Media Policy of Pakistan

Introduction
The policy that I selected for is Electronic and Social Media Policy of Pakistan. It is a
proper method that how Media will be ran in the country considering the norms, values and
Islamic stature of the country. This policy ranges to various factors.

It is based on factors which are:

 Ban on content that is against Islamic values.

 Restriction on content that is against the Constitution.
 Restriction on airing of content that damages the norms of the society.
 Restriction on any content that is against the integrity, security and defense of country.
 Restriction on airing of content that promotes vulgarity.
 Restriction on content that incites sectarian, religious, nationality-based, ethnic violence.
 Restriction on content that violates the rules and regulations of government and institutes.
 Restriction on content that damages the character based on personal vendetta.
 Restriction on content that violates the copyrights or property rights of someone under
the law.
 Restriction on content that shows false reports or news.
 Restriction on content that is against and damages the credibility of the state institutes,
judiciary and armed forces.
 No, version of National & Provincial Assemblies would allowed to be aired which is
ordered to be removed from that meeting.
 No statement is allowed to be aired which is not in public interest and damages the
ideology of the country or any organization, or promotes violence in the name of religion
if it is not affirmed or ordered by any concerned government authority or any
organizations authority.
 Private conversations through audio or video will not be aired unless it is in public
interest and does not violates privacy.
 All news even through current affairs will be aired showing accurate and fair information.
 All the talk shows will be aired in respectful manner with proper representation regarding
concerned authority.
 Items regarding court proceedings and police shall be shown in a fair manner.
 Every information should be provided in accurate manner and in its true sense.
 These are some of the rules that are to be followed essentially by different media
institutes and people or organizations running their channels, pages and groups on social
media platforms.
  Ban on content that promote unethical behaviors like, smoking, alcoholic items and their
consumption, narcotics and drug abuse.
 No accident, violence or crime should not promote violence or aggressive behavior that
affects the society or armed forces actions.
 Warning should be provided regarding any disturbing content.
 No content will be aired which damages the religious sentiments and incites religious
violence while damaging interfaith harmony.
 Content related to children should not be distressing, contains violence, frightening, and
unethical.
 No content should be aired that will harm the social structure of society by glamorizing
crime, promotes anti-social behavior, or beautifies corruption or other illegal practices, or
damages the health of the masses or misleads them by showing modified content then, it
will be harmful for economy, social structure and religious sentiments.

 Any item aired on media should not contain abusive content and have decent language.

 Advertisements should comply with the law, Islamic values, not contain unethical content
& products.

 Any content that incites, hate speech against a group of people, or through sectarian
violence or directly targeting of individual’s character, should not be aired.

So, this is the introduction of the Media Policy of Government of Pakistan.

These policies were necessary because Pakistan is a diversified country and it has different
ethnicities, different religious and political ideologies, so these are necessary to introduce and
implement so that if any media shows any content that violates the sentiments of someone is
harmful for country in political, social and religious sense.

These regulations are necessary because it is a Muslim country and we have to follow a certain
code of conduct to comply with the religious rules and regulations. So, if any media company
airs a content that is against the rules and regulations of Islam then it might incite aggression,
hatred towards certain group, which will be harmful for country as it damages the image of
country externally and also the internal condition of the country.

Background
The history of first publishing of media dates back to 15th century when first printing
press was made in Germany. It was a revolution in field of printing and media
 The first role of media in regards to Pakistan was first done by Muhammad Ali Jinnah in
1941 when he laid foundation of Dawn Newspaper. The aim of establishing it was to promote
independence of Pakistan.

So, the main idea of formulation of media in Pakistan to promote idea of Pakistan. A state
for Muslims to preach their religion according to the told instructions and also, freedom of
preaching any other religion according to their beliefs.

The first transmission of electronic nature in Pakistan was executed on 26th November,
1964 from Lahore by name of Pakistan Television Network.

For the first time, any attention was given regarding media and in constitution of 1956, a
specific, ‘freedom of speech’ article was included constitution but 1956 constitution was
declared null and void when martial law was imposed in 1958.

First proper rules and regulations were introduced in 1962 under name, Press and
Publication Ordinance (PPO). It was a strict regime and every media outlet’s came under the
severe scrutiny of the government. It was a tough time for media as it empowered authorities to
seize newspapers, shut down newspaper outlets and capture journalists which went against the
policies and actions of the government. When first media outlet in Pakistan was opened by
government, named as Pakistan Television, it was under the harsh control of government.

And again when second martial law was imposed then a new idea was introduced of
‘press advice’ which were given by broadcasting and information ministry, so that the media and
press should be stopped from any kind of intrusion in government affairs and to stop them from
criticizing questionable steps of government. But during this period individual and independent
press was thriving and government overcame those broadminded journalists which challenged its
questionable acts.

When a government is taken forcefully without any fair elections through imposition of
martial law thus the government tried to cover its tracks and work secretly but it is the job of
journalists to bring to light whatever wrong measures are being taken in dark while also
appreciating the good steps taken by government. But when third martial law was imposed by
Dictatorship then the rules were made harsher to limit the involvement of media. Any content
which targeted government and showed the exact situation and nature of the event then that
writer and publisher would be executed uncompromisingly under rules by courts. Any media
which violated the law especially Islamic principles, values, rules and regulations came under
high pressure and scrutiny and all the undesired and immoral content would be completely
censored and banned to be published.

But it is worth noting and mentioning here is that when first civilian took power in Pakistan then
it also did not like the ‘freedom of press’ and it took severe steps to minimize the effect of those
effective and critical journalists, even though many views were capable of inciting violence in
country but still the steps and methods were harsh. Thus silencing individual journalists too, as
well as many publishers and editors stating that they were harmful for national security.

When dictatorship ended after his death then a little bit of freedom was provided to media
and the reason for relaxing the rules was to improve the image of the country and expand
democracy in the country. This freedom was necessary to remove the black taints of media
oppression under previous regimes. Then in in 1988 under caretaker government a new rule was
introduced for freedom of press, media and journalism and it stopped every kind of intervention
of government in media and its works. It allowed ‘district magistrate’ to allow candidates to have
their own printing press, so they can issue error free and modified statements or any things to
published in journals, so to make the applicant capable of handling its own press and media
affairs and so to avoid government interference.

This helped media to escape those shackles that were placed before on them and this reduced
political pressure on media and government pressure. Liberty was also provided to press and
media to publish what they want, removing the compulsion to publish full page government
announcements. These changes and extra freedom without government interference were then
termed ‘illegal’ but eventually laws were adjusted according to the wishes of the press and media
houses.

But these severe rules and regulations were then ended when dictatorship government ended
abruptly after his death and new, lenient rules were established and they were called Revised
Press and Publications Ordinance (RPPO).

In 1990s, severe rules and regulations were relaxed but media got out of hand in PPPP
government as media was getting involved too much in the affairs of the state but on the other
hand they exposed massive corruption and corrupt practices that were being taking place under
government’s nose and they did nothing. Then government acted swiftly to cover its
malpractices and then proposed to develop a new law to put constraints on media through special
courts for media, so that heedless and vindictive reporting and journalism to be controlled. So,
this democratic government then brought back those laws that were imposed under dictatorship
and tightened its grip on media and their practices. This lead to the violation of ‘freedom of
expression’ chant that was being aired by this democratic government.

And then in the second consecutive democratic government of PML-N after martial law was
also tainted with tightening the rules and regulations on media. Any media house or journalist
tried to uncover the embezzlements and corruption under this government was threatened and
pressurized.

But proper media rules and regulations were established when a concrete and effective step
was taken under government of General Musharraf to establish Pakistan Electronic Media
Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). The perspective of this government was to liberate media of
shackles that were placed on them in previous regimes as he was a vocal supporter of media
liberty and freedom.

Establishment of this authority was an essential and critical step for the country and an
effective step taken by this government. This was essential to lay out a proper plan and
guidelines for press and media, especially media as many private television were being opened
for some time and these media houses were a critical part of showing the positive image of the
country.

Thus a proper institute, PEMRA, was established under guidelines considering the Islamic
nature of the country, social and societal factors that were a big part of everyday life of people of
this area. Every kind of area was covered and relaxation was given to media but proper rules and
regulations were established and consisted of following things:

 Strict adherence to Islamic principles and values.

 Keeping up and strengthening the societal structure of the country.
 Media working in a way that benefits the economic condition of country and eventually
the people.
 Rules were established to protect the rights of others.
 Rules were established for showing content that should not hurt the sentiments of people
that are from different religion, sects, political ideologies and others to keep harmony
among the masses.
 Rules to safeguard the mental and physical health of children.
 Rules to protect the masses by not covering violent protests that may challenge the state
and effect the economic condition of country and masses.
 Rules to air content that provides neutral response of media house by providing everyone
a chance to present its opinion.

And in 2010, a democratic government presented a bill and it passed, thus stopping media houses
from live coverage of attacks by militants, showing images of militants, their dead bodies, bodies
of victims and statements and video clips of militants and banned them completely from airing
content that spoke ill of different, critical institutes of the state. It also included a point to stop
comments on and criticism of judiciary which could influence their decisions.

So, this was a background of press and media over the time in 74 years history of Pakistan and it
gone under tremendous challenges and changes.

Short term and Long term Policy Perspectives

Issue
 The issue that I found in this policy is being created and approved to be implemented but
the extent of its implementation is too low and limited to certain sectors while many other sectors
and private media houses violate it easily, according to their will.

This policy has been created and under this policy numerous rules and regulations are
erected but the implementation of this policy is really poor in the real world by concerned
authorities.

We see every other day that:

A protest is happening against the education authorities by students, which are

challenging the writ of the state.

A political or religious party is doing huge protests all over the country and soon these
protests in name of political and religious ideology turn violent and result in a huge damage to
the state and public property. Especially, it challenges and weakens the government and its
control over its policies and institutes.

While, in case of advertisements is that in past all of the advertisements complied with
the rules and regulations when they were first created but gradually with the time as the arena
expanded and more and more people joined it so then the rules were ignored and it became
difficult to be implemented. So, as the time went on, these advertisements were completely
against the Islamic values, against the Media Rules and Regulations and also against the norms
and values of the society.

But there is surge of development in the second decade of 20th century then people
progressed and as the connectivity became easy through internet and then the seamless ease in
the connectivity through smart phones. Then masses of the country adopted the western culture
due to constant bombardment of the content from Europe and Americas and thus ignored the
things that went against our norms and values.

Short–term Plan
The short-term plan of my policy is to

 Educate people regarding their norms and values through government run
advertisements, shows and seminars.
 Inserting the sense of Islamic values in people through shows, talks, advertisements (both
electronic, paper and billboards).
 Inserting the sense among people that following basic Islamic values is against our
culture.
 Immediately inserting the sense among people that property that is being damaged is
theirs and they are hurting themselves.
  Awareness through advertisements and public messages that these protests damages and
weakens the economic and social condition of masses themselves.
 Increasing awareness among people through shows, public service messages and
advertisements that it is their duty to report any suspicious activity or if any violence is
taking place to promote peace.
 Instilling the sense among masses through public service messages to report any content
and media house to protect their children by checking their shows on regular basis, so as
to keep their mind clean & protect their health and report every content that may harm
mental and physical health of children.
 Instilling the sense among masses through public service messages to respect the privacy
of people and do not allow media to violate those rights and violating their character by
reporting that content on first opportunity.

Long-term Plan
 Educating people again regarding the Islamic values by strictly cracking down on content
that violates Islamic orders.
 Educating people regarding the societal values again according to our culture and
reporting every content that goes against them, so that a strict can be taken on the
violation of rules and regulations.
 Educating people regarding the content for kids and keep a check on content that goes
against Islamic and societal values and report every content that might damage the mental
and physical health of children, so as to protect our future generations.
 Educating people to not become part of anything by supporting them or participating in it
that will damage the economic and societal condition instead report any content the
spreads anarchy, is being aired by media houses.
 Educating people regarding, supporting the Islamic and political ideologies or parties and
not support and promote any that violate basic Islamic principle, societal values and
damages the economic condition of country and report any content that is being aired,
videos or being promoted by media houses to protect country and themselves, eventually.
 Educating people to report media houses and stop them from airing any content, whether
live or recorded, that incites violence, challenges the writ of the government and thus
results in further fuelling the acts that are harmful for country.
 Educating people to report any media that damages the image of the country.
 Educating people to respect the privacy of others and violate it and report any media run
by media house that damages the character of someone.
 Educating people to report any content that promotes and glorifies unethical practices.
So, short-term plan is to raising awareness regarding particular content through public service
messages and in long-term to properly educate masses about the Islamic principles, rules &
regulation, norms and values. Thus, with the help of masses to enforce the erected rules &
regulation.

Action Plan
As the press and media expanded overtime and it became resilient due to the hurdles it
faced in various regimes. But it expanded swiftly and efficiently since introduction of internet
services and concept of ‘globalization’ through swift and easy connectivity. This swiftness in
journalism increased by the introduction of smartphones and compact, digital cameras which
made almost everyone a journalist.

This establishment of authority in 2002 was essential and it laid out critical points and specific
rules and regulation were established for press and media.

As always the case of the developing nations is, rules and regulations were established
with concrete planning but main hurdle is of their implementation. So does the case of authorities
that regulate media and its related areas.

A concrete action plan is necessary to be erected, so that the rules that are established being
implemented efficiently and effectively. As, we know the main reason of establishing action plan
was to establish an environment of peace while also implementing Islamic principles. Rules will
be implemented by PEMRA.

According to the rules, the problem that I pointed out here is that they were established
properly but they are not then implemented effectively. Thus the goal here in implementation of
these policies is to achieve peace and stability and promote societal and economic harmony.

So, the action plan that I consider here is that:

 Regularize the institute by taking actions like monitoring the activities of employees to
assure they are working to implement rules and regulations.
 Regularize institutes by monitoring every activity of press and media houses and assuring
that press and media houses are airing the content that does not violates:
 Islamic principles.
 Societal norms and values.
 The writ of state and its institutes.
 Regularize institutes by ensuring that rules and regulations are being followed in creation
of advertisements.
 Regularize institutes to ensure that shows for kids that are being aired are good according
to their age and does not influence them with norms and values that are against Islamic
principles and societal norms and values.
 Regularize the other adjoining institutes that take part in its implementation and training
them on how to tackle situation effectively to control them like,
  Educating employees on how to tackle the various violations that are being
carried out.
 Educating related departments especially, police forces, anti-terrorism forces and
investigation authorities on how to tackle the various violations under the
instructions provided by PEMRA.
 Complete educating plan for masses and government employees to ensure that they keep
in mind the rules and regulations, so as to ensure harmony and implementation of rules
and regulations of PEMRA.
 The tasks that are being created will be carried out by,
 PEMRA.
 Ministry of Broadcasting and Information employees.
 Ministry of Internal Affairs (to ensure safety of masses and public and private property in
case of any violence).
 Police Forces.
 Anti-terrorism forces (if there is a chance of violence when scenario contains different
religions, sects, parties, etc.).
 Investigation authorities (both provincial and federal).
It is extremely essential that erected points are followed by media houses and they should be
implemented in 8 to 10 months considering rising instability in behaviors, so as to ensure safety
of masses, property, stability of economic condition and others.

A good amount of resources will be required to ensure the rules and regulations, like

 Real-time monitoring of news, live events, recorded programs by government to ensure

rules and regulations are being followed.
 Monitoring of finances of press and media houses and their employed journalists too, on
regular basis, to ensure that no kickbacks are being received by them to promote certain
agenda.
 Censoring software and trained employees to carry out censoring in light of rules and
regulations to ensure Islamic principles are being followed, vulgarity is not being
promoted, no immoral content for children, no image damaging of armed forces and
other institutes and other things.

Constraints
The constraints that are to happen:

 Resistance from masses in implementation of Islamic principles as we are effectively

accepting western culture, so does the resistance from media because people would not
look their shows which will lower their viewership thus damaging their revenues.
  Resistance from masses in reviving, maintaining and establishing the societal culture and
thus free hand for media houses. This will also be then confronted by media as people as
swiftly adopting western culture and becoming modern.
 If government institute is planning to implement these rules and regulations then hurdles
being created from within the institute or other sectors of government as they had their
own personal agendas.
 An important thing is image of government and its institutes especially armed forces but
resistance from masses, many politicians and within the institutes as everyone is
becoming vocal due to social media and increased connectivity and everyone can present
its opinion easily.
 Resistance from different religious segments of society if their voice is not being
presented to contain violence but they do not understand that instead take it as it curbs
their voices.
 Resistance from various political parties and opposition because they consider their
agenda to be heard and spread widely irrespective of the fact that it may damage the
image of the country and weakens the institutes of the state.
 As it is in rules and regulations to not air any content from inside courts and their
proceedings without any official statement but many are questioning this considering that
hidden proceedings then curb the free flow of information but instead they are to prevent
any kind of violence and protests.
 Resistance from masses and many other segments from within the state if objectionable
advertisements are removed as they state that world is progressing and we should
progress and embrace the western culture while neglecting the fact that this is an Islamic
state.
 Resistance from masses on banning on cartoons that show content that may damage their
mental and physical health as the opinion of parents is that children have no activity and
thus they have to provide them with content that is available while ignoring the long-run
damage it may cause.
 As, it is in law that no content should be shown that shows distressed, damaged, anti-
social and violent behavior but there is concept spreading so quickly that there are
different nature of people and they have their own traits and skills and you cannot judge
someone based of some event, completely ignoring the fact that when these behaviors are
shown on regular basis might have a chance of damaging the structure of society further
more.

So, the main hurdles that are bound to happen but violent content, protests and rallies should not
be aired as they damage the image internationally while also damaging economic condition of
country.

Implementation
 The people of this area have a hard skin and they do not understand the principles unless
hard tactics are not implemented and swift actions for their implementation are not taken.

These rules can be implemented in the following ways:

 These will be implemented completely after making the media and press houses to follow
the rules by strict monitoring.
 Monitoring the activities of employees of PEMRA and other related institutes with
PEMRA to not let them facilitate media and press houses to violate rules and regulations.
 Penalize the press and media house that shows content that violates the Islamic
principles, societal norms and values while also educating masses regarding importance
of Islamic values, so that they can be contained easily and effectively.
 Penalize the press and media house that airs the content that incites the violence among
the various religious sectors of the country and thus damaging public and private
property.
 Educate masses about the importance of Islamic principles, so that they reject the content
that is against them.
 Educate masses regarding the need to follow the societal norms and values, and do not
adopt western culture and values as it will distort the society, as it is now a days due to
the huge influx of western media due to easy connectivity.
 Penalize and ban the media and press house that shows content which undermines the
armed forces, police forces, damaging their reputation and of country, as well.
 Media and press houses which provide:
 Live coverage
 Show recorded content
 Show statements or
 Letters
Of political and religious parties which call for complete lockdown of country and which
will then result in injuring and killing of masses and damage to public and private
property through violent mobs and groups. This coverage will boost their morale, so
banning for some time the press and media house and penalizing it severely.

 Penalize and ban for some time the press and media house that shows advertisement that
are immoral and against Islamic principles.
 Penalize and ban the media house which show programs and content which are obscene
and immoral content.
 Penalize and ban for some time the press and media house that shows, programs which
carries out content that is damaging the image of country.
 Strict monitoring of media and press houses, so that they do not leak the confidential
information from government institutes and court houses. And if someone does this act
 then that person or media house should be taken into custody or shut down and held
responsible in court.
 Strict action against press and media houses which are complacent with foreign bodies in
undermining a government project which is highly beneficial for the country.

So, these strict actions like real time monitoring, fines and bans are the only way through
which these rules and regulations can be successfully implement the that were being erected
regarding press and media.

Relation with other policy parameters

Media is an essential part of nowadays life and it is an effective way to judge the economic,
societal condition of any country because what media shows is the way through which
internationally that country is being perceived. Media has an essential relation with other
parameters like,

 It will benefit the economy.

 It will improve and signify the role of government institutes.
 It will glorifies the status and symbol of armed and police forces.
 It will benefit the masses to live their life according to the principles of Islam and societal
norms and values because nowadays it is media which create minds, images and
perceptions in the present world.
 It will then help other businesses grow because investment from other sectors into other
sectors will increase while FDI will also increase due to the good image of country
otherwise damages it.
 When media shows the true image of country and aligns with the policies of government
then it helps in projecting soft image and thus increasing tourism.
 When rules and regulations are followed properly by media then it will benefit foreign
policy and image.
 When rules and regulations are followed by media then it benefits in having a strong
internal policy which then helps in undermining opposition forces of the country.

So, these are the areas which will be affected.

Benefits
There are many benefits which this policy will bring ranging from Islam to society to
economy to investments to increase in business to increase in tourism and benefits to exports.
These are the benefits of the policy,

 It will help in projecting an Islamic culture, which is reducing with every passing day.
 It will help the society in sticking to the norms and values and reject western culture.
  It will help in development of children according the Islamic principles and societal
norms and values which are essential in living a peaceful life.
 It will help in improving the image of government institutes.
 It will help in increasing the trust of masses in its armed and police forces.
 It will then undermine the morale and situation of enemy forces.
 It will help hugely law and order institutes in keeping peace inside the country.
 It will help in increasing tourism.
 It will help in increasing the business inside the country while also increasing FDI.
 It will help exports to grow.

Conclusion
Media is an essential part of any country in the present world. What media shows and
presents is largely perceived and accepted. Media creates perceptions and views, if media shows
content that is according to the principles of Islam then it helps in spreading an Islamic culture
and along with it letting the masses remember that our own norms have greater value as
compared to the adoption of cultures from other countries or places.

If media strictly adheres to the rules and regulations then it will help government in
successfully improving the economic condition of country with passing time. It is media which
helps in increasing the belief of masses in its armed and police forces which work tirelessly for
our safety and protection while undermining them will then benefit our enemy which is ready to
pounce on every opportunity provided.

It is media which nurtures kids and their upbringing because they are attached with it from birth
in the present world, so showing content which is in line with Islamic principles and values will
result in positive development of children.

When media supports government while also doing positive criticism which is to benefit the
economy and masses then it largely participates in economy and societal building.

So, media should be controlled and they should also follow rules and regulations which
will then benefit country and country’s benefit is eventually the benefit of every person in the
country.