Committee to propose changes in laws to tackle issue of fake news: Firdous

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Wednesday said a committee of Ministry of Information was formed to propose changes in laws to tackle the issue of fake news and character assassination of individuals on different media platforms.

She was speaking during meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage here at Parliament House.

Senator Faisal Javed chaired the committee meeting.

Dr Firdous said the changed laws would be get passed from Parliament with consensus. She said no doubt that one of the most important pillars of state was media.

The media had transitioned from print to electronic and now to social media, she said adding fake news was a matter of concern for the society.

She stressed that freedom of media should be kept intact but the responsible role of media should also be ensured.

She said all stakeholders should sit together to ensure that media act with responsibility.

Since the creation of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), the media had changed, she said adding Cyber Wing of Information Ministry, Cyber Crime Wing of Federal Investigation Agency and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) was handling different aspects of social media.

She said with the rise of social media,  a vaccum was created and national interest and social and cultural values were undermined on occasions.