ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday sought report from Chairman Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) by October 19 as to what action has been taken so far against the people who were allegedly trying to defame the judiciary.
“The judges are unable to defend themselves at public forums as they are bound to explain their position in the Supreme Judicial Council,” Justice Shaukat Aziz remarked while hearing a plea seeking directions to the media that they must not broadcast any interview or press conference that may contain defamatory material or statements against any member of the superior judiciary.
During the hearing, Secretary Information Ministry Chaudhry Rasheed Ahmed and Chairman Pemra Dr Abdul Jabbar appeared before the bench.
The Pemra chairman apprised the bench that the authority was complying with the court orders and it had sent a letter as well as all the regulations to TV channels, directing them not to air any defamatory and indecent content against the judiciary or any other person.
He informed the bench that investigation agencies were probing the press conferences against the judiciary by a certain politician and Pemra was cooperating with them in this regard.
The Supreme Court had also taken notice of the press conference while Pemra has recently introduced new rules and regulations for media.
“Under which authority would Pemra take action against TV channels, if any defamatory content was aired against any institution or person?” the Pemra chairman questioned.
In the previous hearing, the IHC had summoned the Pemra chairman to explain the code of conduct in regulating broadcast media and parameters of live programmes on TV channels.
COMMENTS (3)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
It is Arsalan Iftikhar and CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry who have defamed judiciary, not the media which reported the news.
Judges should improve their conduct instead of issuing regulatory orders to silence the media. Had Arsalan Iftikhar's case been decided on merit within a week of its revelation, we would not be facing such a situation. If judiciary feels that they would maintain their respect by silencing legitimate criticism, they are mistaken.
the freedom of media was kosher when it was supporting the lawyers movement to restore the judiciary. the judges should understand that respect for the judiary is not going to happen by restraining the media. why is the court asking PEMRA to take action when the court has unlimited powers to take action under the contempt of court law.