Islamabad (Staff Report): Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday said that Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and Press Council of Pakistan will be merged into a unified regulatory authority.
Talking to newsmen outside Parliament House, Fawad Chaudhry said that Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority is being created with merger of existing PEMRA and Press Council.
The minister said the merger would help save national resources as the new regulatory body would look after electronic, print and social media simultaneously.
He said Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority would be a world class entity consisting of professionals and representatives from media.
Fawad Chaudhry said people would observe changes in the realm of Information and Broadcasting in coming days. He said censorship in PTV has been done away with and it is now giving coverage to opposition as well.
The minister said PTV National would be converted into PTV Politics and it would telecast live proceedings of the parliament, its committees and the provincial assemblies.
He said a Review Committee on government ads has also been formed.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has already given directions that there should be no personal publicity at the expense of the public exchequer, Fawad said.
Chaudhry regretted that the opposition in the Senate staged a walk out without any justification. He said, perhaps, the opposition wanted to avoid discussion on questions relating to advertisements worth 23 billion rupees during tenure of the previous government.
The information minister said that the PTI government is giving due importance to the parliament and is focused on resolving challenges confronting the country.
He said the PM himself attended proceedings of the Senate on its first sitting on Monday which reflected the importance he attaches to the parliament.
