The Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting pressed the government on Friday on the release of a media policy, particularly a code of ethics and regulations for the electronic media.
The committee met under the chairmanship of Senator Kamil Ali Agha and questioned the information secretary for not finalising the policy draft. The committee asked the secretary to present the report on the policy draft within 72 hours.
Dr Nazir Saeed, the federal information secretary, assured the members that the committee constituted by PM Nawaz has finalised a draft of the code of ethics and it would be presented to the panel within three days.
Pemra’s acting chairman Pervez Rathore told the committee that action has been taken against 23 TV channels for giving extra coverage to foreign TV programmes. Senator Agha said that private TV channels earn in millions and such a token penalty once a year cannot deter them. He recommended that action be taken against every violation as and when it happens.
The parliamentary panel also took notice of the removal of permanent, experienced and qualified staff from Pakistan Broadcasting Cooperation (PBC) and the induction of inexperienced staff without applying the existing rules and regulations.
The committee will meet again in the first week of July to look into this issue.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 28th, 2014.
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