Citizens Wire

Our motto is ‘Information for Democracy’ and our mission is ‘to promote freedom of expression and expand citizens’ right to information.’

It is pretty hard to confess institutional biases even in the age of unprecedented polarization and divisions. But we start our professional journey with our pronounced bias for federal, parliamentary and democratic republic. We hope to bring the public and the republic on a same page and assign substantive meanings to democracy in Pakistan. We consider the citizens to be the real content of the Pakistani democracy and all institutions must work for them, and all resources must serve them without discrimination.

Citizens Wire aspires to democratize content production by distilling its pro-citizen content by applying the following filtersthe constitutional filter, the federal-democratic filter, the institutional filter, the civic filter and the pluralism filter.  We realize that the Constitution, laws and public policies are often written in complex legal jargon and that too in English. Therefore, we will make an effort to offer well researched, accurate and contextualized democratic analysis to promote literacy about the Constitution, laws, institutions and public policies and develop arguments and analysis for civility that ensures a peaceful and democratic society.

In no way are we determining the media diet for our valuable readers, viewers, browsers, but reminding of one vital component i.e. the constitutional contract between the citizens and the State. We often criticize the elite centric and consumerist-commercial approaches of mainstream media. Most of the time ordinary people find space in it only as a figure in an accident, a disaster or an odd occurrence. Similarly, despite the abundance of media channels plurality of opinions is often missing. Even the Public Service Media run on taxpayers’ expense is limited to officially certified facts, truths and propaganda. We want to break this vicious cycle and introduce an analytical, creative and pro-people paradigm of content production.

Citizens Wire will work as a social enterprise and will produce innovative, interpretative and creative text, audio and video content to transcend literacy barriers and contribute towards information needs that can empower citizens. While doing so, we pledge not to indulge in any sort of ‘bonded intellectual labour.’ Rather, the wire will attempt to create a decent economy for battle of ideas and serious intellectual efforts in Pakistan.

Our survival depends on your practical support in generating content for Citizens Wire and by offering honest comments and criticism. We hope to hear from you about our modest efforts.

Kindly browse: www.citizenswire.com