ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said on Thursday that the accountability of media should be part of the reform agenda.
Journalism in Pakistan was mainly controlled by media tycoons, the minister said in a tweet.
Fawad said that most of the big media houses did not even dare to publish the advertisement data issued by the government yesterday.
He said that in the name of freedom of expression, “blackmailing forts” have been built which must be demolished.
ہماری صحافت پر بنیادی طور پر میڈیا سیٹھوں کا کنٹرول ہے پڑے گروپس نے کل اشتہارات کا ڈیٹا چھاپنے کی جراࣿت تک نہیں کی، میڈیا کی آزادی کے نام پر بلیک میلنگ کے قلعے تعمیر ہو گئے ہیں جن کو مسمار کرنا پاکستان کیلئے لازم ہے، سیاسی اصلاحات کے ایجنڈے میں میڈیا کا احتساب لازمی ہونا چاہئے
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) November 25, 2021
Earlier, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry congratulated “working journalists” on the Senate’s approval of the Journalist Protection Act.
“Congratulations to working journalists. Today, the Journalist Protection Act was also passed by the Senate,” said Fawad. Journalists in Pakistan for the “first time” will enjoy rights that they only got in developed societies, he claimed.
The minister said that the law was an indication of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government’s commitment to free media.
Fawad also thanked Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari for working hard to put his idea into practice.
Read more: NA unanimously passes Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Bill
Salient features of the bill
The bill is called the “Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act 2021” and covers the whole of Pakistan.
The bill explains the difference between a journalist and a non-journalist, media professional and a media owner.
The bill puts the onus on the government to ensure that media workers’ “right to life and protection against ill-treatment” is guaranteed as per Article 9 of the Constitution.
Apart from this, the bill will also make it liable on the government to “ensure that existing or future counter-terrorism or national security laws are not utilised arbitrarily to hinder the work and safety of journalists and media professionals”. This clause has been added to put an end to “arbitrary arrest, detention, or threats” so that the media can operate with “independence, impartiality and freedom”.
Read more: Rana Shamim’s affidavit discussed in National Assembly
To ensure this, the bill empowers the government to establish an “Independent Commission for the Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals”.
The commission has been authorised to report “any institution or organisation” that is “directly or indirectly” involved in violating the rights of journalists to the federal government. The commission can also suggest to the federal government an “appropriate course of action” against the people involved in violating those rights.
The bill will also ensure the “right to privacy and non-disclosure of sources” of journalists. The clause also bars any person, officer, agency or institution from interfering with their “home, correspondence, and family”.
Apart from holding the government accountable the law also requires journalists to follow “good faith obligation”.
Read more: Political parties, press clubs across Pakistan condemn PEMRA’s ban on Bol News
“All journalists and media professionals must respect the rights or reputations of others and not produce material that advocates national, racial, ethnic, religious, sectarian, linguistic, cultural or gender-based hatred, which may constitute incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence,” says the bill.
The bill also makes it liable on the “journalists and media professionals” to not engage in the “dissemination of material” that is “false or untrue”.
“The journalists who fail to fulfill obligations in sub-section (1) and (2) will be tried in accordance with the relevant laws,” says the bill.
