Karachi: The journalists, media persons, news anchors and the likes always enjoy legal privileges and certain immunities across the world as compared to the ordinary citizens of the State. The journalists all over the world are protected under media shield laws that allow journalists not to identify their sources.
However, when it comes to bloggers who are also regarded as Online Columnists, no such exemption, shield body or legal protection is offered to them as afforded to journalists. In this digital age of Internet world, where blogging and Online media have ground their bases, same sort of luxury and exemption must be granted to bloggers as well, so that they could value their worth the same as journalists do. No blogger either from Pakistan or from any nook and corner of the earth enjoys immunity from the law as they are still not considered as the part of media.
To be a pert of the media, it is necessary for the one to get affiliated with any newspaper, magazine, periodical, book, pamphlet, broadcast station or network, news service, news or feature syndicate, wire service or cable television system. Otherwise, one would not be believed as the part of media and cannot enjoy journalists’ legal privileges.
In Pakistan, bloggers are not treated as the media persons and face harsh hurdles if they are found liable over defaming content against a celebrity or an institution. Same thing happened when the Chief Executive of Geo, country’s biggest media Group, Mir Shakil ur Rahman, sent legal notices to various Pakistani Blogs and Websites for defaming his reputation.
The legal notices served to several Blog and News websites on behalf of Mir Shakil by Karachi Based commercial law firm, Ahmed and Qazi, asked the Web Publishers and bloggers to post an apology on all mediums, i.e blog/website/fanpage, at which the defamatory content was posted or pay a sum of Rs. 1 Billion (1,000,000,000 rupees) as compensation for the loss of reputation of the Media Owner, if they fails to provide the source and credibility of their news.