Ideologically speaking, our newspapers believe in commitment to truth, public and national interests and upholding the interests of the weak against that of the oppressor. 

However, the survey has revealed that most newspapers do not pay the rural journalists. 

Urban journalists are not better off either. Only 34 per cent are paid according to the Wage Award, while the rest are compelled to work on temporary, contractual bases. 

Only 44 per cent of the urban journalists earn between five to eight thousand rupees monthly. Mere 15 per cent of the urban journalists earn over eight thousand rupees. 

As many as 43 per cent of the urban journalists are compelled to receive financial help from their family members. As many as 58 per cent of the urban journalists said they would join any other profession in case of a higher salary. Only 14 per cent have expressed satisfaction with their incomes. 

Can these unpaid and low-paid journalists be expected to manage their family expenditures, in a country where basic civic amenities such as health, education, housing and transport are quite expensive?  The survey shows that a majority of Pakistani journalists regularly faces financial constraints. Dissatisfaction with their incomes creates desperate conditions, which tempt them to succumb to the temporary comforts of the Lifafa journalism. 

Owing to these financial constraints, most of the journalists experience severe social and financial dissatisfaction, which makes them liable to succumb to the temptation of Lifafa journalism. 

An average starter is paid as much as a clerk. Only after employment on a contract basis, which may linger on for four to fifteen years, a journalist comes under the protective umbrella of the Wage Award. This way all a journalist does is hope to cross the five-figured salary mark by the time of his retirement. 

The overall working conditions of Pakistani journalists are not enviable, however, the conditions of district correspondents or rural journalists are much worse. 

Rural journalists have to work on a voluntary basis. They get rare opportunities to train themselves, in order to improve their professional capabilities. There can be no two opinions on  their importance. Dynamic and prosperous rural journalists are needed to bring in awareness and progress in the rural areas. 

There are no newspapers or institutions to train district correspondents in collecting, shaping and emphasizing news. Only satisfied and committed newsmen can be expected to alleviate the sufferings of the rural population and introduce the much-desired progress at the grassroots level. 

Low commitment level among rural journalists is having a negative impact on the national, social and political infrastructure. Who is responsible for this gloomy state of affairs?  Is it the journalist, the newspaper owner or somebody else? 

Rural journalists must be provided jobs on a regular basis. Newspapers should provide them with basic facilities, and of course a salary, besides opportunities to have professional training, which would certainly enable them to bring better news and business, too. It is mainly the duty of the journalists' forums to train rural journalists to make possible the uplift of the rural scenario. 

They should be taught about the environment, ecological balance, development projects, good governance, accountability, the democracy versus dictatorship debate, human rights, hygiene and the burden of fast growing population on a developing country's resources. Democracy cannot exist without press freedom, however, a free press will remain a myth unless and until journalists are given some relief from severe financial crunch. 

In small cities and towns, a living can be made by merely possessing a press card. Urban journalists use the miraculous powers of the press card to a lesser degree. The Press card can become a tool of corruption in the hands of the unscrupulous elements. 

Quite often, newspapers receive applications from people who do not demand a salary. All they require are press cards. There are some unscrupulous newspapers which charge their correspondents for this. 

In a society, infested by corruption, social and economic injustice, how can unpaid or low-paid journalists meet their expenses without resorting to unfair means? The government, newspaper owners and journalists' forums owe an answer to this query.  

Prominent journalist Zameer Niazi said: "When money becomes almighty, ethics also suffer. With pain and sorrow I admit that most of our colleagues have been corrupted."

A journalist, Mian Majid Shafi, took the initiative to collect data and information about Pakistani journalists. He went to every nook and corner of the country to collect data, and found the guardians of the fourth pillar of the state with their backs pressed against the wall. He found only ten per cent of the journalists owning houses; the rest lived in rented houses.  

The government, newspapers and various journalists' forums are doing nothing to encourage the upright journalists. Mian Majid Shafi says: "Urban journalists do not acknowledge rural journalists. They have classified themselves as a breed apart. Journalists of Karachi, , Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Quetta etc as first class. Those in Multan, Muzafarabad, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Sukkur, Hayderabad, Sialkot and Gujrat etc. fall in second class." 
 The journalists working in the big cities are adequately educated. However, rural journalists' average education is matriculation. Some of them never went to school, but somehow learnt to write the Urdu, which qualified them as journalists. 
Mian Majid Shafi has also mentioned rural journalists who do not have to collect news at all. Police and other departments provide them with written news. Most journalists are victims of circumstances. They have joined the profession to make money and make themselves influential. These elements are bringing a bad name to a sacred institution by compromising on their integrity. 

Most journalists face severe social and financial problems, but some have made millions. Mian Majid Shafi quotes the example of a journalist from , who owned an old bicycle when he joined the profession. Within a few years, he has made a mansion, a few cars and a huge bank balance. 

According to our calculations, about three per cent of the urban journalists are involved in largescale corruption and blackmailing. They have acquired a high social status. However, they are respected more for their ability to harass and blackmail than their professional integrity. These blackmailers misuse their influence over different government departments. Some go to the extent of using police and other departments' vehicles. 

Some newspaper offices are located in the houses of politicians and many journalists are on the payroll of criminal and corrupt people. In big cities, big newspaper groups usually pay their employees according to the Wage Award. However, small newspapers have often been observed paying little or no salaries to their employees. Mian Majid Shafi informs us that the rural journalists are being paid no remuneration, however, big newspapers only foot their fax bills. 

In a lecture Mujibur Rehman Shami said: "Those who fail to join any other profession join newspapers. Intelligent and dynamic minds go into other professions." 

In a feature on Pakistani journalism, Time magazine said: "A big percentage of the journalists are on the payroll of different agencies or political parties." 

In an analysis, the Voice of Germany said that government funds were being used to buy journalists in  

Pakistani journalism is certainly going through very tough times. Think tanks and journalists' forums agree that a journalist is a person who earns only by journalism. Oscillating between the two extremes of ideological and Lifafa journalism are a  majority of journalists who still believe in honest work and ethical values. 

A large number of journalists are committed to working professionally and keeping away from blackmailing and corruption despite the ever-increasing economic and social pressures. They are assets of the country. It is only because of them that the problems of the downtrodden continue coming to the light. They are the only voice of the victims of injustice in society. 

The delicate issue of press freedom cannot be left to the whims of the government or the state. A free press is the only forum that can effectively help solve the problems of a nation plagued by abject poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, environmental pollution, human rights violations, gender discrimination and child labour. Only a free press can voice the problems of millions and millions of the oppressed. 

Every Pakistani journalist has the obligation to expose the oppressors and beneficiaries of injustice and corruption. The duty of the Press becomes all the more missionary in a country with a highly unstable and unpredictable political mechanism. 

The Press is the only obstacle in the way of the corrupt. And it is a pity that Pakistani journalists are facing problems that affect their ability to serve the country and its 130 million people. 

Pakistani journalists must break free from their own economic shackles before they make any attempt to rid their countrymen of oppression, corruption and injustice. They need to coordinate with one another  before taking on the forces of oppressors. 

The oppressors are in minority, but they manipulate a majority by keeping them shattered and divided. Political and human development are directly linked to the Press freedom. Only a free press can lead a nation to the road to prosperity and progress. 

It is a collective responsibility of the government, newspaper owners, journalists' forums and individual journalists to pave the way for the press freedom. 
Economic pressures de-track journalists from performing professionally to rid the centuries’ old system of oppression and exploitation. A journalist who cannot meet his or her basic needs cannot raise a voice against corruption and oppression. 

Only economically sound journalists can be expected to form their duties without giving a damn about temptations and pressures. However, if the present state of affairs continues, journalists facing economic problems will never be able to put up resistance  to  the forces of oppression and exploitation.  

According to the International Federation of Journalists, "There can be no press freedom if journalists exist in conditions of corruption, poverty or fear."