ADPM suggests that human rights and media development organisations should proactively offer support to journalists who are interested in reporting on religious minorities.

August 11th is celebrated as annual National Minorities Day in Pakistan to honour the equal rights of religious minorities and acknowledge their contributions and services to society. On this day 76 years ago, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah presented his vision for the country in his inaugural address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan where he declared support for equal rights and freedom of religious practice without discrimination of faith, caste or creed. .

To mark the occasion, ADPM (Alliance for Diversity and Pluralism in Media) urges the national and local news media to encourage and adopt quality, diversity and pluralism in news reporting on the issues and rights of religious minorities. It is unfortunate that despite Quaid-e-Azam’s emphasis on peaceful coexistence and equal citizenship, Pakistan’s religious minority groups are regularly subjected to social discrimination, political exclusion, economic marginalisation, and threats to their lives and expression. The news media can produce inclusive journalism to contribute towards reducing these social inequalities.

The ADPM, an advisory alliance of journalists and rights activists that works to promote inclusive and pluralistic public interest journalism in the country, believes that both legacy and digital media have a special role to play in advancing the exchange of ideas among different groups in a variety of languages that can help promote better understanding of minorities and acceptance of diversity.

Cognisant of the challenges faced by media organisations, ADPM suggests that human rights and media development organisations should proactively offer support to journalists who are interested in reporting on religious minorities. This can be done through regular safety training for journalists, especially those managing online content and helping them identify and avoid hate speech and offensive expressions. Additionally, media organisations must define a clear code of ethics on how to report on religious minorities and encourage the inclusion of journalists from marginalised backgrounds in their newsrooms.

The ADPM stresses the need for public interest journalism to counter hate and division among religious groups through in-depth coverage of events with multiple human sources, contextual and explanatory reporting and highlighting the human rights framework that exists to protect fundamental rights of all citizens.

In this regard, the ADPM, through a statement issued on June 19 to mark the ninth anniversary of the landmark 2014 Supreme Court judgement on the rights of religious minorities, had urged news outlets to use the judgement’s key directives as an accountability tool for sensitively and ethically highlighting the issues faced by minority communities.