Till the transition to digital broadcast technology is completed, PEMRA should freeze the issuance of any more licenses for TV channels because there is already a glut of numbers in analogue-based technology.
To enable fair, cooperative, non-litigious regulation by PEMRA, Pakistan Broadcasters’ Association, Cable TV Operators Association, Pakistan Advertisers’ Society, and Advertising Association of Pakistan need to review their own existing policies and practices. This should ensure compliance by their members of their respective obligations to render public service duties and provide public interest content. Media should demonstrate complete transparency in rates charged for advertising, in time devoted to commercial content and programming content, and in fulfilling terms and conditions of licenses and other aspects of their social responsibilities.
Till the time that the proposed new legislation and restructuring of PEMRA is agreed upon and implemented: To encourage and promote the rich reservoir of talent and skills in the Pakistani people for creative drama, entertainment and content with tasteful popular appeal, PEMRA should formulate an appropriate policy that protects producers, directors, writers, actors and other segments of creative professional teams from the unfair impact of foreign content that is dubbed into Urdu and freely broadcast by TV channels, thus, reducing the time, rates and income for indigenous Pakistani talent.
PEMRA should be directed to formulate a fair, transparent policy to issue licenses on a non-auction basis, without applying a commercial approach, for community-based electronic media. PEMRA should be directed to revise its discriminatory exclusion of NGOs registered as social welfare associations, societies, trusts, not-for-profit joint-stock companies from being eligible applicants for community-based electronic media. PEMRA should be directed not to disqualify applicants on the basis that they are the recipients of funding support from multi-lateral institutions such as United Nations Agencies, regional organizations such as European Union or friendly foreign countries. Safeguards can be enforced to prevent community-based electronic
(i) Based on a comprehensive appraisal of the original aims expressed in the legislation that introduced private electronic media to Pakistan, and with reference to models of regulatory forums in countries with democratic systems, the Commission makes the following Recommendations for the consideration of the Hon’ble Court and for the consideration of the new National Assembly elected on 11thMay,2013 which, with the already existing Senate, represents the new Parliament of Pakistan. (ii) There is an urgent need to revisit and reconstruct the laws, regulations and rules by which PEMRA exists and functions. (iii) Elements that should shape amendments to the
The Commission recommends that in order to reflect a re-structured Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, new and alternative names are also considered for this Ministry. (i) The traditional association of the title : “Ministry of Information and Broadcasting” with the production of propaganda for the Government of-the-day is so strongly identified with a one-sided, power-centric dimension that it would be appropriate to consider alternative names. (ii) Further, the term “Broadcasting” has long become redundant because its original application was to the dissemination of radio content. Whereas with the advent of television, “telecasting” became the more accurate term to cover the
The Commission concludes that the Federal Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the four Provincial Departments of Information require substantive re-structuring by which:- i. certain departments and functions should be either abolished, or significantly reformed, in order to ensure that the continued functioning of this institutional framework does not impede or obstruct the fulfilment of rights guaranteed by Article 19; For instance, there should be horizontal de-centralization and decontrol in the selection of advertising agencies and selection of media for advertising by Government entities to replace the existing centralized system with a new accountable, monitored autonomy-based framework. ii. due consideration
The unprecedented relationship between information and the people symbolized by the emergence of the cell-phone as a compact hand-held device have converged a wide range of media and systems. These include the telephone, the camera, the computer, the satellite, the internet, battery-powered illumination, email, cinema, TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, social media such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. Such a phenomenon brings forth unparalleled challenges of change as well as an inescapable responsibility for the State. It is the State system alone which has the legitimacy and the locus stand to maintain vigilance for the protection of the public interest,
Prominent, quarter-page advertisements containing the text of the nine Terms of Reference of the Commission were published in all leading newspapers of Pakistan in Urdu, Sindhi and English. The advertisements invited members of the public and forums with a special interest in media policies and issues to provide their own views to benefit the Commission. Only a negligible number of responses were received which were entirely disproportionate to the circulation and readership of these leading newspapers. Is this lack of response an indicator of apathy and indifference on the part of the public about various aspects of the media in
The Commission is of the opinion that both print media and electronic media individually and through their representative bodies, as also advertisers need to conduct sober, self-critical introspection to review, reform and renew their respective roles and responsibilities. At the same time, both Federal and Provincial Legislatures, and Federal and Provincial Governments need to conduct a comprehensive review of media-related legislation, policies and rules to remove defects and to update them to contemporary conditions as also to prepare for a rapidly changing future. In the succeeding Section of this Report, the Commission has identified specific areas and precise measures that
Print Media e.g. Newspapers and magazines with easy conditions of entry for publishers and editors, without differentiation between authentic, credible print media and on the other, a large number of “dummy publications”. Both types enjoy high levels of freedom of expression and in many instances also receive substantial benefits from Government-controlled advertising, irrespective of whether a newspaper is a genuine newspaper with a credible level of circulation or it is a merely token, ceremonial publication whose circulation may not exceed 100 or 500 copies a day but, because of corrupt practices, receives larger volumes of Government-controlled advertising. Electronic Media In
1. Lack of adequate, comprehensive training in print journalism and in broadcast journalism before persons are given the opportunity to become reporters, anchors, news readers, content controllers, etc. 2. Advertisers virtually dictate prime time content preferences by using a narrow, relatively non-representative, heavily urban and consumption oriented rating system to pressurize channels into cut-throat competition and to a lowering of standards of content. 3. Excessive commercialism e.g. advertising messages superimposed on screens during unrelated content, prolonged mid-breaks etc. 4. Along with the “breaking news” race, hysteria, hype and trivialization. 5. Promotion of acrimony, conflict, grievance. 6. Fragmentation of audiences due
News about Media CommissionLAHORE: The participants of a ‘Roundtable Consultations on Supreme Court Media Commission Report’ critically reviewed nine major issues of mass media in Pakistani society in