A new entity has been proposed, the Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA), which will be solely responsible to control film, electronic, print, TV, digital media in the country. Government officials say once PMDA is formulated, the government is likely to abolish all other media regulatory authorities.
Experts say the draft for the PMDA hints at mainly bringing the emerging branch of media “digital media” under the government’s watch, as previously established regularity authorities were not able to put chains on social media.
Many independent observers claim that Pakistani politics is moving toward ‘authoritarianism’ after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) took power in the country, with the government being accused by the opposition parties of being selected rather than elected.
Critics say the PMDA is a step towards totalitarianism where people are deprived of their basic rights including freedom of speech and from raising voices over rights violations such as incidents of forced disappearance. They warn this could have disastrous consequences.
Observers note the repeated claims of how the country is dealing with fifth generation warfare, with social media being the biggest weapon in this war. They warn the new media authority could be used to accomplish some hidden agendas under the guise of national security.
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has been used to put off air some of the known journalists. Recently, prominent journalist and anchorperson Hamid Mir has been taken off the air just days after he spoke out against the country’s military at a protest against an attack on another journalist.
Mir said he has been informed he will not be hosting ‘Capital Talk’ on Geo News. “I’ve only been told by Geo management that I won’t be hosting the show,” Mir said. “They said there is a lot of pressure [after the statements at the protest]. They did not say who it is coming from.”
Analysts also say the PMDA could be used as a tool against political opponents. They point to the case of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif who is residing in UK these days after being ousted from the power corridors and sent to jailed after conviction, later he managed to get bail on medical grounds and went to London for treatment. The government decided to put a ban on his speeches on the mainstream media, but failed to put a full stop on the digital media due to lack of legislation and authority in the hands of the government.
Sources say this bill will provide insight of the digital media organisations to government to keep a check on the income of these organisations generated through online advertisements.
Opposition parties also criticised the PTI-led government for suggesting the establishing of the PMDA through an executive ordinance instead of discussing and voting on it in the parliament. While the authenticity of the document is undetermined — Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary claimed it was fake — officials confirm that the government planned to replace all individual media regulatory bodies with one centralized authority that regulates print, electronic, and digital media together.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has rejected the Media Development Authority Bill, 2021 calling it a bid to curb freedom of speech in Pakistan. Condemning “the motives” behind the bill, PPP Vice President Sherry Rehman said the government wanted to pressurize media through the ordinance, which her party would fully oppose. “It is a double standard of the government to prepare the said ordinance after passing of the Journalist Protection Bill,” she said adding that the international organisations had also expressed their concern over the censorship in Pakistan.
The current regulatory mechanism in Pakistan is composed of several bodies and directives, mainly including print and electronic media regulation. PEMRA, established through a presidential ordinance in 2002, regulates private electronic media. Press Council of Pakistan, the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), and the press registrar regulate the print media. In contrast, digital media regulation is limited to cybercrime laws implemented by the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA).
Observers note the repeated claims of how the country is dealing with fifth generation warfare, with social media being the biggest weapon in this war. They warn the new media authority could be used to accomplish some hidden agendas under the guise of national security.
Analysts point out that the Pashtuns and Balochs are the most neglected communities in the country and they often use digital media to reach out to international community and human rights organisations to bring into notice of the world community the tyranny they often face on the name of ‘national security’.
“It is the political fault lines around ethnic Pashtun… that arguably worry the Pakistani state the most,” notes analyst Michael Kugelman, the Deputy Director of the Asia Program and Senior Associate for South Asia at the Wilson Center.
“Pakistani officials have long feared the specter of Pashtun nationalism growing into a separatist movement, and of efforts—possibly sponsored by Afghanistan, where Pashtuns have been the country’s dominant ethnolinguistic group since the Afghan state was founded—to unite Pashtuns on both sides of the disputed border.”
There is a growing fear among the marginalised communities that the PMDA could be used to silence those demanding their rights and freedom of speech in the country. While the PTI government believes the proposed media regulatory ordinance could improve the media regulatory structure in Pakistan, civil society views it as an attempt to suppress the media.
In order to address criticism of the PMDA ordinance, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has constituted a committee to liaise with relevant stakeholders. Observers say even considering qualification of the ordinance through an executive order is antithetical to democratic norms, and is bound to generate severe resistance from media houses and opposition parties.
Analysts say that while disinformation and harmful content on social media remain key concerns globally, there are no easy methods to regulate cyberspace. Regulating digital content and finding a consensus on regulatory standards that avoid violating constitutional freedoms is a complex undertaking.
