PM urges media to show responsibility
By Saad Saud

ISLAMABAD—The Caretaker Prime Minister Soomro said that the challenges of misperception within and outside the country need to be addressed at the earliest and the media focus be turned to improving the political atmosphere leading up to the forthcoming general elections. The Prime Minister was chairing a high level meeting to review the media related issues and the role of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting here at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat on Saturday.
The Prime Minister said the government believes in the freedom of a responsible media and would take all necessary measures to ensure conducive conditions for the smooth functioning of the media. “The media”, he said, “has an important role to play in dissemination of information and in educating the masses on issues of national importance.” The role of the media would be significant during the upcoming elections and it has to discharge its obligations with responsibility, he added.
Mohammadmian Soomro said that the community participation in media needs to be increased particularly on issues of concern to the people. The views of people on national issues particularly the problems of terrorism have to be shared through different means of communication.
While commenting on the prevailing government media relations, the Prime Minister said that government sincerely desires to accommodate the concerns of all the stakeholders nevertheless it has to be realized that no institution in any state of the world is left un-regulated. A balance has to be maintained he said in the best interest of the society.
The Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to accord priority to the process of consultation with the representative bodies of the media and finalize mutual understanding on the code of conduct for the regulation of media , as per law. The PM said that the present caretaker government as specific objectives and tenure and all efforts should be focused on the ultimate end of ensuring free, fair and transparent elections.
All the government organizations and departments he said will have to coordinate and speed up the peace of the work accordingly. The Minister for Information and Broadcasting Nisar. A Memon apprised the meeting of the outlines of proposed publicity efforts to be undertaken by the Ministry for ensuring free media coverage of the general elections. The meeting was informed by the concerned officials that the process of consultation and dialogue with all the representatives bodies of the media on the code of ethics/conduct are continuing satisfactorily and the understanding being developed is encouraging.
The code of conduct it was mentioned was prepared in accordance with the internationally accepted norms in the field and after detailed interaction with all the stakeholders. The meeting was informed that the print media is functioning in complete freedom while the electronics media is regulated according to the PEMRA laws.