The BCCI ombudsman Justice AP Shah has dismissed allegations of conflict of interest against the board’s media manager Nishant Arora. Shah said the charges against Arora, leveled by freelance journalist Neeraj Gunde, “cannot be an issue of consideration.”Gunde had written to Shah last month alleging that Arora and his wife were involved in a commercial venture called Final Score that has on its clients list senior Indian cricketers Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh, as well as the the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Assocation, where BCCI secretary Anuraj Thakur is the president. Shah, however, said that Gunde’s application had been “disposed of”.
An email sent to PTI from the Ombudsman’s office stated that “Mr Arora’s wife does not hold any directorial post at Final Score.”
“It appears that all shares owned by Mr Arora, his wife and his mother, in Final Score, were liquidated on December 2015, before this application was made by the Ombudsman.
“The applicant Mr Gunde was offered an opportunity to respond to Mr Arora’s reply but no further response was received. It is evident that Mr Arora’s claims are not contradicted. The application no longer stands, and is, therefore disposed of.”
Strengthening Pemra
Pemra’s recent decision (http://www.thenews.com.pk/print/102038-Pemra-empowers-its-chief-to-shut-down-any-channel) to suspend transmission of TV channels if they are found to be violating the code of conduct – issued by the regulator – is a much needed step and in the right direction too.
The industry regulator has earned some credibility in recent weeks after noted journalist Absar Alam took the reins. For instance, since taking charge Absar Alam has taken notice of the absence of time-delay mechanism and content violation several times and has imposed fined as well on the cases pending from months.
ARY News has been fined many times for violation of code of conduct in its current affairs programmes and news bulletins.
How many times does a channel need to be reminded of its responsibility to adhere to the ethical and social values of the society. Earlier, it was Mubasher Luqman who dragged ARY into court for contempt and now Dr Danish and Shahid Masood have been fined for violation.
It is high time that Pemra should impose harsh punishments on the channels and suspends transmission if this offence is repeated. Simple advisories by the government are not doing anything good in – fact the media industry thinks it is just a matter of routine and ignores it.
Broadcast media in Pakistan is no more at the stage of infancy, it must express maturity. Journalists also need to enforce strict editorial mechanisms within their organizations so that the interests of society are well served.
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