PEMRA chief holds Pak media responsible for Qandeel murder, also chides them for maligning Imran

By Sarmad Ali

(Pakdestiny.com) Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) chief Absar Alam has held Pakistani media responsible for the murder of social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch.

Alam also chided the channels for not airing ‘apology’ for running baseless news about PTI chairman Imran Khan’s third marriage.

“The channels which aired the false news of Imran Khan’s third marriage were reluctant to say sorry,” he said while talking to reporters in Islamabad today.

He also held responsible for the murder of Qandeel saying the way media acted irresponsibly for ‘rating race’ caused the murder of Qandeel.

Mian Amer Mahmood‘s Dunya TV was on forefront to a defamatory media campaign against Imran Khan with regard to his third marriage.

PTI has filed a complaint against PEMRA to take action against Dunya.

In a  letter to PEMRA Chairman Absar Alam, the PTI media cell called for action against the TV channels that had tried to show that Imran married third time. “A delegation of the PTI, headed by Iftikhar Durrani, met Pemra Chairman Absar Alam at Pemra Headquarters, Islamabad and handed over a formal complaint,” a Pemra statement said.

“Unethical of media to spread false news of my marriage based upon absolute lies,” said the PTI chief in tweets. Imran said the channels showed pictures of women whom he had never known or met. “Had that happened in the UK, heads would have rolled,” he remarked.

The PTI chairman charged that such disinformation was irresponsible and showed a moral and ethical collapse. The PTI’s media cell referred to the reporting as ‘contrary to the local traditions, general morality and journalistic ethics’.

The letter noted that the campaign was well-thought-out “to smear chairman PTI at the time when he is in England to visit his sons”. The letter said that rebuttals on the matter had already been issued by PTI’s central information secretary, which were ignored by the channels.

It criticised Pemra for being a ‘silent spectator to the hostility’ carried out against Imran Khan. A day earlier, news channels, quoting unconfirmed reports, stated Imran married a woman, a few days ago in London. Some channels and media showed image of a female as well.

Pemra has referred the PTI complaint to the Council of Complaints, which will take it up for deliberations on July 15. In recent months, the authority has moved quickly against complaints received by individuals, groups and media houses. It not only imposed fines but also slapped ban on some media content and shows as well.

Mian Amer should tender an apology who with his UK correspondent Azhar Javed broke the baseless news and tasked its news anchor to crazily speaking on the issue for long hours. Pak Destiny

7 Comments

  1. Sheraz Reply
  2. Razzaq Khan Reply
  3. Fazal Kareem Reply
  4. Razzaq Khan Reply
  5. shani Reply
  6. Azim Khan Reply
  7. Anonymous Reply

Leave a Reply