Electronic media should give balanced coverage to events: chief Pemra
ISLAMABAD: Chairman Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), Mushtaq Malik, said on Saturday that he appealed to the electronic media to strengthen the hands of the government by reporting events in a balanced manner. In an interview with APP, he said that foreign investors are scared of investing in Pakistan as the media coverage of acts of terrorism, sometimes creates negative image of the country abroad.
He further said that now the Pemra has been converted into a facilitator and not a regulator for the electronic media. ‘Role of the Pemra is to help the electronic media in its development,’ said Mushtaq Malik. To a question, Mushtaq Malik said that the Pemra had a limited capacity of monitoring the electronic media, which was being beefed up now. He said that the present government has never taken any step against any channel on violation of its code as such an act could be interpreted as coercion.
He said that Pemra does send notices to the concerned channel but no action has been taken against any channel. The Pemra chief urged the media to act responsibly and should not air views of persons of the banned organisations as this tantamount to glorifying them. To a question, he said that the government has asked Pakistan Broadcasting Association (PBA), to prepare a code of ethics for itself.
Mushtaq Malik said that Pemra has imported latest equipment to block illegal FM channels. Replying to a question, he said that the Pemra has issued two FM radio channels licenses to NWFP government for facilitation of the IDPs. He also said that Pemra has gifted six video screens for IDP camps and it would also hand over 30 TV sets to be installed in IDP camps. He said that since March 2008, the Pemra has issued licenses to 26 private TV channels.
Source: Business Recorder
Date:6/28/2009
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