LHC suspends Pemra notification regarding TV anchors

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday barred the implementation of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority’s (Pemra) notification preventing television anchors from giving their opinions during talk shows and limiting their role to being moderators.

A petition filed against the Pemra’s notification was heard by Justice Shahid Waheed on Wednesday. The information ministry and the Pemra were named respondents in the application which maintained that the regulatory body’s instruction was in violation of Article 19.

The petitioner pleaded the court to suspend the regulatory authority’s order until a final decision by the judiciary. The LHC banned the notification and sent notices to all the respondents to submit their replies on the matter.

In its notification issued last week, the authority said as per Pemra code of conduct the role of anchors is to moderate programs in an objective, unbiased and impartial manner, excluding themselves from the personal opinions, biases and judgments on any issue. Therefore anchors hosting regular shows should not appear in TV shows whether own or other channels as subject matter experts.