The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday directed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to submit a complete report on the legal protection provided to the journalists and media workers by the government by April 5, 2022, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

During the hearing of a petition filed by PFUJ, Chief Justice of the IHC Justice Athar Minallah asked the PEMRA to make sure that licensed TV channels did not resort to self-censorship. 

He, on the occasion, inquired from the counsel representing the PEMRA as to what steps the Authority had taken to ensure people’s access to information. “What steps has the Authority taken so far against the media organisations failing to pay salaries to their employees on time” he questioned. 

The IHC CJ also asked the counsel to name the guilty organisations. 

He made it clear to the PEMRA that doing business was not its job. “Instead your job is to ensure that the right to information is not infringed upon,” CJ Minallah said, adding that right now the court was under the impression that the PEMRA looked up to the media outlets as a mean of doing business.    

Speaking on the occasion, veteran journalist Hamid Mir said that some TV channels did not pay salaries to their staff on time. “If this is the case, then PEMRA should cancel licenses of these channels,” the CJ remarked, reminding the Authority was not meant to protect the businesses of these channels. “These channels have been given licenses just for the sake of people so that the latter not only get information but also entertainment,” he said. 

Hamid Mir told the court that there were laws concerning the payment of salaries to the media personnel, but the PEMRA had never implemented those. 

When CJ Minallah asked as to what criterion had been set for issuing a license to a news channel owner, PEMRA officials replied that the Authority did not issue more than four licenses to a single company. 

They said first of all it was checked whether the applicant was a defaulter of any financial institution. 

Apart from that, they added, public hearing was also held prior to the issuance of a license. If somebody had cable license, he was not entitled to a license for a TV channel. And it was after a long procedure that licenses were issued, they informed.

Reporter: Ihtesham Kiani