ISLAMABAD: Out of around 1,800 suo motu actions taken by the Press Council of Pakistan (PCP) since its inception in 2011, hardly a dozen publications were penalised whereas only 152 complaints were lodged with the council.

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information was informed on Tuesday that despite enjoying sweeping powers under the law, the council hardly fined a few dailies and periodicals and failed to take strong action against any publication.

PCP Chairman Dr M. Salahuddin Mengal said under the law the council can fine a minimum of Rs10,000 as a compensation to any person aggrieved by any publication. However, he added that hardly any publication had been penalised under this clause.

Out of 1,800 suo motu actions taken since 2011, hardly a dozen publications were penalised, NA body told

“This is because nobody wants to impose penalty on any publication,” the chairman added.

The committee was informed that out of the 19 members of the council, 12 belonged to the All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS), the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) while two MNAs were nominated by the leader of the house and leader of the opposition each.

Other members are: Vice Chairman Pakistan Bar Council, one nominee each from the Higher Education Commission, the National Commission on Status of Women and a mass media educationist.

Since the PCP has only one office in the country, only 152 complaints were received out of which 97 were disposed of - mainly after warning and accepting their apologies - while 33 cases were under process and two pending in courts.

Regarding the suo motu action, the committee was informed that notices were issued to ensure the implementation of the code of ethics in the print media.

However, the PCP chairman said in most of the cases newspapers had admitted the negligence of their staff and promised to be more careful in the future.

The briefing by Dr Salahuddin was interrupted by Murad Saeed of PTI and Arifa Khalid of PML-N, who asked him about the contributions of the PCP.

The PCP chairman said it was the role of the council to ensure that no publication, even at the regional level, glorify terror and that there was a ‘zero visibility policy’ against proscribed organisations or encouraging/inciting discrimination, hatred on grounds of race, religion, caste, sect, nationality, ethnicity, gender etc.

But the PCP chairman said these responsibilities can only be executed if the council had offices and relevant staff across the country.

“We do not have the capacity to verify any complaint, especially if it has been published in a regional language,” he said, adding: “I would request the committee for help to overcome the financial difficulties that has been hindering our performance.”

Chairman of the committee, Pir Mohammad Aslam Bodla, said the committee was not satisfied with the performance of the council. He said strict implementation of the code of ethics was needed.

Murad Saeed asked if the PCP had the mandate to take notice of any government publication. After receiving a reply in the affirmative, he criticised the PCP for not taking action on his complaint.

The committee also took up the performance of PTV and said it had failed to compete with the private electronic media.

However, Secretary Information Sardar Ahmed Sukhera, who is also currently holding the charge of PTV managing director, said state-owned entities cannot compete with private sector and significant investment was needed to upgrade its systems.

He, however, assured the meeting that the losses of the PTV would be significantly reduced by the end of the current financial year.

The committee also discussed the Protection of Journalists Bill 2014 and directed the information ministry to complete consultations with the stakeholders and media organisations without a further delay as the legislation had already been delayed.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2017