Ijaz Kakakhel
A legislative body of upper house of parliament on Thursday directed PEMRA, PTV, and Radio Pakistan for running special transmissions for the flood affectees and extending relief to them.
The directions were given during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting, which met at parliament house while Senator Faisal Javed was on chair. Chairman Committee underlined that the committee will play its role to help the flood victims, but PTV and Radio also have an important role to play in this regard and get the flood affectees out of the hook through running special transmissions by involving flood affectees and celebrities.
At the outset, prayers were offered for those affected by the recent flood. Regarding the off-airing of ARY news channel, the Chairman Committee Faisal directed PEMRA to lift the ban on Ary channel till matters and technicalities are settled with the cable operators. Due to the closure of the channel, the livelihood of 400 employees is at stake, which means that 400 families will be disassembled, Faisal Javed stated.
Due to the non-presence of the Minister for Information and Broadcasting, the issue related to the off-airing of the ARY channel was deferred till the next meeting. Chairman PEMRA said that the Ary news channel has some technical issues with cable operators, adding that Ary news has not yet finalized an inter-connect agreement with the cable operators that leads to off-airing the channel in some areas. The Chairman Committee underscored that there should be no restrictions on media and that the media persons should enjoy liberty while reporting the news.
The bill titled “The protection of Journalists and media professional (amendment) bill 2022, moved by Senator Saleem Mandviwala was deferred due to the absence of the sponsor of the bill.
Rescinding the explanation given by the director of PTV news for not live-telecasting the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister Punjab, Pervez Elahi on PTV news, he showed his intent to call the officials of the President House Secretariat in the next meeting. The version of the officials from the President House Secretariat needs to be heard on the matter before concluding the matter, the chairman committee remarked. The director PTV News apprised that the president house inform him neither his office regarding the swearing-in ceremony at the President House. The Chairman committee also sought footage that went on-air on Ptv news pertaining to oath-taking ceremon
