By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting was held in Parliament House on Wednesday with Senator Faisal Javed in Chair.
At the start, Officials of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting briefed the Committee about “Digital Radio Migration” project. The project is designed to convert the Radio from analog technology to digital technology and it will cost around 3.5 Billion Rupees, ministry added. The project will helps in making radio greener, clearer and bigger and it will also prove fruitful in increasing the revenue of the Radio.
The Committee also discussed the issue raised by ARY News regarding blockage of transmission. Chairman PEMRA Muhammad Saleem Baig told the Committee that PEMRA has not given order of any sort regarding any News Channel. He further asked the ARY spokesperson to provide information of areas where transmission had been blocked and names of cable operators of that particular area, so that the authority could take legal action against the responsible ones.
The Chairman Committee inquired the Ministry about the steps taken to curb the menace of fake news. He was of opinion that there is no need to make new laws but to strengthen the existing laws and regulatory authorities in this regard. The Committee also discussed the authenticity of list prevailing on the social media regarding the Prime Minister of Pakistan visit to Saudia Arabia. The Chair directed the ministry to provide details of PM visits to different countries from 2018 to onwards, in order to differentiate the expenses of visits of former and current PM.
The officials of Internal Publicity wing (IP wing) briefed the Committee about the structure, programming and working of IP wing. IP wing is part of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and its major functions is to formulate, update policies, laws, rules and regulatory framework concerning print, electronic and digital media, they added. It provides coordination with media bodies like APNS, CPNE, PFUJ and financial assistance to journalists, press clubs and news agencies. Senator Aon Abbas Buppi asked the officials to provide the details of persons, who have received financial assistance so far.
The meeting was attended by Senator Aon Abbas Buppi, Senator Muhammad Tahir Bizinjo, Senator Irfan ul Haque Siddiqui, Maryam Aurangzaib Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Chairman PEMRA Muhammad Saleem Baig and other senior officers of ministry as well.
