PFUJ, HRCP, PBC and civil society reject PMDA

Key stakeholders of media and civil society have completely rejected as “draconian and unacceptable” both the government proposal to create a new authority – Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) – to regulate the entire spectrum of the country’s media sectors – including print, electronic, digital and film, as well as its attempt to “wrongly claim support” for it.

“The proposed establishment of PMDA by merging all existing media and sundry regulators and repealing major media related legislations is unacceptable because this entails bulldozing existing structures and mandates for the purpose of addressing government concerns rather than reforming them from the perspectives of either the media, journalists, citizens or media consumers of Pakistan,” according to a joint statement issued here on Friday.

Read More: Committee to 'liaise' PMDA matters with stakeholders formed

In the handout, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) President Shahzada Zulfiqar and Secretary General Nasir Zaidi, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA), Asma Jahangir’s AGHS, Digital Media Alliance of Pakistan (DigiMAP), Freedom Network (FN), Institute for Research, Advocacy and Development (IRADA), Digital Rights Foundation (DRF), Media Matter for Democracy (MMFD) and others opposed and rejected the PMDA.