ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has directed Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to give enhanced space on state-owned media to all political parties including the opposition both in its news and current affairs programmes.

The Premier gave these instructions after having a presentation by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting at the Prime Minister House here at Prime Minister’s House on Monday. The Premier said that democratic government is staunch supporter of freedom of media and, therefore, scrapped the draconian laws introduced in the past to stifle the freedom of media.
PM Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said that the freedom of media and democracy were inseparable from each other and the government would ensure the freedom of press and promote the cause of free discussion and debate in the country, critical for the evolution of a pluralistic society. The Prime Minister appreciated the PTV for reaching out to maximum number of people in the country as a terrestrial channel, which was disseminating the news to its viewers with responsibility.
The success of PTV Sports Channel merited special appreciation during the presentation. The Prime Minister directed that the shortage of DSNGs be overcome on emergent basis because in this competitive world of media it was absolutely important to sufficiently equip the State TV channel with the latest technology in order to ensure live coverage of important events taking place across the country.
It would enable the state-run television to focus on the issues of the people living in the rural areas, the Prime Minister stated. The Prime Minister directed the Ministry to take immediate steps for making the Ministry’s Media University functional to impart advanced training to the working journalists.
The Prime Minister directed the media heads of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to focus on projecting the achievements of the governments in various fields besides disseminating news to its viewers. The Prime Minister said that the National Finance Award, constitutional amendments, identity to KPK, introduction of reforms in FATA, and Pakistan now a wheat exporting country instead of wheat importing country due to agricultural-friendly policy of the democratic government etc were landmark achievements of the present coalition government which would undoubtedly have far reaching effects to strengthen the federation as well as national economy.
The Prime Minister directed PEMRA to exercise its authority given by the law against those channels engaged in broadcasting indecent and unauthorized material.
Earlier, the Minister for Information while giving presentation said that there was a marked improvement in the current affairs and news programmes of PTV but added that there still was an ample space for improvement and his Ministry was pro-actively engaged to set the trend of dissemination of news with responsibility. The Minister said that the Press Council of Pakistan under its Chairman Shafqat Abbasi was doing good job because people now have access to a forum to file their complaints against the media organizations for the rederessal of their grievances.