WASHINGTON: Pakistan has rejected a report of the Human Rights Watch concerning the proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority that claimed the establishment of the body was part of the government’s “crackdown on freedom of expression”.
In May, the government, in a bid to converge multiple media regulatory bodies and expand the ambit of regulation for digital media, proposed the formation of the authority — a move which met with fierce opposition from press freedom activists.
Representative media bodies — including the All Pakistan Newspapers Society, Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors, Pakistan Broadcasters Association and factions of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists — declared the proposed ordinance “an unconstitutional and draconian law”.
The New York-based rights body claimed that the proposed watchdog will replace the incumbent Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority in intensifying the “campaign of repression of the media” in the country.
Responding to the report, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s embassy in Washington said the claim was “factually incorrect” and that there was “no plan to introduce the regulatory body through an ordinance”, instead of a bill first tabled before the National Assembly, as feared.
In a letter addressed to Patricia Grossman, author of the report, Press Attaché Maliha Shahid regretted the former “did not even bother” to crosscheck the information with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
“Presently, over a half dozen outdated laws and set of rules are being implemented through multiple bodies to regulate media which do not match with the modern-day requirements of ‘converged media’,” Shahid recalled.
She observed there was a need to introduce holistic policy responses to the challenges of rampant fake news and disinformation targeting Pakistan, hate speech, abusive content, privacy issues, copyright violations in the emerging information communication technologies.
“Hence, as per global best practices, an independent regulatory body — Pakistan Media Development Authority — is under consideration for addressing challenges and requirements for convergent media environment of the 21st century to make Pakistan a major global centre for multimedia information and content services.”
The PMDA would ensure freedom, empowerment and development of media in Pakistan, she asserted.
“No criminal liability is being considered under the proposed media regulatory framework,” Shahid stressed, pointing out that the government has been discussing the proposed regulatory framework with all stakeholders for the past few months.
In this regard, a series of consultative meetings have been held with media owners, editors, working journalists, anchorpersons, press clubs, civil society etc., she said
Further, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry gave a detailed presentation to a joint meeting of Senate and National Assembly standing committees on information and broadcasting as well as to the federal cabinet, “which negates the story that the proposed bill is being kept secret”, she added.
