Daily Times

President Arif Alvi indicated displeasure and referred to Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) over the content aired on December 3, in the program ‘7 se 8’  by the Samaa television.

A current affair show of Samaa television named ‘7 se 8’ had telecasted an interview of sexually harassed children on December 3, where the interviewer probed from the sexually abused children before numerous individuals.

As it breached the Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) rule number 5, under the policy of ‘Coverage of incidents of accidents, violence and crime’

“Extreme caution shall be exercised in handling themes, plots or scenes that depict sex offense”

At first, when the show initially broadcasted it didn’t go under any institution’s notification, peak broke when the Samaa television broadcast it again on December 4.

Then, President Arif Alvi took the little blogging site at 9:58 pm and outlined his disappointment over the substance, and more on broadcasting it over and over.

“Disgusting: A TV channel broadcast a show where the anchor interviewed sexually abused children in front of a huge crowd, and then broadcasted it for the world to see them. Do not they care about the psychological impact & social ostracism or ridicule these flowers will face?” The president wrote on Twitter.

Consequently, on the very time, the users went to say “the president authority is with you, why you complain like of us, sir”, then after a gap of 5 minutes, the president made another tweet where he stated that he has told the chairman PEMRA to look after the issue.

In the interim, PEMRA has sent a notice to Samaa television and ordered to portray its position within seven days otherwise it leads to negative consequences.

Meanwhile, there is no tangible method present in the country to keep in mind while acquiring a sexually abused child.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
In any case, in the United States, an organization — National Institute of Child Health and Human Development held significant research on it, over the topic that what is the most ideal approach to probe form such a kid, that it would not hurt their psyche.

The research stated three steps which are as follows:

1. Introductory
At the beginning of the conversation, the child and the interviewer discuss expectations and set ground rules: this is the introductory phase.

2. Rapport-building
Interviewers then ask children to talk about events unrelated to the suspected abuse; the idea is to encourage the child to be comfortable leading the conversation by developing this rapport.

3. Substantive or free recall
Later, interviewers encourage children to recall the target incident and talk about it in a narrative stream, as opposed to answering directed questions about it, one after another. Evidence indicates open-ended prompts draw out more accurate information than ones that simply elicit a child’s recognition. The techniques discourage suggestive leads or questions with yes/no or either/or answers: “Where were his clothes?” for example, is preferred over, “Were his clothes on the floor?”