Under the pressure of the Taliban and the government repression, the freedom of the media is jeopardized in Pakistan.
According to the last report of « Reporters without Borders », Pakistan is the country with the highest number of journalists killed in 2009.


In Pakistan, the media and journalists bother both the Taliban and the political power. In their attempts to tell about a war happening at the borders of their country, they’re not always welcome to speak freely.
For several months, attacks against the media and press clubs have been increasing in the tribal areas and the main cities (Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Karachi).

Even though the 1973 Constitution guarantees freedom for the press, the law still contains many articles allowing to sentence journalists to prison, mainly for “defamation”, “immorality”, offense to Islam or the country’s sovereignty. These texts give a broad definition of what is illegal for journalists. It’s common practice for the secret services to arrest journalists for several hours.

With dozens of private TV and radio channels, the country is going through a media revolution similar to the one that happened in India about ten years ago.
The media are getting more and more aggressive when they cover the political, social and economical issues, despite increased dangers.
More and more stream news channels are created. The first one of them, Dawn News, started broadcasting on 23rd July 2007.

Massimo Berruti followed these reporters, correspondents, and stream newscasters. In the field as well as in the studios, these media workers must deal with the traps of military and Taliban propaganda, avoid physical attacks to their duty to investigate and inform the people of Pakistan.