ISLAMABAD :Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has fined17 satellite TV channels (News and Current Affairs) for airing fake news onApril 16, 2018 that Lahore High Court had imposed ban on airing speeches ofMuhammad Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.
Fine of Rs 1 million each has been imposed on channels including RoyalNews, Din News, Channel- 92, Dunya TV, Channel-5, AAJ TV, Express News,Roze TV, Samaa TV, Dawn News, ARY News, Waqt TV, Bol News, KTN News,Koh-e-Noor TV, Geo News, whereas, fine of Rs. 200,000 has been imposed onMashriq TV for airing a ticker.
PEMRA had issued show cause notices to the 17 channels on April 19,directing channel management to file written reply as well as appear forpersonal hearing on April 24.After hearing the representatives of thechannels and examining the subsequent written replies, it was found thatthe channels had violated PEMRA Laws, Electronic Media (Programmes andAdvertisements) Code of Conduct, 2015 and ignored an advice issued by theAuthority on April 6, 2018 on similar subject.
Moreover, all the channels have also been directed to air apology duringprime time on May 6, 2018 for airing fake/false news and to deploy and / orproperly utilize time-delay mechanism.
All these channels have further been directed to constitute In-HouseEditorial Committees in order to ensure effective gate-keeping on itscontent and ensure compliance of Code of Conduct.
In case of non-compliance of the decision, the Authority shall proceedagainst the channels for suspension/ revocation of license under Section 30of PEMRA Ordinance 2002 as amended by PEMRA (Amendment) Act 2007.