Pakistan’s largest media house has forced three journalists known for criticism of the country’s powerful military to deactivate their social media accounts.
The Jang media group, which runs English- and Urdu-language newspapers and the popular Geo television channel, asked two reporters and an anchor to deactivate their accounts.
The Twitter accounts of reporters Umer Cheema, Azaz Syed and anchor Wajih Sani were not longer active on Monday.
Cheema has more than one million followers on Twitter.
Other journalists in the media group, who preferred to remain anonymous said the decision had been taken in response to pressure from the army.
Pakistani generals, who have ruled the country for almost half of its 70-year existence, control the mainstream media with the help of a tight censorship policy.
Independent-minded journalists turn to social media to report on and analyze the military’s grip on power.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP), the trend of military censorship of the media is on the rise in Pakistan. (dpa/NAN)
3 Pakistani journalists forced to deactivate Twitter accounts
