Internal and external pressure on media

Journalists are professional people, trying to work within a code of professional ethics.
However, journalists cannot operate in a vacuum, doing what they think is right without
pressures being put on them. Journalists face pressure from a variety of sources, all trying to
make the journalist behave in a way which is not the way the journalist would choose.

EXTERNEL PRESSURES

Pressures on media

Media are under multiple pressure: from a corrupted political system, economy, insufficiently
developed democracy in the society .Media always faced pressures by the government,
politicians and powerful people, as well as lack of money and social pressure and intolerance

Influence of pressure Group

Government has failed to create sense of security among the journalists. Many times, offices of
newspapers, journals and journalists individually were attacked by political, religious and
student parties. The force journalist to act upon their dictations. Recently an international
organization of journalists issued a report which revealed that Pakistan id among those three
countries which are deadly dangerous for journalist. In these circumstances, how can
journalism flourish? Especially Karachi is suffering. There the newspapers offices have often
been attacked and the journalist tortured , even a correspondent of BBC was not spared .The
Government of Pakistan has totally failed to provide security in that city .Newspapers and other
periodicals of Karachi are under direct control of an ethnic group.

Political leader’s Pressure

Pakistan’s political leaders are not mature enough. It is their common practice that one day,
they give interview or statement (on the record) and after examining feedback result, they
issue contradicting statements. Many journalist have been dismissed on this account .Our
Government officials, many times misinformed and mislead journalists for their own interests.
Due to these factors, our media has not been able to attain credibility among the masses, so
far.

Pressure during work for a government-owned news organization

Ministers Pressure

Ministers will often put pressure on public service journalists to report things which are
favorable to the government (even when they are not newsworthy) and not to report things
which are unfavorable to the government. They can enforce public service discipline, to make
journalists do as the government wants. This is especially difficult to resist in small developing
countries, where there may be little or no alternative employment.

Advertising and Sales

Commercial media are paid for by a mixture of advertising and sales. To increase sales,
newspapers, radio and television stations sometimes sponsor sporting or cultural events, and
then publicize them. Your boss may demand more coverage for the event than it is worth, in
order to promote the event as much as possible. You will need to persuade them of the danger
of this - that other events will have to be neglected to give extra coverage to your sponsored
event, and that this will risk losing readers or listeners.

Advertisers Pressure

Advertisers can also bring pressure to bear upon owners and editors. A big advertiser may
threaten to stop advertising unless you run a news report of something good which the
advertiser has just done; or, much worse, it may threaten to stop advertising unless you ignore
a news event which is unfavorable to the advertiser.

Ideally, any news organization should dismiss such threats, and judge each story only on its
news merits. However, this is easier in a large community with a diverse and developed
economy than it is in a small country with a developing economy. When a commercial news
organization is operating on a tiny profit margin, it will not be easy to turn away a big
advertiser, and its owners may feel forced to give in to the pressure.

Monopoly of Government over Electronic Media

Radio and PTV are owned and controlled by Government .The control of electronic media by
Government is on socialist line, which emphases the control of media by the Government, so
that public may only know what the Government want them to know, and nothing else .Due to
this control over TV and Radio it has diminished the credibility of news transmitted by them.
Government projects its own views and policies by using these media and tend to blacken
political opponents.

Pressure of Government as an advertiser

The government’s control over the media is the main obstacle to media freedom and that this is
done through financing from budgets for governmental commercials and different projects.In
some cases, the advertiser may even be the government. In many countries the government is
the biggest advertiser - with job advertisements, calls for tenders, public announcements and
so on - and this can be a way in which governments bring indirect pressure to bear upon
commercial news media.

Pressure of Editor

The first thing which any junior journalist should do is to report it to their editor. It will be for
the editor to decide what to do. He or she will need to resist the employer as far as possible,
pointing out the dangers of failing to report the news fully and fairly. The main danger is that
readers or listeners who already know of the event which is being suppressed, realize that it is
not being reported and so lose confidence in the newspaper, radio or television station
involved. This may, in the long run, result in more serious problems for ministers than some
short-term embarrassment, and may do more long-term damage to your organization’s
finances than the loss of one advertiser.

The Pressure of editorial policy

The other way of control is making direct or indirect pressures on the media owners and
editors, in order to change the editorial policy in favor of the Government. That way, it is not
hard to conclude that the Government and the ruling party are the main financiers of the
mainstream media and they totally depend on those money. That way, they are obligated to
report in the favor of the ruling party.

Pressure of Social environment

Our social environment is such as it very much restrict the growth of journalism. Our society is
considered to be a closed one because we live on tradition and our culture also does not accept
the radical changes. It can restrict the journalist to go against our social and cultural values.
Economic pressure on the media

Economic sustainability and independence of the media cannot be jeopardized neither by the
state, nor public or private companies or organizations. Threatening economic sanctions is
unacceptable in democratic societies and the state must protect the media from economic
pressures and/or attempts of “blackmailing” through public financing, marketing or paid
advertising. Private companies have to respect the independence of the media and refrain from
exerting pressure or blurring the line between journalism and advertising

Authority Pressure

Both government-owned and commercial news media may face pressure from authority - the
government, the police, customs, or some other branch of authority. Governments can
threaten, or make, laws to force all news media to be licensed. This would give them power to
grant licenses only to those news organizations which please the government. Even the threat
to introduce such legislation may be enough to frighten journalists, and to make them afraid of
criticizing the government too much.

How to resist the pressure of Authority: The best way to resist such pressure is to stimulate
public debate on the issue of media licensing. As with any proposed legislation, the news media
should encourage public debate before it comes in, so that leaders have the opportunity to
judge public opinion. If society generally is opposed to licensing of all news media, then a
democratically-elected government will think very seriously before introducing such a thing. On
the other hand, if society wants news media to be licensed by government, then it is something
which journalists will just have to accept, however much they may disagree with it.

Pressure of police

Police may attempt to confiscate your camera when you are taking photographs which the
police do not like; or they may deny you access to a court room or a public meeting; or they
may order you not to report certain things. Junior journalists should always report such
incidents to their editor.

How to resist the pressure of Police: The editor will best resist this kind of pressure by
knowing precisely what he is allowed to do, and what he is not allowed to do. If he knows that
the police are acting outside their powers, he can politely approach a very senior police officer,
or even the Police Minister, and report the incident. They can then handle it. If the police act
outside their powers and no action is taken, even though it has been reported, then the editor
can publicize the fact in a major news story. It is wise, though, to try to sort out such problems
quietly first, since in this way future relations may be more positive.

Threat of violence

Many people think they can avoid bad publicity by threatening journalists with violence, or with
legal action. Such threats should always be resisted (unless you are advised by a lawyer that you
are legally in the wrong).

How to resist the threat of violence: Junior journalists should always report any threat which
they have received to their editor. If the threat was a threat of violence, then the editor should
seriously consider informing the police. It is usually a criminal offence to threaten violence
against somebody, and journalists are protected by such a law as much as anybody else. If the
threat is of legal action, then the editor's response will depend upon the facts of the case. The
editor should know the law well enough to judge whether or not to take the threat seriously. If
he suspects that there may be grounds for legal action, he should consult a lawyer

Pressure of Bribes

Journalists do not usually earn big money. You may therefore be vulnerable to bribery -
somebody offering money (or goods or services) in return for a favorable story being written, or
an unfavorable story being ignored.

Journalists who are offered bribes will usually be offered them in private. This is so that the
person attempting the bribe can later deny that it ever happened. If this happens, you should
immediately invite somebody else into the room, and then ask the briber to repeat their offer.
They are unlikely to do so but, if they do, you will have a witness.

Commercial companies

Commercial companies sometimes try to buy journalists' friendship by giving them small
presents or by giving them the opportunity to travel at the company's expense (sometimes
called freebies).

As long as it is understood that you are free to write whatever you like, without the company
that provides the free travel having any influence, such an arrangement is acceptable. However,
if you are offered a ticket in return for writing "something nice" about the company, this is not
acceptable. Poor newspapers, radio and television stations may be grateful for charity to top up
inadequate travel budgets, but they should never be so poor that they sell their professional
honor.
How to resist that pressure In any case, such offers should never be accepted or negotiated by
a junior journalist. Only the editor should do so, and any offers must be referred to the editor.
The editor can judge whether or not the terms of the offer are acceptable.

Executives in companies or Government departments

Sometimes, executives in companies or government departments will devote a lot of time and
energy to making you into their friend. They may take you out for meals, buy you drinks or
invite you to their home. Beware of this. If it is genuine friendship, there may be no problem;
but it may be an attempt to win your loyalty. It is as bad to run a story which is just a free
advertisement, or to suppress bad news, as a favor to a friend, as it is to do the same thing in
return for a bribe.

Contracts With advertise products

Some journalists accept contracts to advertise products, as a way of earning some extra
money. You must think carefully before you do this. If you are seen by your readers or listeners
to be in favor of a particular product, they will not believe that you are impartial if you later
report a story about that or any rival products.

It is important for journalists to be impartial. You may know that you have no special liking for
the product which you advertised - you only did it for the money - but your readers or listeners
will not know that.

Codes of ethics

In many countries journalists try to work within a professional code of ethics. This usually lays
down in simple, straightforward terms the kind of things they should and should not do.
Typically such codes contain rules about issues such as honesty, fairness, independence and
respect for the rights of other people such as interviewees, victims and readers or listeners.

In some countries where the media are suppressed, the government may try to control what is
written or broadcast by imposing a code of ethics backed by law and policed by the authorities.
These are like any other laws in such countries; breaking them may lead to punishment, so it is
up to journalists themselves to decide whether to obey oppressive codes or follow the higher
principles of journalistic ethics and risk the consequences.

Internal Pressures
Fear of losing jobs, politics, and self-censorship are suffocating media freedoms

The lack of access to information

The lack of access to information is the biggest threat to media freedom. Without access to
information, members of the media are not able to seek and receive information on issues of
importance to the Public.

Self-censorship has ‘Eaten’ Almost Everything

The freedom of media is nowadays dictated by media owners, mostly suspicious individuals
who need the media to serve the government and their other basic businesses. So they dictate
the opportunistic editorial policy and induce the worst – self-censorship among journalists, and
with the arrival of new revolutionary government which decided to make a state, and with it
the media, since the very beginning, there is almost no independent media,” she argued,
“Media freedom is additionally obstructed by the judiciary because every fascist punk who sues
you can take it in advance that they will have a positive result and a significant amount of your
personal money, which is a great basis for self-censorship. A little bit of satire in the media
which existed, already suffered, because laughter is the biggest enemy of every
totalitarianism.”

Financial hardship

Financial hardship and a fear of losing a job are the biggest problems to media freedom Lately,
not just here but globally, journalism is no longer a paid profession, All other problems stem
from there, because it is easy to misuse or blackmail a poor and a frightened man

Journalist are not capable and enough educated

Another threat to freedom of media and freedom of expression is simply that journalists are
not capable, enough educated or they are conditioned to select sources and information, by
managers or editors, when working on stories important for the public

Media expert from Albania, said that journalists are not free because owners of the media are
not free and that instead of the role of a watchdog, media are obedient.

Pressure of Family on journalist

In many societies, a person's first loyalty is to members of their extended family, or clan, or
tribe. This is expected to take priority over all other loyalties, including their loyalty to the
ethical standards of their profession. Journalists, too, face conflicts of loyalty like this. It may
not only be pressure from your family, clan or tribe

How to resist the family pressure: For young journalists in small societies, this is often the
hardest kind of pressure to resist. They understand that they should have a loyalty to their
professional ethics, but deep down they are certain that they must not offend the family. To do
so, and to be cut off from the family, would be unthinkable.

It is important, therefore, that you avoid such conflicts of interest whenever possible. If you are
told by your editor to cover a story which involves your own extended family, or clan, or tribe,
you should point out to the editor this conflict of loyalty and ask that the story be assigned to
another reporter.

Traditions and cultural pressure

In societies which are in rapid change from traditional to modern Western ways, there is often a
clash between the way in which things were done in the past and the way in which the
profession says they should be done now. Tradition will often be used as a weapon to pressure
journalists into patterns of behavior which go against their professional ethics. Junior
journalists should always report such instances to their editor, and seek guidance.

Personal conviction

Journalists may come under pressure from their own strong beliefs.

For example, a journalist who is deeply opposed to capital punishment may be writing a story
about crime. In the course of gathering the information, they may interview somebody who
calls for the death penalty as the answer to increasing crime. The journalist may be tempted
not to report these comments, and to leave the question of capital punishment out of the
story. This would clearly be unethical. It is as bad to censor the news to suit your own views as
it is to censor the news to please your family, or clan, or tribe. This is contrary to the most
fundamental principle of free speech.

Unskilled journalists

A decade ago a vast majority of journalists were illiterate and unskilled. But now
situation is changing but very slowly. Newspapers and journals do not give
handsome salaries to their workers, with some expectations, mostly newspapers
and journals do not act upon wage board Award, due to unemployment in the
country .Owners know that on their single call queues will be made before their
offices for employment. Hence they don’t care about skilled and educated
persons. Lack of unskilled and uneducated journalists build the pressure on
media.