PBA condemns govt excesses against media outlets

KARACHI: Pakistan Broadcasting Association (PBA) on Tuesday condemned government actions against some media houses.

The PBA in a statement said that the actions taken by the government included advertisement bans, getting Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to issue a series of show-cause notices to numerous TV channels, imposing illegitimate claims of billions of rupees on the channels under the illegal pretext of Gross Annual Revenue (GAR) dues, and banning government spokespersons to appear on certain channels.

The PBA said that all such steps were aimed at controlling editorial content, freedom of speech and depriving the citizens of Pakistan of their right to know. It said that the actions were in violation of Articles 19 and 19A of the Constitution. Condemning the actions, the PBA vowed to fight all such moves against freedom of speech and against the citizens' right to freedom of information from a free media.