Press Complaints Council to be formed
ISLAMABAD- A day-long joint meeting of Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) and the Ministry of Information and Media Development agreed in principle to form a Press Complaints Council, which will be a self-regulatory, non-government body with powers to censure.
A working group was constituted to review the draft ordinances for establishment of the Press Complaints Council, Access to Information Law and the Registration of Printing Presses and Publications Law. Drafting the texts for the proposed laws, the working group has been directed to take into account the technological changes in the information sector.
Thu ministry agreed to the proposal that provincial governments be requested to coordinate with the federal authorities before according permission for the title proposed to be used by an applicant for a declaration to published a new journal. This is meant to avoid duplication of titles and also gross misuse of mast-heads of popular publications.
Federal Minister for Information and Media Development Javed Jabbar requested the print media to help build national self-confidence and solidarity, so that “we can effectively meet the economic challenge”. He welcomed free and independent comments on political issues and urged that rigorous attention be given to factual accuracy in reports on economic issues in particular, before publication.
Secretary General, Finance, Moeen Afzal and Chairman, Central Board of Revenue, Riaz Naqvi, joined the meeting at a short notice to be briefed about the financial crisis facing newspapers and periodicals on account of unprecedented rise in newsprint prices, further compounded by the depreciation of the rupee against the dollar and the imposition of cash margin in banks on imports by the print media.
The representatives of the media called for urgent relief by way of removal of customs duty and sales tax on imported news print. The government representatives took note of the recent changes and agreed to give sympathetic consideration to the proposals. A working group under the convenorship of the Additional Seeretary-in-charge Information Ministry Salim Gul Shaikh has been formed with Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman, Arif Nizami, Arshad Zubairi, llyas Shakir, Zia Shahid and Mujib-ur-Rehman Shami as members to review the drafts for the three laws within the next two weeks.
Source: The Nation
Date:10/7/2000
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