Pak media summit backs mode of ethics, self-regulation

Editors and publishers present at the meeting, held on August 2, agreed to implement immediate increases in staff salaries and endorsed the programme for strengthening professional ethics and self-regulation of Pakistan’s media. According to a press release issued by PFUJ on Tuesday, the summit adopted a 26-point draft code of ethics and agreed to a work programme that would investigate setting up an independent media complaints commission, to be adopted in collaboration with associations of publishers, editors and broadcasters.

PFUJ President Huma Au will lead a committee to draft a proposal on the recommended operation and structure of the new commission. The committee will report within one month of its constitution. Arif Nizami, editor of The Nation, who is also president of Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), supported the initiative taken by the PFUJ and IFJ and assured his complete support in this regard.