Perception of Media Freedom in Pakistan from Journalist’s Perceptive

The research is designed to study media freedom in Pakistan, in reference to journalistic independence. To understand the levels of media freedom in the perception of journalists themselves, a survey was conducted on 120 senior journalists of mainstream print, electronic, and social media. This study aims to explore the relationship between journalistic independence and media freedom in Pakistan. This research has also observed the reasons for the downfall of media freedom in Pakistan. The model that was applied in this study is the Hierarchy of Influences Model by Shoemaker and Reese to measure the factors affecting media freedom. The institutional theory by Meyer and Rowen was also applied to this research. A quantitative research method was used, and data was collected with the help of a survey through purposive sampling. The study has figured out from the analysis of journalists’ perceptions that there is lack of media freedom and journalistic independence in Pakistan.