Pemra Authority approved on Friday, a fine of Rs 1 million on Samaa TV for airing a "highly objectionable", indecent and "vulgar" text message during its crime re-enactment programme "Wardat" in July last year. The text message was not only in violation of Pemra laws and the Code of Conduct implemented by the Supreme Court of Pakistan but was also against our socio-cultural and religious values. The objectionable text message had prompted a serious backlash from the viewers of the channel.
The case was earlier decided by the Council of Complaints Sindh on January 14, 2016. The Council, after perusing the record and giving a proper hearing to the accused had recommended a fine of Rs 1 million on Samaa TV. It was also recommended that in case of non-payment of fine, the Authority may further process the case of channel for suspension or revocation of its license. The Authority while approving the fine also ordered the channel to air a public apology and tickers from 6:00 pm to 12:00 midnight, repeatedly. The Authority has approved that, if SAMAA TV fails to pay fine within a period of fifteen days and /or also fails to air apology according to the Authority's orders, its licence will stand suspended.
The Authority also directed all other TV channels to introduce a strict editorial control and install time delay mechanism to avoid any such incident(s) in future. Authority referred back to COC Peshawar the case of Khyber News Channel on account of using objectionable language during live broadcast on October 10, 2014. The procurement rules of the Authority were also brought in consonance with the Rule 42 (b) of Public Procurement Rules of PPRA.
Chairman Pemra Absar Alam, Secretary Ministry of Information Broadcasting & National Heritage Saba Mohsin Raza, Chairman PTA Dr Ismail Shah, Nargis Nasir (Member Punjab), Sarfraz Khan Jatoi (Member Sindh), Munir Ahmed Badini (Member Balochistan) and Shaheen Habibullah (Member Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) attended the meeting.
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