SC seeks report on implementation of Media Commission recommendations

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday directed the government to submit within ten days, a comprehensive report pertaining to the implementation of the recommendations of Media Commission as well as action taken on the Terms of Reference (TORs) set by the Commission.
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and comprising Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Qazi Faez Isa heard the Media Commission recommendations implementation case.
The court directed the government to inform as to what steps had been taken so far for the implementation of recommendations of the Media Commission given in its report some more than two years back.
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Additional Secretary Miss Saba Mohsin Raza, petitioners Absar Alam, Hamid Mir and Deputy Attorney General Aamir Rehman appeared before the court.
The court observed that some limited progress appeared to have been made including formulating Code of Conduct for media while the issue relating to secret
funds had also been addressed.
The court, however, noted in its order that there were other issues relating to the circulation of newspapers, Accuracy Balance Credibility (ABC) certification and rating of electronic media which were still not addressed.
Earlier, during the course of hearing, Chief Justice Jawwad S Khawaja observed that nothing had been done so far in 26 months for the implementation of the Media Commission recommendations.
The chief justice asked Ms Saba Mohsin Raza to simply tell the court that it could be done in 15 to 20 years.
Saba Mohsin however, submitted before the court that a system was being developed for the certification of newspapers and addressing the
issue of ABC certified newspapers.
Similarly, she while replying to court’s query regarding ratings of news channels submitted that Directorate of Electronic Media and Publication had been established in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting wherein ratings of TC channels would be determined.
Absar Alam, a petitioner submitted before the court that the government was not dealing with the ratings of news channels but most of the advertising companies in collaboration with the media owners set the ratings.
Replying to another question, the additional secretary said that viewership of state-run television was across the country, however, she said that Geo News is most watched among the private TV channels.
During the hearing, Deputy Attorney General Aamir Rehman in a light tone while expressing his reservation said that due to a lot of advertisements being aired on TV channels and especially during cricket match, sometime they missed the sixth ball in an over.
Hamid Mir, the petitioner also said that earlier advertisements were run for 10 to 12 minutes during an interval of any programme but now some of the channels ran advertisements for 20 to 25 minutes and also in talk shows.
Meanwhile, the court directed the government to submit within ten days, a comprehensive report pertaining to the implementation of recommendations of Media Commission as well as acting upon
on the Terms of Reference (TORs) set by the Commi-
ssion and adjourned the hearing.