PEMRA holds consultative meeting to set parameters of ‘obscenity’

A consultative meeting to deliberate upon parameters of “obscenity” for the electronic media was held at the PEMRA Headquarters Islamabad on Monday.
The meeting was attended by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Ansar Abbassi, Muhammad Hussain Mehanti, Lt Gen (r) Abdul Qayyum, Oriya Maqbool Jan, Javed Jabbar, Mehdi Hassan, Muhammad Ziauddin, Mazhar Abbass, Kamran Khawaja and representatives of the Pakistan Advertisers Society (PAS), United Producers Association and PEMRA officials.
The PEMRA chairman briefed the participants about various terminologies, connotations and expression used to define obscenity in different countries. Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Mehanti, Qayum and Abbassi were of the view that Pakistan was created in the name of Islam and its constitution clearly envisaged that there could be nothing against Quran, Sunnah and Shariah.
Qazi referred to surahs of the holy Quran and some explicit clauses of Indecent Advertisement Act of 1963 which interpreted vulgarity.
They specifically criticized news channels for spreading vulgarity in the guise of entertainment news. They objected showing vulgar dances and songs in every headline. The reenactment and dramatization of crimes was also severely criticized by the participants. They unanimously recommended referring the matter to the Council of Islamic Ideology and parliament to define “obscenity and vulgarity”. However, they also praised the work done by PEMRA in this regard and demanded immediate closing of all illegal channels.
They said, “Any content which is unacceptable while viewing with the family transpires obscenity.” They also recommended forming a committee to screen out unwanted content from TV advertisements as well as regulating the rating of TV channels.
Javed Jabbar and Mehdi Hassan on the other hand defended that the media was not all about vulgarity. They were of the view that there might be 10 percent of the total content objectionable but the rest was fine.
They said technological advancements and cultural dynamism could not be enslaved in a rigid canvas. They were of the view that cultural ethos varied from time to time. Jabbar opposed involving the Council of Islamic Ideology in defining obscenity.
Hassan said if something was undesirable to watch, everybody had the option to switch the channel. “It would be wrong to hamper technological advancements instead of grooming and training our offspring. We absolve our responsibility by not teaching them good or bad and then shed our responsibility by putting iron curtains on media.”
He said obscenity could not be confined only to ill dressed models on TV channels but to him child labour, injustice to minorities, social imbalance, poverty, hunger and disloyal politicians are also obscene. Why the custodians of morality do not account for these issues?
Ziauddin, the veteran journalist, strongly endorsed the viewpoint of Jabbar and Hassan. He, however, proposed appointing an ombudsman for every media institution to ensure accountability.
Sameena Ahmed from the United Producers Association and Aly Mustansir from the Pakistan Advertisers Society said vulgarity was a relative term and could not be invoked by a select group of people.
They proposed taking input from the entire society on the issue. They were of the view that they reflect public aspirations in their programs/advertisements and a thorough research is conducted before launching any content. They denied that the advertisements and dramas produced by them contravenes to the Islamic values. They however, agreed to comply with the Code if it is unanimously accepted and adopted.
Mazhar Abbass disagreed with the hardcore and rigid opinions of censoring media by blaming it vulgar. He suggested formulating an independent commission with no involvement of stakeholder in order to deal with the media violation issues.
The participants, however, unanimously agreed and suggested PEMRA invoke its laws across the board and desired zero tolerance for violation of PEMRA laws particularly the illegal channels and illegal content.
The PEMRA chairman thanked participants for sparing valuable time for this consensual and national cause and ensured that all possible measures would be taken within the ambit of PEMRA laws to curb violations. The next meeting on the subject was proposed in the mid of September whereby the owners of TV channels and cable operators would also be involved in this constructive consultation process.