Speakers at a roundtable conference have asked the government that media related laws as defamation law, privacy law and the definitions such as public interest and national interest used in the Freedom of Information Ordinance, 2002 should be clearly defined.
The roundtable conference was organised by Inter media in a bid to seek suggestions from the stakeholders for reviewing the media laws and giving recommendations for the changes in these laws that can be acceptable to all stakeholders.
The speakers said that despite promulgation of the Freedom of Information Ordinance, 2002, the journalists are not being provided access to the information. They suggested that self-censorship should be followed by the journalists.
They also called for creating awareness among the people about the defamation law apart from making it part of the curriculum of the mass communication. They said that equal responsibility lies on the press and media owners, intellectuals and civil society in the creation of positive thinking in the society. The seminar was attended by media people, editors of the leading newspapers, senior journalists and representatives of PUJ.