The government and Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) have reached a consensus on all points for code of conduct for electronic media and soon a summary will be sent to the prime minister for their implementation.
The PBA played a responsible role in finalizing the code of conduct draft by attending the meetings held in this regard. Deliberations on every point and each word of code of conduct were thoroughly made in the meetings before a consensus could be reached.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Affairs Irfan Siddiqui said that by reaching a consensus on code of conduct for electronic media, a milestone had been reached. He further remarked that it took over 13 years for the first code of conduct to be finalized.
He said that the Prime Minister had constituted a committee comprising representatives of the PBA, APNS and CPNE for finalizing the code of conduct. However, the committee remained confined to the representatives of the PBA and the government, owing to a separate code of conduct for print media and in the presence of Pakistan Press Council.
The negotiations process remained suspended due to some difference of opinion between the two sides on some points at the initial stage. But the Supreme Court during hearing of a writ filed by journalists Hamid Mir and Absar Alam issued order to the government and the PBA on June 12 to sit together and complete the process for code of conduct.
The government and PBA resumed negotiations in light of the apex court’s directives and after several meetings reached a consensus.
