The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting on Tuesday directed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to strengthen its regulatory mechanism for more effective oversight of electronic media and asked the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to take up the issue of timely payment of salaries to media workers with media organisations.
The committee, which met at the PEMRA headquarters under the chairmanship of Pullain Baloch, MNA, received a detailed briefing on the performance of the regulator and its Councils of Complaints in fulfilling their regulatory mandate.
PEMRA Chairperson and the Executive Director General (Operations) briefed the committee on the authority’s mandate, organisational structure, composition of the PEMRA Authority and the Councils of Complaints.
The committee was informed that under the PEMRA Act, the authority had been mandated to facilitate and regulate electronic media. It was told that amendments made to the Act by Parliament in 2023 empowered PEMRA to hear complaints relating to the non-payment of salaries to electronic media workers. The committee was further informed that the amendments also strengthened the authority’s regulatory mechanism.
Officials also briefed the committee on the number of pending and disposed complaints before PEMRA and the Councils of Complaints.
During the briefing, the Executive Director General (Operations) informed the committee that the Councils of Complaints at the federal and provincial levels were empowered to decide complaints lodged before them and recommend their disposal to the PEMRA Authority through punitive, corrective or other appropriate measures.
The committee was informed that the Councils of Complaints for Islamabad and Balochistan had been notified, while summaries for the constitution of the councils for Punjab and Sindh had already been submitted and were awaiting approval from the competent authority.
The committee also called for strict implementation of the code of conduct governing television dramas and advertisements, saying that broadcasts should conform to social and religious norms.
It further asked the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to link the clearance of dues of media outlets with the timely payment of salaries to media workers.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar; committee members Saad Waseem, Nadeem Abbas, Asia Naz Tanoli, Romina Khurshid Alam, Kiran Haider, Shaheen, Sehar Kamran, Syed Amin Ul Haque, Rana Ansar, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri (via Zoom) and Kiran Imran Dar (via Zoom); the Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting; the PEMRA Chairperson; and other officials of the ministry and departments under it, as well as PEMRA.