Code of conduct formulated by the Supreme Court (SC) for electronic media lacks legitimacy, said Chairman Pakistan Broadcast Association (PBA) Mir Ibrahim Rahman here on Wednesday. National Assembly's Sub-Committee on Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage chaired by MNA Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Imran Zafar Leghari, called for ensuring effective implementation of Supreme Court's decision on code of conduct for electronic media.
Briefing the committee members and Pemra authorities, Chairman PBA emphasised on the importance of freedom for media. He argued that it was not PBA's or government's code of conduct but it was Supreme Court's code, which was a direct outcome of a petition filed by the then journalist, Absar Alam, earlier. However, both government and PBA formulated clauses but it was Supreme Court that decided which clause was to be added to the code, he added.
He said that the implementation mechanism needs to be expanded; unless and until it's been legitimised, it would not be of any worth. Meanwhile, Absar Alam, Chairman Pemra, said the Indian government was regulating and implementing code of conduct for 3 years until media attained a certain maturity level and eligibility. He said the Pemra authorities met with PBA on December 22, 2015. The PBA showed interest in self regularisation. After 5 months, PBA stepped back from self-regularisation citing financial constraints and then it demanded independent media regularisation.
The Chairman Committee said that media needs to be regulated but not at the cost of freedom of speech, adding democracy will be strengthened if media would be free. He directed the PBA authorities to come up with a presentation on rating procedure in next meeting for an in-camera session, however, PBA Chairman said if media would not attend the session then how would they even come for a briefing.