PRA meets president: Running parliament joint responsibility of govt, opp, says Dr Alvi

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has said the running of parliament is the joint responsibility of the government and the opposition.

“Press Gallery is part of the Parliament and with the passage of time media is also passing through the process of evolution and media was facing the growing economic pressure,” he said in a meeting with the newly elected office bearers of Parliamentary Reporters Association (PRA) here at Presidency on Thursday.

The PRA Executive Committee comprising of its Patron in Chief Tahir Khalil, President Behzad Saleemi, Vice Presidnet Sohail Khan, Joint Secretary Ms Saima Malik, Finance Secretary Intizar Haidri, Information Secretary Ali Sher and memebrs of Governing Body Asim Yasin, Javedur Rehman, Nausheen Yousaf, Nadir Gurmani, Rana Ahmed Talal, Hafiz Abdul Majid, Akram Abid, Rizwan Dhiloon and Zahid Khawaja.

President Dr Arif Alvi said the media has to show more responsibility for the national unity as if the media will act more responsible the people will not give attention on the rumors aired on the social media. “The social media is getting prominence at a fast pace without any effective control, which sometimes gives space to fake news,” he said.

The president assured to play its role for the resolution of the issues of the working journalists and also to consider the proposal of formation of the task force for the resolution of the issues of the media industry.

He assured that he will consult on the proposal of formation of the Task Force on the issues of the Media Industry with Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan, Chairmen of Standing Committees on Information of Senate and National Assembly.

The president said the issues related to journalists could only be solve through effective legislation. “The issues of journalists with regard to the life insurance and medical insurances of the journalists could only be resolved through legislation,” he said.

President Dr Arif Alvi directed the Information Ministry the electronic media also be added in the laws related to Print media. He said the Media should give space to the news on the merit and focus to highlight the social issues and also to focus how these issues could be resolved. “The change comes in those societies where there is sense of responsibility,” he said.

The president said the news also comes through social media but there is no mechanism in the social media to check the credibility of the news. “The elections in the United States has proven that there were bad effects of social media in the elections,” he said.

He said the electronic media was facing problems due to taking a lead in the race of breaking news. “News about funds of dams was run on the electronic media and despite the clarification on it, the concerns of the people were not removed and the question still was being asked about the dam funds,” he said.