Committee to Protect Journalists WPFD 2008

To celebrate World Press Freedom Day, the Committee to Protect
Journalists sends its best wishes to our colleagues in rural and urban
Pakistan. As media freedom shrinks and grows in Pakistan over the years,
Pakistani journalists have led the struggle for a free press and an open
society. Pakistani media’s persistence, resourcefulness, and cohesion
have often formed a bulwark against attacks not just on journalists but
on all Pakistanis. Journalists in Pakistan know that without journalism
a free society cannot truly exist. Power-obsessed politicians know that,
too, and that is why they have tried so often to suppress the media.
That these politicians have not fully succeeded should give us hope.
Failed governments have come and gone. Their executives, legislatures,
and judiciaries are easily and regularly corrupted, but Pakistani
journalists have persevered to uphold a higher ideal.

Bob Dietz
Asia Program Coordinator
Committee to Protect Journalists