The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting on Thursday took exception to massive broadcast of negative news on the private news channels and issued directives to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to ensure projection of positive developments in the country as well.
The committee members, in the meeting chaired by Javaria Zafar Aheer, opined that sensationalism of crime related incidents and tragic events was projecting a negative image of Pakistan abroad.
Naz Baloch said private media channels hardly aired positive news nowadays. One of the responsibilities of the media was to educate the viewers but unfortunately Pakistan’s electronic media ignored informative content, she added.
Dr Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro said PEMRA should issue directives to the media outlets to produce informative programmes.
Asiya Azeem said images and videos of violent crimes had left a very bad impact on the psyche of the nation. She underlined the need to introduce check and balance in the coverage of events related to crime. Javaria Zafar Aheer said unfortunately, private media threw ethics of journalism to the wind and even resorted to glamorizing crimes on screens.
PEMRA Chairman Salim Baig informed the committee that the Authority had taken actions against those media outlets, but many times courts gave stay orders. He said PEMRA’s mandate was of oversight and the Council of Complaints was the forum to decide complaints of the viewers. He said an amendment in the PEMRA Act was being tabled in the next session of the National Assembly to empower the Authority.
Javaria Zafar Aheer assured that the committee members would support such an amendment.
Secretary Information and Broadcasting Sohail Ali Khan told the committee that the proposed bill was finalized after a thorough consultation with stakeholders. During the discussion on the agenda item ” The Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals (Amendment) Bill 2023″, the committee was informed that the law had already been passed and only two sections were proposed to be amended.
The secretary information told the committee that only two procedural changes were made in the bill.
About the Press, Newspapers, News Agencies and Books Registration ( Amendment) Bill 2023, it was told that only a couple of procedural changes were being made in it. The meeting was attended by members of the National Assembly Aasiya Azim, Naz Baloch, Nasir Khan Musazai, Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro, Zulfiqar Ali Behan, Kiran Imran Dar and Zeb Jafar.
