Civil-military nexus to make media fall in line

[sonicboom]

Civil-military nexus to make media fall in line

By Amir Wasim
Thursday, 01 Jul, 2010

ISLAMABAD: The government has thrashed out “policy guidelines” for private media organisations so that their news coverage does not hurt “national interests”, sources in the information ministry told Dawn.

Federal Information Secretary Sohail Mansoor has slated a meeting of an unheard of “media coordination committee on defence planning” for Thursday to discuss formulation of guidelines for electronic and print media, preparing SOP (standard operating procedure) for grant of permission to foreign media for reporting and making documentaries and “evolving a policy for tuning in the private media to national outlook and securing core national security interests”.

The agenda of the meeting, a copy of which was made available exclusively to Dawn, shows that the 14-member all-bureaucrat committee will deliberate on proposals given in the “working papers” by the ministry of foreign affairs, the information ministry, the Army’s Joint Staff Headquarters (JSHQs) and the cabinet division. The meeting will be attended by officials from ministries of defence, information, interior, finance, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) and JSHQs.The most important issue to be taken up in the meeting will be “formulation of a legal act, introducing penalty for glorification of terrorism”, as suggested by the JSHQs.

“A charge on glorification of terrorism offence could be lodged or registered if a publication of a statement glorify the commission, create sensation of preparation of acts of terrorism (whether in the past or future),” according to the agenda.

The participants will also discuss the JSHQs’ proposal that in order to “avoid sensation among masses clearance must be obtained from JSHQ/ministry of defence/ISPR before airing of publishing defence/security news/issues by electronic and print media”.

Talking to Dawn, Information Secretary Sohail Mansoor confirmed that he had convened the meeting of the coordination committee as he was its head. He, however, refrained from discussing the agenda and the composition of the committee.

Mansoor said that he had only convened the meeting when he came to know about the existence of such a committee. “Either we should work in accordance with the functions of the committee or dissolve it,” he said.

In response to a question, the secretary said the committee was constituted “decades ago”.

On the other hand, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira appeared to be out of the loop. He even tried to play down the significance of the meeting, saying “these are routine matters”.

Code of conduct

The agenda shows that participants will be discussing a plan for “the enforcement mechanism for implementation of the code of conduct in relation to print and broadcast media in the context of national interests”.

The JSHQs has also proposed the constitution of a “Defence Journalists Think-Tanks Group” comprising “eminent, dedicated and well-reputed analysts/war correspondents for getting their input on selected national security issues with a view to formulating national public opinion with focused vision to guard against yellow journalism”.

The JSHQ in its working paper, has expressed reservations over the working of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), saying: “Although media code of conduct is issued by Pemra, unfortunately the same is not being followed.”

The paper shows that military authorities are satisfied with the religious TV channels but at the same time, are wary of their potential for exploitation by extremist groups. “Although these channels (religious) are doing a good job, a need is felt to avert exploitation of these by extremist groups and anti-state elements for their vested interests.”

The military authorities have also stressed the need for “projection of national interests by media in line with the government policy through conduct of defence media workshops, seminars and lectures for defence journalists by NDU and information ministry and dedicated time for defence matters broadcasting to bridge the gap amongst the masses on national security”.

The foreign ministry is clearly unhappy with the role of private media in the country as it states in its working paper that “no private media does so much damage to their own country, as in our case. Pakistan remains a victim of hostility in global media and cynicism, negativism and emotionalism promoted by our own private print and electronic media networks.”

The foreign ministry has suggested that “in order to secure the core national security interests, our media strategy should encompass a balance between political and economic reporting, positive and negative news, emotionalism and objectivity, freedom and responsibility”.

The meeting is also supposed to “suggest measures for dilution and ultimate elimination of Indian media infiltration in the country”.

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