ONE news bulletin on Pakistan’s state-run television is much like any other. The lead item may show the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, taking telephone calls from the public. In the second item he is awarding degrees to medical students. In the third he is walking through a park and showing concern for wild animals. The government of a country suffering economic turmoil and growing lawlessness is presented on television, and radio, in a glowing light. For information on what is really happening, and fair comment, you have to turn to the newspapers. In the past decade, since the end of military rule, papers have become increasingly vocal.

Now there is concern that the government may be trying to bring newspapers to heel. The Jang Group, Pakistan’s largest newspaper empire, is being probed by the tax authorities. The group publishes the Jang, in Urdu, and the News, in English. Managers say that tax inspectors have raided the group’s warehouses to check newsprint stocks, supposedly to see if the papers’ circulation conformed to figures in the group’s tax statements.

The government says the investigation is purely a tax matter, but journalists fear that pressure is being put on the management to sack some outspoken writers. The tax probe would stop, it is believed, if they were dismissed. Earlier this month Jang’s 3,000 employees were told the group’s bank accounts had been frozen by the tax authorities, so salaries could not be paid. Eventually, some accounts were opened and the employees got their money. But the taxmen have also sealed some newsprint warehouses, threatening to limit circulations.

If the newspapers are suppressed, Pakistanis can turn to satellite television. Satellite dishes have proliferated in recent years, but are too expensive for many people The Internet is also a source of news. Indian newspapers, almost unobtainable in Pakistan, are available on-line. But again, the Net is for the better off, unlike a newspaper that any Pakistani can buy for a few rupees.