To get the stance of PEMRA on this issue, PKKH contacted an official in PEMRA. He explained a few things on the condition of anonymity. According to him, whenever they take action against any of the powerful media groups, PEMRA is pressurized through the Information Ministry to stop such actions. He added that as a regulating authority, PEMRA should fall under the Cabinet, and the Chairman of PEMRA should directly report to the President of Pakistan; but that is not the case. PEMRA is under the control of the Information Ministry, which can be easily pressurized by the Government or other political groups.
According to the official, if we take action, we are pressurized by the media groups though the Information Ministry; and if we do not take action, we are pressurized by the courts. But in the few cases where PEMRA managed to take action against a few media groups, the groups approached the courts and the courts favored the media groups in those cases.
PEMRA cancelled the license of AJ TV’s entertainment channel that was not aired in the allowed time of three years. The AJ TV management approached the courts against PEMRA, and the court restored the channel. Similarly, according to the rules of PEMRA, one media group in Pakistan can own four STV (Satellite Television Channel) licenses, four FM Radio licenses and two licenses for landing rights. When PEMRA took action against GEO Super that was having landing rights license but started working as STV channel, GEO group also approached the court, and the court allowed them to have five STV channels against the four STV channels rule of PEMRA.
So what do the people want in all this musical chair show between Media Groups, PEMRA, the Government and the Courts?
Whenever a discussion is initiated on the lines that Pakistani Media require scrutinizing, most of the journalists and media groups start the anti-rhetoric of the freedom of the press. No one in Pakistan is against the freedom of the press, but freedom of the press does not mean freedom to attack the ideology of Pakistan; it does not mean criticizing the ideology of Islam and permission to confuse the people of Pakistan upon different Islamic issues; It does not mean that in the name of freedom of the press, the media can get a license to air obscene material on their channels in the name of entertainment. It does not mean that TV channel owners can get amounts from other countries to serve their interests in Pakistan. But here, the channels are free to do anything in the name of freedom of the press, only PEMRA is not free to take action against that so-called freedom.
