ISLAMABAD, Feb. 22: Readers are informed in the prologue to the book ‘Press Gallery’ that democracy could not function without a free press. The book has been edited by Zafarullah Khan, a social activist, and published by the Centre for Civic Education (CCE). Islamabad. The National Democratic Institution (NDI) and CCE circulated it among journalists who attended the training workshop on parliamentary reporting on Thursday.

Several chapters of the book are devoted to developing close interaction between Parliament, its Members and the media corps in the Press Gallery regarded by former NA Speaker Syed Fakhar Imam as an extension of the National Assembly.

‘The dominant theme of the book is that ‘The Press and the Parliament have complementary roles.’ This being the case the book justifiably recommends that any undertaking of the press corps in the Press Gallery must gain the confidence as well as consent of the Speaker, who is the kingpin of all House activities.

In that context, the section on ‘what the media could do’ provides a road map for fair and accurate coverage of the parliament. A guide line has been laid down which is that the Parliament and its members must be accorded the full respect which is due to them In no case must the Press cast reflection on the impartiality of the presiding officer. In this regard the book quotes the instance of Mr. Raghavan of ‘Blitz’, a weekly published from Bombay. His Press Gallery Card was withdrawn in August 1961 for doing just that.—Jonaid Iqbal