ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) issued a notice to a TV channel on Saturday for airing news reports deemed to be against Federal Finance Minister Asad Umar and the Minister of State for Interior, Shaharyar Afridi.

The regulator directed the TV channel to air rebuttals or furnish evidence in support of its reports which it aired on Friday night.

Titled “Notice on False News”, the Pemra notice pertains to some tickers on the TV channel that referred to a statement by Prime Minister Imran Khan about the performance of Mr Umar during an informal meeting of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI). The other report was about the renovation of Mr Afridi’s house.

“From the tickers it was transpired that the prime minister had expressed displeasure over the performance of federal finance minister for his policies,” Pemra said in the notice.

It said that by airing such reports, the TV channel had violated provisions of the 2015 Electronic Media Code of Conduct.

Pemra asked the TV channel to prove authenticity of its reports and submit a reply by Monday (Oct 15).

The notice said if the TV channel concerned failed to provide evidence in support of its reports, it should tender an apology. If it failed to reply to the notice within the specified time, the matter would be decided ex-parte by the authority.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2018