With additional reporting by Abdullah Masood. Urdu version of the story here
The Senate approved on Wednesday the contentious Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023, with last-minute modifications. The legislation had been withdrawn by the coalition government earlier this week following a wave of concerns and objections from journalists and organisations representing media workers.
The bill, which was retracted on Monday, received strong objections from senior journalists, including Hamid Mir, Amir Mateen, and Mohammad Malick. They raised concerns that the legislation was aimed at exercising formulated control over media through some of its provisions. Journalist Asma Shirazi had also questioned the language used in the legislation, pointing out its ambiguity and potential for broad interpretations.
The last-minute changes to the bill include granting parliament the authority to appoint the PEMRA chairperson and replacing the term “salaries” with “dues”. The legislation was prepared to protect the rights of media workers and lay foundation for a responsible media, according to an earlier statement by Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb.
Since its approval, the PEMRA amendment bill has attracted widespread coverage as well as scrutiny for provisions concerning payments made to media workers, TV censorship, and mis/disinformation. At the time of its approval, the government had claimed the bill incorporated a “complete mechanism” to differentiate between misinformation and disinformation.
The original version of the amended PEMRA bill was passed by the National Assembly on 3rd August, 2023. However, it immediately became a flashpoint for contention and debate between the government, journalists, and rights defenders primarily due to its provisions related to misinformation and disinformation.
According to the bill, disinformation refers to “verifiably false, misleading, manipulated, created or fabricated information which 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 obtain other person’s point of view or not giving it proper coverage and space but does not include misinformation”.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) had expressed concern that the proposed amended bill might allow PEMRA the powers to exercise more censorship under the guise of upholding what the regulator terms “authentic” news.
“While any responsible journalist is honour-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,” the commission stated.
Some media professionals have expressed concern that the legislation will have serious implications on electoral reporting.
The bill has, however, been largely been well received by journalists with regards to provisions related to payments. The legislation will ensure financial protection for journalists by obliging media organisations to clear journalists’ dues within two months, according to Aurangzeb. Media outlets that fail to pay journalists for two consecutive months will not be issued advertisements by the government, she added.
The legislation will also allow media workers to lodge complaints with the Council of Complaints if their dues are not cleared.
Former PEMRA chairperson and journalist Absar Alam welcomed the legislation and said, “Besides ensuring protection for journalists’ employment, this bill will help to hold accountable the propagators of misinformation and disinformation.”
Contrary to the government’s claims of holding extensive consultations with stakeholders, prominent journalists and activists had raised alarm over the bill’s rushed drafting and approval process. They protested over not being onboarded to give their feedback to the legislation and questioned the openness and transparency in the claimed consultations.
