Thread by @AsadHashim

Pakistan's media says it is banned from covering opposition politicians, their views, and dissent in general, on pain of vanishing off-air. For @AJEnglish, I documented cases of censorship, how it happens, and how journalists are internalising red lines: aljazeera.com/indepth/featur…

@AJEnglish "Earlier, we knew who was angry with us, who was pressuring us, and who was imposing censorship on us," says @HamidMirPAK. "Now, they are so brave that we can't tell who is doing it, no one is owning it and everything is happening." aljazeera.com/indepth/featur…

@AJEnglish @HamidMirPAK RSF calls PM Khan's claims that Pakistan's media is free "an obscenity". "These brazen cases of censorship, which seriously threaten journalistic independence and pluralism, are characteristic of non-democratic regimes," @RSF_en said. aljazeera.com/indepth/featur…

@AJEnglish @HamidMirPAK @RSF_en "The unspoken rule that certain people, personalities or parties are not to get any coverage is sacrosanct," said one journalist. Narrating how he was ordered to stop cvg of a @MaryamNSharif presser: "[They] said we need to shut this down, delete it and remove it [off online]."

"You can't tweet something critical and survive. You can't speak the truth about what's happening or what happened - if you speak the truth, trust me, I think you're going to vanish [off-air]." aljazeera.com/indepth/featur…

"It has spread to mainstream politics, it's not just people on the fringe. It's mainstream politicians, obviously opposition," says @AmberRShamsi. "There is no consequence for it, so it has become worse." aljazeera.com/indepth/featur…

@AmberRShamsi "If there is a programme that the establishment or the PTI government don't like, they won't call the journalist, they will call the managers, or they'll just shut down the channel," said a senior TV journalist. aljazeera.com/indepth/featur…

"The mechanism used [for censorship] is to shut down the channel or stop the newspaper's distribution. Then when we go to them to find out what is happening, that is when demands are made," he said. aljazeera.com/indepth/featur…

On censorship mechanisms: "They have a one-window operation, usually a WhatsApp group," said one Karachi-based senior TV producer. "A tweet or a screenshot will be shared on that group [by a military officer]. And a question mark." aljazeera.com/indepth/featur…

Asked what the penalty for non-compliance with Whatsapp requests to remove/cease coverage, a senior journalist laughed: "Besides going off-air, magically? Besides that?"
aljazeera.com/indepth/featur…

The crackdown on media coverage of dissent is having a chilling effect, rights groups say. The case of Gulalai Ismail, a PTM activist in hiding, has received no coverage, emboldening authorities, her family told AJE. aljazeera.com/indepth/featur…

"No, we cannot cover Gulalai's case," said @AmberRShamsi. "The few times I have mentioned [jailed PTM leaders] Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir on air, I found myself stuttering." aljazeera.com/indepth/featur…

"To [...] give an impression that everything that is being printed is the whole truth is far more dishonest than living in an era where there is complete censorship, and you can [openly] say 'I'm sorry but I am unable to publish this'," says @abbasz55. aljazeera.com/indepth/featur…

@abbasz55 The censorship push is being accompanied by a financial crisis for news media, with authorities taking advantage of a financial crunch to coerce news orgs. "Right now, it is just about survival. We will see about journalism later," said a media executive.

aljazeera.com/indepth/featur…