The Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage (MoIBNH) has dismissed any rumours alleging the preparation of a print media regulatory authority in a notification issued on Monday. The calls all news being published or aired pertaining to this false. The Chairman of Press Council of Pakistan (PCP), Dr. Salah-ud-Din Mengal, informed the Secretary of MoIBNH, Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera, that the regulation for a draft Pakistan Print Media Regulatory Authority, 2017 was initiated during a meeting held by MoIBNH on March 3, 2017 but nothing formal or concrete came out of it. The Minister of State clarified that she had only advised the Chairman of PCP to facilitate the media industry, and hence, proposed that regulatory functions that are now spread across various departments like the Press Registrar’s Office, Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) etc. may be merged with PCP to enable a one-window operation. The notification then goes on to express the ministry’s disappointment and states that the “aforementioned situation has caused embarrassment to the Ministry by creating an impression that the Ministry was trying to tighten in any way the existing regulatory framework for the print media.” It also said the government is committed to upholding the freedoms laid down in the Constitution, referring to the recently passed Right of Access to Information Bill, 2017 as proof.