'Mere licences could not ensure freedom of media'

A former federal information and broadcasting minister, Javed Jabber, has suggested that Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) should be under the direct control of National Assembly Speaker, Senate Chairman and Leader of the Opposition to ensure its accountability.
He was addressing a seminar on 'Issues of Violence against Women: Role of today's FM channels in Public Service Broadcasting', organised by Uks, a civil society organisation, here on Saturday.
He said that giving mere licences to maximum number of TV channels could not ensure media freedom. To make the media more effective, the government should establish a 'Public Broadcasting Trust', he added.
He said that the trust should finance community-based broadcasting organisations. He said that there must be a separate division in the public service broadcasting to highlight purely public related issues without concentrating on commercial programmes.
He also suggested formulating a new policy on public service broadcasting by clearly defining the executive and discretionary powers. The policy should be finalised after thorough debate on it in assemblies, and by public, civil society organisations and media persons, he added.
He appreciated different channels of FM radio for highlighting various issues and creating awareness among women in the society.
About commercialisation policy of print and electronic media, he said that such organisations should give maximum attention to human problems for building a healthy society.
He said that domestic violence is the second biggest social issue after child abuse in urban areas and 99 percent such cases are not recorded.
He condemned the police raid on FM-103 in Karachi and said that police should have served legal notice first.
Dr Shajahan, of Peshawar University, said that media, particularly FM radio, played a vital role in addressing women problems regarding early marriage, abuse, violence and number of other uncivilised actions. He advised 'Uks' to co-ordinate with mass communication departments in universities and all national press clubs for getting help in this regard.
Tasneem Ahmer, Director of 'Uks', said that the organisation through its advocacy campaigns has always tried to bring out many hushed up issues of violence against women.
She said that 'Uks' is adding its voice to this year's 16 days of activism against gender violence by producing a series of 16 radio programmes 'Mujhe Bolney Do' (let me speak) on how women are subjected to violence and also challenging the myth that women prefer not to talk about these issues.
It may be added that '16 days of activism' is an international campaign against all forms of violence against women and girls, started in 1991 and run annually from November 26 to December 10.