Mamnoon stresses responsible role for Pak media

ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain Thursday said that with unprecedented proliferation of media in Pakistan, its role has become very important, particularly due to its potential to impact norms and culture of the society.
Talking to Acting Chairman of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), Pervaiz Rathore at the Aiwan-e Sadr, the president appreciated Rathore on bringing out the consolidated Pemra report.
Pemra Acting Chairman Pervaiz Rathore presented Pemra report for the years 2010-14 to the president.PPI adds: Presenting the report, Pemra’s acting chairman said that Section 17 of Pemra (Amendment) Act 2007 ordained compilation and submission of an annual report for each financial year to the president and to arrange for its publication and circulation to the media and public.
He said that departing from normal practice, this report was a consolidated review of Authority’s performance during the financial years 2010-14. Though, he said, the report had been delayed for four years due to frequent changes in Pemra.
“We are striving to make it a regular annual feature to keep abreast all our valued stakeholders of regulatory initiatives and their micro and macro economic impact on national landscape,” the chairman stated.
He further said that this was the first ever Pemra report which would give its reader the insight about financial position of Pemra. The previous Pemra report never contained depiction of books of accounts which was the distinct feature of this report.
The consolidated report that has been made public reveals that Pemra has so far issued 91 licences for indigenous satellite TV. Of these, 50 licences are of entertainment category, 35 news and current affairs, 4 educational TV, 1 Health and 1 Agro TV channel licence. Besides, 26 Landing rights permissions have been issued to offshore channels. Similarly, 3,600 cable TV, 6 MMDS, 1 IPTV, 4 Mobile TV and 2 mobile audio licences have been issued by Pemra which are contributing remarkably as catalyst of socio-political change in the society.
The report states that new vistas have opened up for investment and employment in the broadcast sector. To a safer estimate, this buoyant sector has observed cumulative investment of about US $3 billion in distinct forms and has created employment for more than 200,000 people of diversified qualification and skills.
If this brisk continues, it is estimated that the cumulative investment would touch US $4 billion mark by the end of the financial year 2016.Thus the direct and indirect employment would tend to multiply. This has paved way for opportunities in allied businesses like production houses, advertising agencies, music and performing arts that has never witnessed before.
On operational account, Pemra report says that illegal up-linking by three channels was stopped. Pemra raided more than 21,000 cable TV operators during the period and 2,803 systems were seized. Penalties worth millions were imposed on TV, Radio and cable operators. Nearly 100 foreign channels of various types being run illegally on cable networks were closed and notably 6 illegal FM radio stations preaching hate and extremism were shut down.
It has been concluded that the electronic media today has emerged as one of the fastest growing and competitive sectors in Pakistan. It is presumed that this report will provide insight to readers about Pemra’s performance, initiatives, regulatory challenges and emerging trends and technologies in the field of electronic media in Pakistan.