N the backdrop of the oft highlighted occupational hazards of being a journalist in Pakistan, is a story that receives little attention. Now a documentary and field study report under the joint title Surviving the Story, which was launched at the National Press Club in Islamabad on Monday, has shined that much-needed light. The film and report focus on 10 cases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata: five of them involve journalists who were killed in the line of duty their families received little or no compensation and five others who were displaced from the tribal areas because of the extreme threat to their security. The report and the documentary urge various stakeholders, including media owners, government, press clubs, journalists` unions and civil society to devise a system of providingßnancialsecurityforjournalists.

There are in this country multiple centres of power and influence with vested, and usually conflicting, interests in preventing the dissemination of information, or twisting it to suit their ends. In such a perilous environment for media practitioners, KP, Fata and Balochistan are the most dangerous a fact borne out by statistics over several years. Sometimes the death of journalists due to workrelated causes elicits an outpouring of public sympathy that can result in at least short-term financial assistance for their families, but the travails of displaced journalists go entirely under the radar.

Certainly, awareness of the importance of training in physical safety has increased and some media outlets have assumed more responsibility for the security of their journalists, which is as it should be. However, the financial repercussions if journalists are killed or displaced, remains an issue that has not been adequately addressed by the media industry. It is only reasonable and humane that those who risk their lives to carry out a task that comprises a fundamental right for citizens the right to information should know that were a misfortune to befall them, their families will not be left in dire financial straits.