Proper way to Harness the Electronic Media PEMRA has practiced an anti growth policy towards national media. In India , there are over 1300 TV channels whereas in Pakistan there are total of 113 TV channels (87 local licensed and 26 foreign channels with landing rights). Typically the parity in different Pakistani sectors as compared to India is one to six which is over one to 12 in case of Pakistan media. PPP govt in Dec 2009 changed rules to restrict number of TV channels per Media Group to only Four. The present ruthless commercial fight between TV channel networks is due to PEMRAs restrictive media policies. The channel owners feel that there is a small pie and if government favors one group then there will be nothing left for them . During Gen Zia time, newspaper declarations were highly regimented and newspaper owners would do anything to get a new declaration for another city or brand. The governments in 90s liberalized the news paper declaration and it was left for market forces to determine which brand would succeed or fail. Since then news paper owners do not look towards Islamabad for declarations and instead of Regulator, market forces decide which newspaper will succeed or fail. Time has come to liberalize the TV media sector to open up the field for warring media groups and also let foreign investors come in Pakistan market. In many developing economies , media contributes around two percent to national GDP whereas Pakistan Media contributes less than half percent to GDP . So there is enough pie for everyone to eat . Due to restrictions on our media, Indian TV and foreign products of other countries are illegally selling in Pakistan and depriving Pakistan govt of billions in revenue and thousands of jobs. Federal Govt should lift the restriction of four channels per Media Group and leave it to market forces to determine. PEMRA should be converted into a highly effective regulator with maximum focus on achieving above targets. PEMRA controls will be further tightened to ensure responsible journalism in Pakistan and adherence to code of conduct.
Posted on: Fri, 02 May 2014 13:07:10 +0000
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