Sept 25, 2024
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
More than 250,000 digital media employees are working without sufficient labour protections due to the absence of a specialised legal framework for the electronic and digital media sectors, according to a legal brief by the Institute for Research, Advocacy, and Development (Irada).
The institute is to submit the legal brief to the Islamabad High Court on September 26 as part of a petition, filed on behalf of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), seeking provision of legal protections for media workers in the country.
Aftab Alam, chief executive officer of Irada, said the legal brief was the continuation of research conducted in collaboration with the International Federation of Journalists on the need to grant digital media workers and journalists robust protections.
Pakistan’s media industry has experienced substantial growth over the past three decades as a result of privatisation and commercialisation. The number of journalists had increased from 3,000 in 2002 to 18,000 in 2018, he said.
“The workforce has swelled to 250,000 media professionals, primarily as a result of the proliferation of electronic and digital media in the country,” he added.
The government has failed to reform labour laws for digital journalism. “This lack of legal recognition has created confusion and damaged journalists’ rights, especially for those operating outside of established newspapers, who are denied safeguards such as fair pay and appropriate working conditions,” reads the legal brief.
The existing special law, Newspapers Employees (Conditions of Service) Act (NECOSA) 1973, recognises newspaper workers alone. “Unfortunately, due to technological advancements, print media is shrinking… and a vast majority of workers, associated with broadcast or digital media, do not have such special protections as available to print media workers,” Alam told Voicepk.net.
The brief suggested that NECOSA law should be extended to encompass television and digital media journalists.
The Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act 2021 (‘2021 Act’) recognises persons working in television and internet media as journalists and media professionals. However, despite the 2021 Act, journalists working in broadcast and digital media are not granted substantial workers’ rights. They experience power imbalances and are not protected from arbitrary dismissals like their newspaper colleagues under NECOSA. “The legislation should provide equivalent safeguards to digital journalists, ensuring that termination is justified in writing with enough notice and compensation,” as required by NECOSA.
The brief recommended legal safeguards for internet and television journalists to save them from at-will termination; obligatory employers’ contribution to workers’ welfare schemes; compulsory gratuity, provident fund, and insurance; and penalties for delayed or non-payment of wages.
Alam said that to assist the court the legal brief proposes a regulatory framework along with other safeguards for informal and non-contractual workers. “We have tried to prepare a comprehensive legal brief for the court which then can issue an appropriate order to the government,” he added.