Part of the reason for this change is the growth in media space and numbers of media practitioners. There are dozens of independent news and current affairs channels now where there were none in 2002. In the same year there were about 2,000 journalists whereas today there are over 17,000, according to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists. 

Currently there is no single place for development sector stakeholders to easily access information that can help them engage with the local media. Intermedia, in partnership with Democracy Reporting International (DRI) and with funding support from the European Union, has worked with district

media in all districts of Pakistan over the course of 2010 and 2011 building their understanding of electoral reform and their capacity to report on election-related issues.

In response primarily to the need for closer engagement with local media by the electoral stakeholders in the context of due local elections, Intermedia has developed Pakistan’s first database of district-based press clubs. This provides essential information about the press clubs, including their contact details, current leadership, membership numbers, indication of how many reporters work on the political beat (of which elections are a part) and the size and strength of their press club, among other things.

This information has been collected and collated into a digital resource titled Digital Directory of Pakistan’s Press Clubs. This includes the above information, plus baseline outline of the capacity and technical assessment of the press clubs. This has a map of Pakistan – click on any district on it and data on the local press clubs will open up. The Digital Directory of Pakistan’s Press Clubs is available here at intermedia.org.pk as well as on a CD. For a copy of a CD, please send a request to [email protected].

While this is not an exhaustive resource, the Digital Directory of Pakistan’s Press Clubs is a serious attempt at district media mapping of district-level reporting sources and is the best source on the subject currently available. This will, hopefully, tremendously improve access to the press clubs and local media by electoral stakeholders from the political landscape and strengthen electoral reform.

A continuous effort will be made to develop this into the most comprehensive database of press clubs across Pakistan generating, among other things, data on numbers of media practitioners in each district, those who report on politics and elections, as well as other thematic issues such as gender, human rights, environment, health, education, business, livelihoods and other development issues.

Whether you are a media or development practitioner, researcher, academic, activist, an institution formally involved in thematic issues such as electoral issues, or other stakeholder, we hope you find the Digital Directory of Pakistan’s Press Clubs a useful resource to both understand the size, scale, influence and dynamics of local media and to improve your outreach to them.

We welcome your feedback on the Directory at any time. Your input will allow us to expand and periodically update the Directory to make it a better resource for a range of stakeholders.