The opening up of the media TV sector to private undertakings and the adoption of relevant legislation is a recent phenomenon in Pakistan. The enforcement problems facing the Pakistani TV media industry were discussed in Chapters 3 and 4. It is conceded that due to the lack of a comprehensive study on the enforcement of electronic media in Pakistan, it is not easy for the Pakistan enforcement authorities to identify what is needed to strengthen the broadcasting of electronic media. Based on this scenario, some recommendations will be put forward which, hopefully, will assist the media industry of Pakistan.

The first recommendation is to strengthen the judicial system as discussed in Chapter 2. A robust judicial system that allows for the proper enforcement of regulations in the media sector is essential.

The Council of Complaints is a recommendatory body assisting Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra). As a recommendatory body, however, the Council gives only recommendations to Pemra that in turn takes decisions. So, ultimately all the Council recommendations are directly under the control of Pemra. The President of Pakistan appoints the Chairman of Pemra. The Chairman, therefore, is not independent. The decisions taken by Pemra are easily influenced by public sector policy motives.

There are two recommendations proposed to improve this situation. First, Pemra should adopt the proper judicial system which already prevails in Pakistan. Second, a specialist tribunal with competence to resolve media issues, rather than a recommendatory body, is required to speed up the current lengthy procedures. Special courts already exist in Pakistan in areas such as the Special Banking Court, Special Custom Court, Taxation and Anti-Corruption, Income Tax (Appellate) Tribunal, Insurance Appellate Tribunal, and several others. So the establishment of a new tribunal with competence on media issues is not a radical proposal. The setting up of such a specialist tribunal will improve the enforcement environment in the media TV sector. The specialist tribunal should also be given competence over all matters relating to the media sector, such as cablecasting, satellite, and terrestrial broadcasting as highlighted in Chapters 3 and 4.

The rise of private transmissions has made it imperative to study the applicability of media laws in Pakistan

In addition, there are other improvements that are required in Pakistan to assist in making media enforcement more effective. This includes the removal of regulations that restrict judicial procedures. The Government of Pakistan needs to amend such regulations as they hinder the efficiency of the judicial procedure. An example is Section 34 of the Pemra 2007 Act, which was discussed in Chapter 2.

It will be recalled that under Section 34, an aggrieved party has no direct access to the courts. As it is stated in the Pemra Act, no court shall take cognisance of any offence under Subsection (1) or (2) of Section 33, except on a complaint in writing by Pemra or any officer so authorised by it. It means a citizen does not have direct access to a court. First, the party has to complain to the Council of Complaints or to Pemra, and secondly, they can only have access to a court with the approval of Pemra.

The Government of Pakistan needs to repeal Section 34 of the Pemra (Amendment) Act 2007 and enact legislation that enables those affected by unlawful market activity to seek directly the protection of a court of law.

The second and main recommendation is that a robust regulatory framework needs to be adopted. This would result in the strengthening of regulating measures that are important for improving the enforcement of media laws in Pakistan.

As demonstrated in Chapters 3, 4, and 5 there are five ways of broadcasting in Pakistan, i.e. cable, satellite, territorial, mobile, and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). The regulatory and enforcement mechanism for each mode of broadcasting needs to be strengthened. Regulatory weaknesses need to be removed in the first mode of transmission that is cablecasting, such as, for example, the inability to effectively tackle unauthorised broadcasting of programmes and advertisements, unregistered TV channels, monopoly, and unauthorised cable TV access.

These problems can be resolved with a more rigorous media regulatory framework. Pemra can play an important role in this regard. Pemra has no permanent task force in Pakistan to investigate and enforce the regulations. Thus, actions are neither frequently taken and nor are they consistently taken. Whenever Pemra receives a large number of complaints, it has authority under the Pemra Act to establish an enforcement team and take action against these illegal activities. Permanent task forces all over the country should replace the current temporary teams. This would enable swift action. The task forces should be well resourced and equipped with modern equipment and facilities to deal with the unlawful activities discussed above. The equipment and facilities will help the task forces to respond more effectively. At the very least, a wellequipped task force will be in a stronger position to handle these very issues.

Some problems with the second mode of transmission, i.e. satellite, were also highlighted in Chapter 4. Two issues cause particular difficulties: state ‘sovereignty’ while transmitting signals from one country to another, and restrictions on the ‘free flow of information’ in Pakistan.

In 2014, the government of Pakistan imposed bans on ARY News and Geo TV channels in the name of state sovereignty, which also restricted the free flow of information even though the sovereignty of the state and the free flow of information are protected by the Pakistani Constitution and media laws. In Pakistan, the Constitution underpins freedom of speech and expression, and the freedom of the press as fundamental rights. At the same time, the Constitution proclaims to safeguard national sovereignty, democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance, and social justice. Thus the Constitution of Pakistan upholds both the concept of sovereignty and the protection of the free flow of information.

As far as the third mode of transmission is concerned, i.e. terrestrial broadcasting, the key issues are those of financial resources.

It is necessary for the independence of terrestrial TV broadcasting in Pakistan that the public sector is not dependent on commercial and government resources. Terrestrial and public broadcasting in Pakistan depend on licence fees, advertisements, sponsorship, government grants, and subsidies. There are some public TV broadcasters who do not depend on government funds. In Germany, the public broadcasting sector (ARD) has set up a private law subsidiary company to sell airtime to the private sector. In Estonia, public service broadcasters are financed by fees collected from private broadcasters. In Jamaica, cable operators are required to pay 5 per cent of their gross income as a licence fee. In this way, the government of Pakistan should consider depending on these sources of income for the independence and credibility of public sector broadcasters.

The above excerpt is taken from the chapter ‘Conclusions and Recommendations’.

Excerpted with permission from
Pakistani Media Law: A Comparative Study
By Muhammad Abrar
Oxford University Press
ISBN: 978-0199403455
275pp.

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, November 6th, 2016