ISLAMABAD: A newly proposed media regulator will be able to impose fines of up to Rs250 million, or roughly $1.5 million, on Pakistani media outlets that violate rules, Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said in comments broadcast on Monday.
The proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority Ordinance, 2021 — which will oversee films and monitor electronic, print and digital media, including Web TV, over-the-top content platforms and news websites — has rattled journalists and rights advocates who fear it could be used to stifle dissent and free speech and institutionalize censorship.
The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) currently has the authority to impose a maximum fine of Rs1 million, an amount that was not large enough to deter media organizations from breaking rules, Hussain said in an interactive session with digital broadcasters.
“We are taking the fine to Rs250 million,” he said. “So, the maximum fine that can be imposed on any organization will be 250 million rupees.”
At present, Hussain said, there were seven laws to regulate media in Pakistan: “Social media was dealt by PTA (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority), press by the Press Council, electronic media by PEMRA, labor regulations by ITNE (Implementation Tribunal for Newspapers Employees) ... newspaper registrations by ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation).”
But in order to implement the laws, they needed to be converged, the minister said.
“So, we are repealing all these laws and creating the Pakistan Media Development Authority,” Hussain said. “We are dissolving PEMRA, ITNE, Press Council as well as the censor boards.”
The censor boards, he said, would be replaced by a central board of film censors.
Hussain said the government hadn’t included the provision of imprisonment in the new proposed law. “The only action that authority can take is to impose fines.”
The government was also creating a Media Complaints Commission and a Media Tribunal: “An individual can lodge a complaint with the Media Complaints Commission and the commission will be bound to announce its verdict in 21 days. The verdict could be appealed in a Media Tribunal.”
The minister said the commission would have four members each from the government and media bodies, who would work under a chairman.
He said media “tycoons” did not want the government to create a media tribunal because it would also entertain the complaints of their employees.
“But we are bent upon creating it because otherwise this is an owner-centric media,” Hussain said.
He also criticized PEMRA for its lack of investment in media development in the country, despite being a rich state organization.
Under the new law, Hussain said, a development wing for the capacity-building of journalists would be created.
Media bodies have criticized the government’s proposal.
In a joint statement issued this month, the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA), Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and Association of Electronic Media Editors and News Directors (AEMEND) rejected the proposed PMDA, calling it a “draconian” law and describing it as “an attempt to tighten the federal government’s control over the media.”
Proposed new regulator could impose fine of $1.5 million on Pakistani media — information minister
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Proposed new regulator could impose fine of $1.5 million on Pakistani media — information minister
- Says government will set up Pakistan Media Development Authority Ordinance, dissolve existing regulators and censor boards
- Proposal has rattled journalists and rights advocates who fear it could be used to stifle dissent, institutionalize censorship
Pakistan PM orders strategy to improve project execution as multilateral lenders propose reforms
- Shehbaz Sharif says he will personally lead a steering committee to speed up priority projects
- Four working groups proposed to streamline approvals, procurement, land issues and staffing
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday directed officials to draw up a detailed strategy to improve the planning and execution of development projects, saying he would personally chair a steering committee aimed at ensuring timely and transparent completion of priority schemes.
The move came during a meeting where the World Bank and Asian Development Bank presented recommendations to the government on strengthening project implementation.
According to the prime minister’s office, participants received a briefing that said project approvals involve multiple steps and need simplification, while timely procurement and better readiness tools could also help accelerate implementation.
“National projects of critical importance must be completed transparently and on time,” Sharif told officials, according to the statement. “This is our priority.”
He said the federal and provincial steering committee on development-sector reforms would be headed by him.
The statement said four working groups were also proposed during the meeting: one to review approval and preparation processes, a second to modernize procurement, a third to address land acquisition and resettlement challenges, and a fourth to focus on human-resource alignment and staff deployment for development schemes.
Sharif thanked the World Bank and Asian Development Bank for their support and said development projects must be aligned with the objectives of Pakistan’s Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) and provincial Annual Development Plans (ADPs).
The meeting was attended by senior federal ministers, provincial representatives, senior civil servants and the country directors of both multilateral lenders.
