We are fortunate in the United States to have a free press that is not filtered from government involvement and punished for seeking truth and reporting it. That is the case for the country of Pakistan in which journalists are often critiqued and put in harm for the shear factor that they don't feel obliged to speak up about what is really going on in their communities and politics. The press in Pakistan often feels intimidated that they will be threatened and killed by officials and people in power who speak badly or act upon the muckraking role that journalists and reporters are informed to reflect in their work. There are stories where journalists and reporters have been killed for some of the articles and work they have published for the media. According to a scholarly article, A special report of the Pakistan Press Foundation revealed that at least 48 journalists were killed in targeted attacks in the last 17 years. The government is controlling advertisements for news channels in an attempt to silence them, according to The Diplomat. Self-censorship is the worst type of censorship because it revolves around fear. The Pakistani contemporary laws along with the military aggression limit the press to create an informed and active public for which self-governance is possible, according to the Columbia Journalism Review. The most recent example of this ethical issue is Pakistan's most-read English language newspaper and TV station called, "Dawn," whose advertisements were banned on Press Freedom Day, according to The Diplomat. A lot of news outlets and television stations in Pakistan rely heavily on government advertisements in order to stay in business. The government threatens the news financially and with physical threats via military involvement.

In order to adhere to state laws and public information, some social media platforms have participated with the Pakistan government in order to further its agenda of stopping the spread of negative public information and facts that will have bad repercussions on their reputation. Many believe that this is unethical because it restricts the journalists from doing their job effectively and their watchdog role is tarnished from the fact that it'll get deleted anyways from multiple media platforms. Also, the coverage of events and reporting is restricted to the means of what the government wants to hear and not what the people need to hear. There are both legal and ethical issues involved with the rules and laws created to protect the government and limit freedom of speech and expression among professional journalists and ordinary people. One of the obvious ethical issues that come from this case study is to seek truth and report it as the general public of Pakistan is being misinformed and lied to with current events and news that is unfolding at all times in their country. The people deserve to know the truth and become educated on problems and issues that come from politics and society as a whole. This case study breaks every single code from the SPJ Code of Ethics.

Scholarly articles from media institutions examine and summarize that the press of Pakistan is not being transparent and minimizing harm as they are pushing the main issues of their society under the rug. Misinforming the public that everything the government is doing is great and that there are no serious problems that are coming to the public spotlight. Journalists might persevere, seek greater independence, move online, or adapt to regulation, but each option is not without its own ethical considerations, according to the Media Ethics Initiative. A key recommendation for improved conduct is to move Pakistani journalist's work to a digital, online work environment where it is less regulated and driven by capitally driven venues. Websites are shifting to become the most popular news outlet among journalists in Pakistan as they give them space and freedom, which is shrinking in mainstream media. Security will be a huge factor as there have been examples where Pakistani journalists have moved to other countries where the work environment is less hostile and they can accurately and fairly report their information and facts that deems necessary for the vast majority of people to learn and become aware of. Security protocols and training are needed by news media owners in Pakistan in order to limit the government's accessibility and involvement with what gets published and what doesn't. Pakistan is not alone with this censorship issue as other countries such as Russia and China have a similar problem with minimizing too much harm.

Pakistani journalists have started to branch out to other options to make sure their voices get heard and to do their job as effectively as possible. There is a lot of turmoil within that country and this is a current, ongoing issue that has started to gain national attention from journalism institutions and people all over the world. The journalism ethics issues also coincide with the human rights violations and how journalists and writers need to hide from the government and military with private news outlets for them to do their job as best as possible. At the end of the day, it's not the journalist's fault, but the officials' fault for creating conflict and violence for the corruption that this country is not unveiling to the public who desperately deserves this information to make self-governance possible.