Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
A legislative body of Upper House of parliament on Monday stressed need for distribution of advertisements on private television networks on equality basis and expressed their displeasures over distribution of ads with few local TV channels. These sentiments were expressed in the Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting, which was held today at parliament lodges while Senator Faisal Javed was on chair.
The officials from Press Information Department (PID) presented the data related to the total amount spent by the Federal Government on Ad-Campaign from 2013 to 2018 and 2018 to April 2022. The presentation irked a few members as only few local channels were enlisted and urged the official to also present the data of the Ad-spending pertaining to local TV channels.
The chairman committee expressed displeasure over the disparity in Ad-distribution to channels that fall in the same category. The committee asked the concerned authority to work out the mechanism related to spending and distribution of Ads.
The committee directed the Ministry to identify the wrongdoer and called for taking legal action against those who are responsible. It was also directed to conduct an internal inquiry on the matter and submit a report to this committee within seven days, urging the Ministry officials to further enhance the “delay-mechanism” during the live feed. The Chairman committee and members from different political parties also discouraged the act of airing hate speech and remarked that such practices should be nullified and treated above party lines. At the outset, the Chairman Committee expressed discontent and took notice of the continuous absence of the Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Marriam Aurangzeb from the committee meetings, suggesting the Ministry for retaining a separate Minister for matters related to broadcasting. The Chairman committee observed that issues relating to broadcasting, salary and pension issues of the journalists are swelling.
