ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was introduced in National Assembly Session.
Speaking on the bill, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb said new amendments have been introduced in the bill to enhance the credibility of the news content and curbing disinformation as well as misinformation.
She said the definition of fake news has been made part of the bill to ensure objectivity and further said that media organisations have also been given representation in the bill.
The government had revealed plans for introducing the changes last year, where the minister had said that amendments would be made to the PEMRA laws to curb fake news.
The decision was made during a meeting of the information minister with a delegation of the media’s Joint Action Committee (JAC) in April 2022. The forum had reached a consensus that fake news damages national security interests and societal cohesion.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will not compromise on the freedom of expression,” she had said. “The prime minister wants to promote this constitutional and civil right as the death of journalism is the death of politics and democracy.”
She had said, “For four years, the people, politics and journalism have been derailed. During this time, attempts were made to snatch the ‘freedom of the nation’.”
The information minister had added that “black laws” such as the Peca Ordinance and Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) conspired to enslave 220 million people.
“The media was financially destroyed in four years like the country’s economy,” she lamented. “Journalists are aware of the economic catastrophe. They want to repair the damage done to them as soon as possible.”
