ISLAMABAD, June 13: The Senate on Wednesday decided to regulate what was termed uneven coverage of its proceedings by the electronic and print media. This will be unprecedented in the parliamentary history of the country, with the upper house regulating the coverage of its proceedings whether by implementing its own code of conduct or through formulation of new guidelines.
A ruling to this affect came from Chairman of Senate Mohammadmian Soomro on the insistence of Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan Niazi who said under the upper house rules of business the publishing of the house proceedings was subject to the chairman’s approval.
He said that since a media tilt has been noticed towards the speeches of opposition members, it was necessary that the chair gives ruling in this connection. He demanded that the media should give proportionate space to the treasury and opposition lawmakers.
Mr Soomro said the overall attitude of the media has been positive but if there was any complaint then Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan and Minister of State for Information Tariq Azeem may coordinate with the media representatives in order to find a way out to end this complaint.
He also asked Leader of the House Wasim Sajjad to oversee the process of coordination with the media persons.
