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| February 8, 2003 | Saturday | Zul Hijjah 6,1423 |
Media ords should be discussed in parliament: Nasim
ISLAMABAD, Feb 7: Ordinances relating to print and electronic media should be discussed in the parliament, Justice Dr Nasim Hassan Shah (retired) said here on Friday.
He was speaking at a seminar on Electronic Media Freedom Day-2003 organized by the Citizens’ Media Commission (CMC) at a local hotel.
Justice Dr Nasim Hasan Shah (retired), who is also the CMC chairman, pointed out that state-controlled media was also broadcasting candid programmes on social, economic and political issues. He said observance of the freedom day had helped a lot in highlighting the need of freedom of expression.
The CMC convener, Javed Jabbar, who conducted the proceedings of the second session, said though self-regulation was an ideal check, it did not work satisfactorily because of market forces.
“State-regulation also has some limitations and cannot be termed as ideal,” he said.
Only social regulation is the best mechanism to put media on the right path and save it from trickling down information of vested interests, he added.
“Social regulation is the creation of independent and unofficial mechanism that will effectively monitor the contents of electronic media and help enforce code of practices and ethics not subservient to the interests and influence of media proprietors,” he said.
Media has tremendous power to form public opinion, therefore this power should be exercised with responsibility, he added.
On the occasion, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation resident representative, Gunter Lehrke, highlighted the importance of public service broadcasting (PSB).
He said state ownership or commercialization of the PSB would irreparably damage it. He advocated its constitution as a broadcasting system in the hands of public.
The tit for tat ban on each others’ channels by the Pakistani and Indian governments was thoroughly discussed on the occasion.
However, majority of the participants said the Pakistani government should unilaterally lift the ban on Indian channels.
People are mature enough to differentiate between propaganda and facts, they added.
Ms Tahira said banning of channels had always proved counter-productive and sharpens the thirst and curiosity of people.
The speakers also called for no-interference in editorial policies by the government officials as well as liberalization of policies of PTV and PBC.
These two organizations should become the mouthpiece of public instead of passively caving in to wanton dictates of rulers, they added.
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