labelled traitors for doing their job. One third of the journalists facing legal cases in Pakistan risk being charged under the Anti-Terrorism Law, and most of these cases have been filed by government officials who are often ranking bureaucrats. The most common allegations against journalists include “acting against state institutions” or “defaming state institutions”.
Journalists in Pakistan are being systematically deprived of free will. They are being made to believe that theirs is an unholy job. Fear of retribution is forcing them to freeze with indecision. That is akin to not having the right to choose. The current extent of threats facing journalists in Pakistan today prove Jean Buridan’s paradox: that if the situation doesn’t change soon, journalists will start to wither away.https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/743446-between-fear-and-fear
Between fear and fear: OP-ED
by Munazza Siddiqui in The News, Nov 14, 2020
The writer is an executive producer, Geo News.
….. The concept of casualty is central to the idea of free will; that effects have causes. So what happens when equal enticements are replaced with equal threats, when two alternatives are judged to carry equally frightening consequences. Deriving from the conclusion of 14th century French philosopher Jean Buridan of the Donkey Paradox that in such a situation no rational choice can be made and action must be suspended until circumstances change, it would be logical to conclude that in case of equal threats one has no choice but to freeze from indecision.
Journalists in Pakistan today are being forced to do exactly that. Fear is freezing honest-to-God journalists every day. As if there weren’t enough menaces impeding sound judgement already, the last few of years have seen a dramatic rise in multidirectional yet equally menacing reasons for practicing indecision.
There was a time when pressures to censor were – for lack of a better word – distinctly unidirectional. We never came to terms with the pressures but at least we knew what they were about and how to play around them. It gave a semblance of liberty and allowed us the freedom to do our jobs, albeit creatively. Not so much anymore. Every pillar of journalism is struggling to cope with fear, and laws meant to protect journalists as professionals and as citizens no longer work as well as before. Yet they should, more than ever before, because laws are not there just to protect the weak but also to protect us from our individual and institutional autocratic impulses.
To give an example, journalists in Pakistan are being labelled traitors for doing their job. One third of the journalists facing legal cases in Pakistan risk being charged under the Anti-Terrorism Law, and most of these cases have been filed by government officials who are often ranking bureaucrats. The most common allegations against journalists include “acting against state institutions” or “defaming state institutions”.
Journalists in Pakistan are being systematically deprived of free will. They are being made to believe that theirs is an unholy job. Fear of retribution is forcing them to freeze with indecision. That is akin to not having the right to choose. The current extent of threats facing journalists in Pakistan today prove Jean Buridan’s paradox: that if the situation doesn’t change soon, journalists will start to wither away.https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/743446-between-fear-and-fear
Published in Pak Media comment and Pakistan