No one will be allowed to block cable TV: Sherry
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rehman on Wednesday said cable operators were the main source of dissemination of information to the public, and the new democratic government would not allow anyone to block the cable TV operations in the country.
“The government believes in the freedom of information and public access to information and, therefore, no one will be allowed to disrupt the free flow of information,” she said while talking to a delegation of Cable Operators Association of Pakistan, led by its Chairman Khalid Sheikh, which called on her here.
The minister said the government had already tabled a bill to remove black media laws and “we will take more measures for freedom of media”.
“To ensure smooth running of the cable TV network throughout the country, a hotline service would be set up at the Information Ministry, where cable operators would register their complaints of any external pressure for blocking their system or a particular TV channel,” she added.
Later, with a view to providing a balanced coverage to the opposition’s point of view as well as the treasury benches in parliament, the minister directed the state-owned TV management to ensure that the state television acted as a prime source of information to the electorate that had sent their representatives to parliament.
“There must be no blackout of the opposition as was the case during the previous regime,” she stated and added that free feed of the coverage of parliament
session would be provided to private TV channels by the state-run TV.
The minister also reiterated the democratic government’s resolve that media would be given access to the meetings of parliament’s standing committees
and arrangements would be made for live coverage of these meetings.
The members of the cable TV operators’ delegation appreciated the vision of the government for media freedom and briefed the minister about their problems. The minister assured the delegation she would look into their problems.
Source: The News
Date:4/17/2008
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