West stays silent amid Pakistan’s new media crackdown on foreign journalists: Report

Tel Aviv: As Pakistan tightens restrictions on foreign journalists, the muted response from Western governments has emerged as one of the most striking aspects of the latest media crackdown.

While international press freedom organisations have voiced strong criticism, the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and major Western embassies have, so far, refrained from issuing any coordinated public condemnation specifically addressing Islamabad’s new accreditation and travel restrictions on foreign journalists, a report has stated.

The newly issued Foreign Media Facilitation Guidelines 2026 require all foreign journalists to secure a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MOIB) to travel to any city outside Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi for news reporting.

The guidelines outlined procedures for the registration and accreditation of “foreign media houses, organisations and outlets working in Pakistan and all eligible journalists, media owners, media professionals, sources, freelancers, sponsors, fixers, attached persons, assignees etc, of Pakistan working or contributing for them”, according to the Pakistani media reports.

Citing critics, Italian political advisor, author and geopolitical expert, Sergio Restelli, argued that these latest measures effectively enable Islamabad to decide where foreign journalists can travel and what events they are permitted to cover independently.

“The timing has attracted particular attention. The regulations were introduced amid heightened tensions in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, where protests, political unrest and allegations of heavy-handed security measures have generated growing international scrutiny. Human rights organisations and press freedom groups have argued that restricting independent access inevitably reduces transparency at precisely the moment when outside reporting is most needed,” Restelli wrote in ‘The Times of Israel’.

“These restrictions do not emerge in isolation. Human Rights Watch, the International Federation of Journalists and the Pakistan Press Foundation have all documented a deteriorating media environment over the past two years. Their reports describe increasing use of cybercrime legislation, arrests of journalists, intimidation, enforced disappearances, violence, censorship, pressure through state advertising and growing self-censorship among Pakistani media organisations,” he added.

According to the expert, the muted response from the wider international community risks sending the wrong signal. He added that the lack of diplomatic objection to Pakistan’s restrictions on foreign media could encourage other governments to believe that limiting international reporting carries little global consequences.

Restelli noted that Pakistan currently ranks among the world’s lowest in international press freedom assessments. Referring to successive reports by Human Rights Watch, the International Federation of Journalists and Pakistani media organisations, he argued that legal restrictions are increasingly accompanied by “economic pressure, surveillance and administrative controls” to control the country’s information environment.

“The new foreign media regulations represent another significant step in that direction. Whether Western governments continue their current silence may ultimately determine not only the future of press freedom in Pakistan but also the consistency with which democratic states defend the principle of independent journalism around the world,” Restelli mentioned.

IANS