Express 24/7 wound up and the staff was laid off by email. But it is not uncommon in Pakistan
Every year, thousands of articles, news stories and features appear on May Day. These expose the gloomy plight of laborers in mines, brick kilns, factories and other industries. Yet there is one industry, where a lot of undue exploitation happens internationally yet it is seldom written about. This industry is the media itself.
The guys who give out the news about other peoples’ exploitation seldom find the liberty and forums to register their own. There are several ways this exploitation happens. The main victims are the print journalists because the pay-scale in electronic media is generally higher. Though channels are also exploitative.
Newspapers in Pakistan are generally low on circulation because they are relatively expensive (Rs 15 to 25 a copy) in a country where the majority is poor, the literacy rate is dismal and transporting printed copies to remote areas in the north, Balochistan and Punjab is difficult.
Some smaller publications get funding from religious, development, political institutions or foreign organizations.
Most newspapers either don’t pay their contributors and internees, or pay a very meager amount. Some newspapers don’t clear their dues for several months. Others levy fines as little as Rs.5 to 100 on an editing mistake or punctuality issues.
The press is not short of youngsters and fresh graduates looking for a stint in media offices to get certificates, experience and new skills.
“Newsroom workers are often not paid on time, and never paid for extra work, such as writing articles…” complains Hassan Belal, a former journalist. “These same workers are blackmailed by organizations and told that if they resign, they will lose the right to receive all their back pay. Most media organizations do not pay gratuity for anyone who resigns.”
Many newspapers on the pretext of running losses do not pay the freelancers and columnists. Certain media houses that pay their editors, shining op-ed writers, hosts, analysts and producers hefty sums, offer meager salaries to the lower staff, sub-editors, reporters, copy-editors etc. Almost as a rule the staff is contractual, which deprives them of benefits, wage-awards and makes firing them much easier. These papers and channels require you to sign bonds for up to two years yet withhold the right to remove you at any point. They can also deprive you of your back-payments if you resign.
The junior or sub-ordinate starts his/her career at a salary ranging between Rs 3000 to Rs 5000. The salary increases annually or after some years. Newly hired reporters are sometime required to submit as many as 10 reports a day. Most resort to making phone calls, emails, online sites and their network of journalistic buddies to get stories. The money problem is sometimes resolved by blackmailing the wealthy, seeking kickbacks and placing a story for a price. Hold a seminar, conference or workshop in Lahore and several reporters will drop by saying they would print the press release or run the news story for cash payment. One perhaps cannot really blame them. Technicians, engineers, page-makers, designer etc are not given the status of journalists; they get no press-card and membership to organizations, application to scholarships/fellowships reserved for journalists is impossible.
These professionals also work over-time for several hours every day. The dailies can force you to stay up late if the stories don’t arrive on time. Twelve hours is the norm. But when it comes to over-time, news channels might be the worst affected in the world. Live reporting, breaking news, bomb blasts, natural disasters, accidents and election coverage can require several hours of extra work without any over-time payments (or even wages).
Those in the newsroom have it slightly easier than those on the field, where life insurance, safety gear and sometimes even training is missing. The staffers that carry equipment, drive or escort the reporters have poor salaries and no benefits. Most fresh graduates, even with Masters and Mphil in media studies, cannot operate a simple camera, edit a 20 second snippet or conduct an interview. Almost everything is on-job training for which they are not paid.
The now defunct Frontier Post still owes some of its workers money. Express 24/7 wound up and the staff was laid off by email. This grave disrespect for workers’ rights is unimaginable in the 21st century. But it is not uncommon in Pakistan, where news organizations are shut down overnight without paying their dues.
Sher Ali, a reporter for the daily Express Tribune states that “for journalism to prevail reporters have to be trained and experienced in the creation of story making. By creating active newsrooms in which reporters from all backgrounds are encouraged to research, we can improve the news quality.” He adds that “structurally there are many issues and creating a code of ethics which adequately guide reporters will be the next logical step for major media groups.”
Some journalists become the PR managers to political parties and intelligence agencies. This ensures that certain corruption scandals are never revealed. Even after decades of journalistic effort and fame, this alliance is necessary for those seeking job and financial security.
Hopefully, Daily Times, ARY, Express group, Business Plus, Pakistan Today, Aaj TV and every media group will clear its dues this May and move towards a fairer and more transparent world.
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Ammara Ahmad is one of the editors of Viewpoint, she tweets at @AmmaraTiger |
