PAKISTAN MEDIA MONITOR – November 2025
A monthly report on trends relating to state of journalism and media rights, policies and practices
Tracking:
Media related laws, policies and regulations
The state of media professionalisms
The state of media economy
Threats and attacks against journalists and information practitioners
Vol. 6, No. 11 – November 2025 Edition
Produced by Freedom Network – www.fnpk.org
SECTION 1: Media related laws, policies, regulations, mechanisms
- Freedom of expression (FOE)
- Right to information (RTI), access to information (ATI)
- Federal and provincial governments (relevant ministries and departments)
- Media related regulators (PPC, PEMRA, PTA)
- Regulatory issues related to print, electronic and digital media
PEMRA Amendment bill presented in parliament
Date: November 8, 2025 – Source: The News
The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory (Amendment) Bill 2025, meant to substitute the word ‘Federal Government’ with ‘Prime Minister’ in Sections 2, 7 and 26 of the Ordinance, was introduced by the federal government in the National Assembly.
Appointment of information secretary on the cards
Date: November 21, 2025 – Source: The News
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif interviewed five Grade-21 officers of the Information Group for the appointment of the new Secretary Information and Broadcasting. The Establishment Division is subsequently expected to notify the new secretary after receiving instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
SECTION 2: The state of media professionalisms
- Media independence issues
- Public interest journalism practices and challenges
- Ethical journalism issues
- The state of thematic journalism
- Community-focused media
- Misinformation / disinformation / fake news
PBA elects new office-bearers
Date: November 1, 2025 – Source 1: Dawn, Source 2: Business Recorder (BR)
The Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) held its annual general body meeting in Karachi, where members unanimously elected new directors in the television and radio categories, along with office-bearers for the 2025-2026 term.
Date: November 2, 2025 – Source: The News
With authoritarian regimes in fashion round the world, states are increasingly asking journalists to toe their line or face consequences. This jingoistic hyper-nationalism has affected the credibility of traditional media, which is at a historic low, with online trends making things even more challenging.
AI’s gendered impact on journalist
Date: November 2, 2025 – Source: The News
As newsrooms race to integrate artificial intelligence (AI), little attention is paid to how it reinforces gender stereotypes and biases. The use of generative AI for visuals or research risks replicating and deepening existing exclusions of women and marginalized communities in the media.
‘Standards for AI in Journalism’ launched in Sahafi Summit
Date: November 14, 2025 – Source 1: Dawn, Source 2: Digital Rights Monitor (DRM)
An initiative, the Standards for AI in Journalism, with claims to be the first locally grounded effort in Pakistan to define responsible artificial intelligence (AI) use in newsrooms was launched at the closing of the three-day Sahafi Summit 2025 in Lahore.
Jang, Geo group launch Pakistan’s first media mental health program
Date: November 19, 2025 – Source: The News
The Jang and Geo group launched Milkar, Pakistan’s first structured mental health program dedicated to address and reduce workplace stress while creating a healthier and more supportive work environment for media practitioners.
Date: November 23, 2025 – Source: The News
Anyone denying the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in journalism in either mistaken or dishonest. Journalists routinely rely on AI mediums and experimental tools alike. This marks the beginning of an essential and ongoing dialogue about responsibly integrating AI into journalism.
Speakers criticize deep-rooted workplace challenges faced by women in media
Date: November 28, 2025 – Source: Dawn
Participants at a consultation organized by the Institute for Research, Advocacy and Development (IRADA) on gender equality and equity in media organizations declared unacceptable the persistent barriers faced by women in workplaces.
SECTION 3: The state of media economy
- Economic landscape of media industry
- Impact of Covid-19 on media resilience and sustainability
- Government and private advertising for media industry
- Advertising sector and its interface with media industry
- Business viability and sustainability of media
- Wages, salaries and arrears of journalists and media practitioners
Journalists’ train march reaches Rawalpindi
Date: November 6, 2025 – Source: Express Tribune
The Regional Union of Journalists (RUJ) organized a train march from Peshawar to press for their demands, arriving in Rawalpindi before continuing towards Karachi. Key demands include providing insurance coverage for media workers and allocating land for registered district press clubs.
APNS concerned over delay in notifying enhanced government advertisement rates
Date: November 21, 2025 – Source: The News
The All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) expressed concern over the federal government’s continued indifference towards notifying and implementing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s decision to enhance government advertisement rates for newspapers.
Peshawar court orders digital news company to pay damages to journalist
Date: November 25, 2025 – Source: Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)
A local court in Peshawar ordered a digital news company to pay Rs20 million to journalist Ghulam Dastgir in a damages suit concerning alleged contractual violations and baseless allegations linked to his 2023 employment termination.
SECTION 4: Threats and attacks against media and information practitioners, including online
- Murders and killings
- Kidnappings and abductions
- Arrests and detentions
- Threats – verbal and written
- Harassment and intimidation – offline and online
- Surveillance, hacking and data breaches
- Legal cases for journalism-related work or free speech
- Impunity of crimes against journalists
- Censorship
Watchdog paints 2025 as ‘bleak year’ for Pakistani media
Date: November 1, 2025 – Source: Dawn
The Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) termed 2025 a “bleak” year for media safety and free expression in the country, documenting at least 137 confirmed incidents targeting journalists and media practitioners between January and October.
Court defers journalist’s indictment
Date: November 1, 2025 – Source: Dawn
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad deferred the indictment of journalist Matiullah Jan in a narcotics and terrorism case, with the defendant contending that the case was politically motivated and aimed at silencing a ‘critical voice in journalism’.
IFJ condemns growing crisis faced by journalists in Pakistan
Date: November 2, 2025 – Source 1: International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Source 2: Dawn
A Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) delegation met International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) leaders in Paris to discuss growing challenges faced by journalists and media practitioners in Pakistan, with both sides emphasizing the need for urgent action to address the crisis.
Date: November 2, 2025 – Source: Dawn
The International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists arrives at a time when violence against journalists has grown deadlier and justice more elusive. The Pakistan Press Foundation’s 2025 review corroborates this pattern, listing 137 cases of threats, arrests, and assaults.
Date: November 2, 2025 – Source: The News
A Freedom Network (FN) report highlighted that Pakistan was the first country to pass journalist safety laws, though implementation has lagged beyond the federal and Sindh levels. However, powerful actors continue to increasingly silence journalists without consequences, endangering the very notion of truth.
Date: November 2, 2025 – Source: The News
For three years, Riffat Ara Alvi, mother of slain journalist Arshad Sharif, sought justice for her son’s killing in Kenya before breathing her last this year. Like her, families of over a hundred journalists killed in Pakistan since 2002 still await justice – delivered in only one case, that of Wali Khan Babar.
War on media is war on democracy
Date: November 2, 2025 – Source: The News
Pakistan has a serious problem of safety of its journalists and other information practitioners. Over 190 journalists have been killed in the line of duty in Pakistan in the first 25 years of this century alone. Assassination – silencing someone permanently – is the worst form of censorship.
PFUJ calls for holding press attackers accountable
Date: November 3, 2025 – Source 1: Dawn, Source 2: The News
Amid a surge in crimes against journalists, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) called on the federal and provincial governments to take concrete measures to ensure the safety and security of journalists.
Government hints at judicial probe into ransacking of Radio Pakistan building
Date: November 3, 2025 – Source 1: Dawn, Source 2: Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government said that the May 9 incident was a “trap” for Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his party and hinted at conducting a judicial inquiry into ransacking of the building of Radio Pakistan (RP) on that day.
Prime Minister decries violence against journalists
Date: November 3, 2025 – Source: Express Tribune
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reiterated that his government remained committed to protecting press freedom and ensuring a safe working environment for journalists, denouncing acts of violence, threats or vengeance against media practitioners.
Date: November 3, 2025 – Source: Express Tribune
Pakistan ranks 158th out of 180 countries on the Press Freedom Index, which measures journalists’ ability to report freely without threats or interference. Its position below conflict zones such as Iraq, Sudan, and Yemen underscored the severity of the crisis facing press freedom.
PFUJ-Workers calls to end impunity for crimes against journalists
Date: November 3, 2025 – Source: Business Recorder (BR)
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists-Workers (PFUJ-Workers) deplored the unrelenting culture of impunity surrounding attacks on media professionals in Pakistan as justice remains an illusion in most cases of murdered and assaulted journalists.
Minister assures measures being taken to protect journalists’ rights
Date: November 6, 2025 – Source: The News
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar told the National Assembly that the federal government was taking all possible steps to safeguard the rights of journalists and media workers.
Government forms journalists’ protection commission
Date: November 15, 2025 – Source 1: Dawn, Source 2: Pakistan Today, Source 3: The Nation
The federal government formed a 12-member Commission for the Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals, mostly comprising journalists. This independent body, notified by the Information Ministry, will operate under the 2021 Act to safeguard journalists’ safety and rights.
Date: November 16, 2025 – Source: Dawn
When physical and digital freedoms shrink together, democracy weakens. The internet must remain civic infrastructure, not a control tool. Pakistan needs transparent regulation, judicial oversight of shutdowns, and repeal of vague laws to reverse this decline – political will is the question.
Media bodies, civil society condemn trolling of journalist
Date: November 16, 2025 – Source: The News
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), along with other media organizations and civil society members, condemned trolling of investigative journalist Ansar Abbasi by “irresponsible” social media and political activists.
ATC summons witnesses in Radio Pakistan arson case
Date: November 16, 2025 – Source 1: The News, Source 2: Express Tribune
Peshawar courts advanced three major arson, corruption, and fraud cases, as an anti-terrorism court (ATC) resumed hearing on the May 9 Radio Pakistan building arson case.
Date: November 17, 2025 – Source: Dawn
Pakistani journalists have cautiously welcomed the 12-member Commission for the Protection of Journalists. Years of persecution with impunity, however, have bred mistrust in such government initiatives.
Heckling, deepfake, trolling: journalists targeted in multiple attacks
Date: November 19, 2025 – Source: The News
Harassment of three journalists in separate incidents – the public heckling of Shahzeb Khanzada abroad, an AI-generated video targeting Benazir Shah and online trolling of Ansar Abbasi – prompted condemnations from political leaders and media figures across party lines.
FCC takes up airing of Indian dramas on private television channels
Date: November 21, 2025 – Source: The News
The Federal Constitution Court (FCC), during the hearing of a petition challenging the ban on broadcasting Indian dramas and other content on private television channels, issued notices to the concerned parties and adjourned the proceedings indefinitely.
Two digital media journalists reported missing after by-election coverage
Date: November 26, 2025 – Source: Journalism Pakistan (JP)
Digital media journalists Agha Sheikh Sarwar and Rai Ghulam Ali were reported missing after they allegedly highlighted irregularities during the by-election exercise undertaken in the NA-129 constituency, prompting concern within Lahore’s media community.
Journalist’s airport arrest defies court orders
Date: November 28, 2025 – Source 1: Dawn, Source 2: Journalism Pakistan (JP)
Journalist Sohrab Barkat was detained by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) at Islamabad Airport, despite an Islamabad High Court (IHC) order directing authorities to remove his name from the Provisional National Identification List (PNIL) and allow international travel.
OBJECTIVES: This series of monthly report aims to:
- Monitor the state of policies, regulations and mechanisms governing the media sector in Pakistan; the state of freedom of expression and right to information environment in the country and how these interfaces with media freedoms allowed or restricted via media regulations governed by the print, electronic and internet regulators.
- Track the state of media professionalisms in the country including ethical and public interest journalism practices and challenges, and the challenges of misinformation, disinformation and fake news phenomena.
- Follow the changing economic dynamics of the media industry and how they impact the business viability and sustainability of media and exploitation of media staff in lieu of their wages and arrears.
- Scrutinize threats and attacks against media and information practitioners, the state of impunity of crimes against journalists and efforts to provide justice for those aggrieved and distressed.
INFORMATION SOURCES: This report monitors, among others, the following sources of information:
- Government: Federal and provincial cabinets
- Ministries: Related ministries, including Information and Broadcasting, Information Technology (IT) and Telecom, Human Rights, Science and Technology, Commerce and Industry, etc.
- Legislatures: Senate, National Assembly, provincial assemblies, relevant standing committees
- Regulators: Pakistan telecommunications Authority (PTA), Pakistan Electronic Media regulatory Authority (PEMRA), Press Council of Pakistan (PPC), State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), etc.
- Global organizations: UN/Unesco, International Media Support (IMS), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW), etc.
- National organizations: Digital Rights Foundation (DRF), BoloBhi, Media Matters for Democracy (MMFD), Institute for Research, Advocacy and Development (IRADA), Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), etc.
- Media: Dawn, The News, Express Tribune, The Nation, Pakistan Today, The Friday Times, etc.
- Social Media:Facebook, Twitter, etc.
- Local networks: Journalists Safety Hubs Network, Alliance on Diversity & Pluralism in Media, etc.
- Any other open public information sources.
