The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting on Friday approved the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which had been tabled in the Lower House a day earlier.
According to a statement, the committee described the bill a historic initiative for the welfare of journalists and appreciated the efforts of all stakeholders, including the government, in this regard. Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb briefed the committee on the aims and objectives of the bill, saying it was necessary to amend the PEMRA law because it had not kept pace with shifting media landscape in the era of social media.
Stressing that the PEMRA ordinance promulgated in 2002 was being amended for the first time, she explained that nine clauses had been amended, while five had been added. Under the amended law, she said, media workers had the right to file complaints against their employers before the council of complaints, especially if they were persistently not paid salaries. The preamble of the PEMRA law also now includes a mandate to ensure timely payment of salaries to media workers.
According to Aurangzeb, the amended bill defines “timely payment” of salaries to be within two months. She also noted that federal and provincial government advertisements would not be given to electronic media houses that did not pay salaries on time.
The new bill has also called for the establishment of a three-member committee to determine whether channels should be shuttered in case of violations; earlier, the PEMRA chairman was the sole authority in this regard. The media has representation in the operations of PEMRA now, claimed the minister, adding both the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) would have non-voting members in PEMRA.
During her briefing, Aurangzeb lamented that the former government had tried to push through the Pakistan Media Development Authority, with ostensibly similar aims, but in actuality focused on silencing dissent. She claimed this law avoided that and the ruling coalition had taken 13 months to prepare it after extensive consultations with all stakeholders, including media workers’ organizations and owners of media houses.
The new law has also delineated the definitions of fake news, disinformation, and misinformation. It defines disinformation as verifiably false, misleading, manipulated, created or fabricated information that is disseminated, or shared, with the intention to cause harm to the reputation of, or to harass, any person for political, personal, or financial interest or gains without making an effort to get other person’s point of view or not giving it proper coverage and space. By contrast, misinformation has been defined as verifiable false content or information that is unintentionally disseminated or shared. The new law includes a bar on broadcasting “disinformation” in the news channels’ code of conduct.
According to Aurangzeb, the fine for deliberately spreading false news had been increased from Rs. 1 million to Rs. 10 million under the new law. It also calls for holding to account channels that broadcast fake news, noting earlier the licensees avoided penalties by claiming reports were filed by journalists in their personal capacity.
The minister also said the amended law called for broadcast media licenses to be issued for 20 years and distribution licenses for 10 years.
Controversy over bill
While Aurangzeb maintained the law had no aims of censorship and was specifically tackling fake news, misinformation and disinformation, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) issued a statement warning it could be used as an attempt to silence journalists.
“The HRCP is concerned that the proposed PEMRA Amendment Act 2022 has assigned the regulator the role of disseminating what it terms ‘authentic’ news in a bid to curb disinformation,” it said. “While any responsible journalist is honor-bound to eschew false information intended to deliberately create harm, we are concerned that the given definition of ‘disinformation’ in this bill strays into censorship territory and may allow powerful groups or individuals to stonewall journalists seeking both sides of a story,” it said, adding this violates Article 19 of the Constitution protecting freedom of expression.
“While the bill takes an important step in protecting electronic media workers’ salaries—a longstanding demand of media trade unions and rights activists—it should be reviewed to ensure that media practitioners’ salaries are paid within 30 rather than 60 days, in keeping with labor laws,” it added.