KARACHI: Well-known media personalities and academics discussing the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority’s (Pemra) code of conduct 2015 at a round-table conference organised by the Awaz Institute of Media and Management Sciences here on Thursday concluded that a government body should not lay down the law about how the media should be conducting itself.

Narrating how the code of conduct came about, senior journalist Mazhar Abbas said it was made in such haste that many stakeholders weren’t taken on board.

“And when the notification for it was issued, even the prime minister hadn’t seen it. Still, there are some good things in it. But studying it one realises that all of its clauses cannot be imposed even by the Pakistan Broadcasters Association,” he said.

“When media organisations don’t have a code of conduct of their own, it will be imposed on them as it happened. The Pakistan Broadcasters Association also accepted it because it mostly comprises media house owners,” said editor of DawnNews Mubashir Zaidi.

Professor of mass communications Dr Seemi Naghmana said that when Pemra first came about it had far more freedom. “But things changed after October 2002 according to the wishes of Shaikh Rashid,” she said while suggesting that it might be made autonomous once again.

Hasan Abbas, news editor of Daily Express, said the code of conduct was actually the result of the end of the institution of the editor. “Journalists have become clerks who obey the orders given out by media house owners. They may have a pen in their hand but it doesn’t have a nib. You still have time to raise your voice against this code of conduct until Oct 7 or it will be implemented while paralysing journalism and the freedom of thought. Please show some resistance to it,” he said.

Editor of the Sindhi-language newspaper Awami Awaz and Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors secretary general Jabbar Khattak said he wondered why the code of conduct was aimed at just the electronic media. “Why is the print media free from it?”

He also suggested bringing in of FM stations in all this, too, and have radio stations and TV channels in every region. “It will help promote culture, obscure artists,” he said.

“Pemra is a useless body with no foresight. There is the Wi-Fi backbone ahead of you. What will you do with this code of ethics then?” he said.

Senior journalist Qaiser Mehmood pointed out the weakness of media houses of not being able to offer proper mentoring to young journalists. “They hire young journalists without much prior training and without carrying out auditions. They don’t even know the basics of journalism and they are conducting interviews and doing reporting on live TV. It is this practice which has brought this code of conduct upon our heads. There should have rather been an independent media complaints commission instead,” he said.

Finally, Mazhar Abbas declared: “By and large, we reject the electronic media code of conduct 2015. We want a joint body including all organisations that would address and look into things such as court violations and ethical violations. It should, at first issue warnings and take action after repeated violations.”

Senior journalist and professor of mass communications Dr Tauseef Ahmed Khan, Fiza Shakeel of NewsOne and news columnist Muqtada Mansoor also spoke.

Published in Dawn October 2nd, 2015

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