ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) Judge Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddique has sought a comprehensive report on the content telecast on various TV channels.
The case adjourned till the next week.
A single-member bench heard the contempt of court case against the NAB chairman in Islamabad on Friday.
The court, during the hearing, remarked the Indian content are being telecast on various TV channels and there is no check and balance over it. The IHC judge said all TV channels are equally involved in the crime.
He remarked our cultural values and traditions are being destroyed and no one has concerned other than celebrating ‘Valentine Day’. The court sought a comprehensive report from PEMRA.
17 NEWS CHANNELS FINED:
Meanwhile, PEMRA has fined 17 news channels for airing fake news on April 16, 2018, that Lahore High Court had imposed the ban on airing speeches of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.
Fine of Rs 1 million each has been imposed on channels including Royal News, Din News, Channel- 92, Dunya TV, Channel-5, AAJ TV, Express News, Roze TV, Samaa TV, Dawn News, ARY News, Waqt TV, Bol News, KTN News, Koh-e-Noor TV, Geo News, whereas, fine of Rs. 200,000 has been imposed on Mashriq TV for airing a ticker.
PEMRA had issued show cause notices to the 17 channels on April 19, directing channel management to file written reply as well as appear for personal hearing on April 24.After hearing the representatives of the channels and examining the subsequent written replies, it was found that the channels had violated PEMRA Laws, Electronic Media (Programmes and Advertisements) Code of Conduct, 2015 and ignored an advice issued by the Authority on April 6, 2018, on similar subject.
Moreover, all the channels have also been directed to air apology during prime time on May 6, 2018, for airing fake/false news and to deploy and/or properly utilize time-delay mechanism.
All these channels have further been directed to constitute In-House Editorial Committees in order to ensure effective gate-keeping on its content and ensure compliance with Code of Conduct.
In case of non-compliance with the decision, the Authority shall proceed against the channels for suspension/ revocation of the license under Section 30 of PEMRA Ordinance 2002 as amended by PEMRA (Amendment) Act 2007.
