.According to the information provided by three cable operators in Islamabad, the transmission of the news channel was immediately taken off the air after Pemra’s directives.
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan’s media regulatory body suspended the licence of Geo News for 15 days and imposed a fine of Rs10 million against it on Friday, the day the broadcaster filed a Rs50 billion defamation notice against the country’s top spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
A spokesperson for Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) said that the regulatory body decided that “in case of non-payment of fine, the suspension of the licence will continue and in case of repeated violations by Geo News, proceedings for the revocation of the licence will be initiated.”
The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by the acting chairman Pemra, Pervez Rathore, on a complaint filed by the defence ministry. Rathore was appointed by the federal government Thursday evening.
At the end of the meeting, Rathore announced Pemra’s decision of closing down the channel’s transmission for two weeks and directed the Geo News administration to pay Rs10 million in fine as well.
The defence ministry had filed a complaint before the media regulatory authority, accusing Geo News of maligning the country’s top intelligence agency. Geo News had aired the propaganda on April 19 for more than eight hours during which they blamed the ISI for involvement in an attack on its anchor Hamid Mir.
The ministry, along with a detailed complaint, has provided video clips, newspaper cuttings, photographs of screen shots to the regulatory body as evidence against the news channel. According to the information provided by three cable operators in Islamabad, the transmission of the news channel was immediately taken off the air after Pemra’s directives.
The suspension and penalty came hours after Geo/Jang Group served a legal notice to the Ministry of Defence, ISI and Pemra for “accusing it of working on an anti-Pakistan agenda, inciting and fuelling violence against the group, pressuring cable operators to blackout Geo’s channels and the failure of Pemra to get the Supreme Court order to restore Geo and the group’s channels implemented”.
But the defence ministry is yet to receive the legal notice served by Geo/Jang Group. “We have not received any official copy of the decision so far. Once we receive it, our legal team will evaluate and decide the future course in this development,” the defence ministry spokesperson, Narita Farhan, told The Express Tribune.
Last month, the channel had apologised to the army, admitting that its coverage of Hamid Mir’s attack had been “excessive, distressful and emotional”. However, it seems as if temperatures have failed to cool with Friday’s unexpected lawsuit.
The timing of Geo/Jang Group’s Rs50 billion defamation notice and Pemra’s decision to suspend Geo’s licence is quite telling. It seems the seemingly coincidental developments have been scripted by the same author.
The story of Geo/Jang Group’s notice was printed by Jang and The News on their respective front pages in the June 6 edition. The same day, the government members of Pemra held the meeting [which has already been challenged by the authority’s private members in the court] and issued a judgment ‘against’ Geo.
Public circles view Pemra’s decision not as a punishment but rather as a permission to reopen Geo TV after 15 days.
It must be noted that following the controversial episode of its morning show ‘Utho Jago Pakistan’, Geo has already been facing a ban-like situation as cable operators have blocked its transmission in most parts of the country due to fear of public reprisal.
However, Geo’s Rs50 billion legal notice is a very bold attempt. Geo, in its explanation-looking apology, had accepted that its allegations and acts against the ISI were not right.
The private members of Pemra have also been continuously saying that the government is interfering in Pemra’s affairs in order to give Geo a ‘safe passage’.
On May 20, the five private members of Pemra had convened a meeting and resolved to suspend the licences of Geo News, Geo Tez and Geo Entertainment. But the government did not allow the implementation of the decision and rather issued notices to the private members on May 22.
However, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on May 26 not only suspended the show cause notices issued to the private members and the meeting called by the government members on May 27 but also the appointment notification of a government member Kamaluddin Tipu.
On May 28, the private members met once again and decided to form a three-member committee to discuss suspension of Geo’s licences.
Interestingly, the government on June 5 issued a notification for the appointment of former CCPO Lahore Pervaiz Rathore as Pemra’s caretaker chairman and on the very next day, ie., June 6, pronounced a ‘favourable’ punishment for Geo.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 7th, 2014.
COMMENTS (4)
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Why Shd not GEO be find Rs 51 billion for insult to Eh le Bait?
Not acceptable, Geo deserves Rs50 billion fine and permanent suspension!
Ban the Channel. Slap Fine BUT Geo will never give up Bharat Ki Asha. That's one thing for sure.
This is nothing Geo should be banned forever. Geo is trying to use this freedom of speech mantra to convince everyone that Geo is innocent while Geo and Jang group is playing bigger game behind Freedom of speech. Freedom of speech doesn't mean a Media group try to bend the rules to its advantages and blackmail Govt institution. This clearly show Jang and its coward owner are on the play roll of foreign elements.