'New media code of conduct before June'

Information Minister says government trying to formulate new policy, give it legal cover before June.

ISLAMABAD: A new media policy is being formulated and efforts are underway to give it a legal cover before June this year, stated Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Thursday.

Speaking during question hour in Senate, Awan said that members of both the parliamentary committees on information and broadcasting, representative of media, civil society and all stakeholders would be taken on board for their inputs on the new policy.

She said that the new policy would help ensure the supremacy of national interests by the media and further improve image of the country across the globe.

Awan said that TV channels were not following the current code of conduct and stressed that the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) needed to be strengthened.

"Everywhere in the world a regulator functions independently but in Pakistan they have been put under the ministries. We have to make PEMRA an autonomous body so that it could take action against any violators without making sense that the government is behind it,” she said.

The information minister also stated that all channels were bound to submit five per cent of their gross income to the national exchequer and no payments were being made, and that the non-payment was causing a loss of billions to the exchequer.

The government has so far received 2,445 complaints against media.