ROs who work for government departments and ministries in Pakistan still seem to be living in the 1970s and 1980s.

To be honest, I wasn’t even a journalist then, but given the way they work, I had to give that analogy.

In today’s digital and social media age, you don’t have to be working for a particular newspaper, news channel or news website to be a journalist.

As for myself, I have actually worked at five leading newspapers and news websites in leadership roles, and currently write columns for two leading English news publications. But even I don’t qualify as a journalist — not, at least, in the eyes of PROs who work in government departments and ministries.

Let me give two examples.

The first relates to a former PRO of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Since my last job with a particular news organisation was in 2018, I was on the email list of the said PRO, and this was handy because any press releases related to the highest court of the land would land in my email inbox.

And, since I am active on social media, these would........

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