The World Freedom Day reminds of the importance of protecting the fundamental human rights of freedom of expression and of the press. These views were expressed in a seminar, organised by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) on Wednesday, held to mark the Day.
The day is observed in commemoration with the anniversary of the 1991 signing of the `Windhoek Declaration' in Africa that calls for free, independent and pluralist media in every country.
The speakers added that the correlation between media freedom and eradication of poverty is the main theme of the day.
The theme recognises that media freedom and access to information play a key a role in facilitating local participation and empowerment of the poor.
"Freedom of expression is the core of the human right as it serves as a trigger and catalyst for the realisation of all other basic rights."
The World Freedom Day provides an occasion for pondering over the important questions of how a free Press can help eradicate poverty and how freedom of expression and Press freedom can assist in achieving the millennium development goals (MDGs).
The participants were Javed Jabbar, founder chairman of Citizens Media Commission, Abdul Hameed Chhapra, President of Apnec, freelance senior journalist Sabihuddin Ghausi, senior reporter Dawn, Dr Shahid Hassan Siddiqui, Chairman of Research Institute of Islamic Banking, while PPF chairman Fazal Qureshi presided the meeting.
Shahid Hasan spoke on 'Media, Development and Poverty Eradication,' and portrayed a very thought-provoking picture of Pakistan's economy. Due to financial and intellectual corruption, he said, the poverty and unemployment have increased in the last six years despite the government claims of progress.
"The government made policies to facilitate the IMF, World Bank and other donors which increased the peoples problems, the economist added.
The State Bank's monetary and economic policies also increased the poverty, Shahid Hassan said, also criticising the taxation system.
The government could not impose the capital gain tax on stock exchanges, but instead imposed tax on the poor people in terms of GST.
Ghausi on the occasion said that the media has become an inherited industry and the owners decide about issues and non-issues.
"In the world, the front and back page are allotted only for the news but in our country, they are full of advertisements". He said there is dearth of local language papers. It's the poor people that matter as proved in India, who downed the government.
The senior reporter criticised that now the marketing department of a newspaper decides what is published or not. Javed Jabbar praised all media persons who bravely fought for and remained committed to the cause of human rights.
"Radio and films media are now confined to the poor segment of the country, and are controlled by the government. The FM channels do have the reach to common people but they only run the musical programmes. The community media can create healthy atmosphere and help in reducing poverty, he said, adding that another world is possible. Chhapra said that excess of information is need of the every person and the people power is real power which changes the trend.
Unesco director general Koichiro Matsuura in his message on the occasion stressed on the importance of free Press in a society, and added that it is time to honour those nations that embrace one of democracy's most essential rights.
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