KARACHI: PEMRA held its 159th meeting at PEMRA headquarters, under the chairmanship of Muhammad Saleem Baig on Monday. The highlight of this meeting was PEMRA’s decision to strategise licencing for new TV channels, as well as older ones that wish to get new licenses, where they will be expected to adhere to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in the future.
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According to a report by The News, any media house that wants to launch a new TV channel will be judged by their past content and performance. For now, any pending applications regarding licences have been put on hold as the authority will take a decision only once the mechanism and strategy in this regard is clearly drawn out and drafted.
PEMRA also showcased its displeasure towards a TV channel for targeting an ethnic group and informed owners that all TV channels are required to produce content that is in line with the honour and respect of all ethnicities that reside in Pakistan.
Farah Azeem, a member of PEMRA from Balochistan brought the meeting’s focus towards the prevailing content of TV dramas being aired on various private TV channels. Safia Malik and Faisal Sher Jan also supported her stance with respect to the content and topics that prevail on TV channels.
Watch: PEMRA thinks our dramas are feminist. We don’t
As a conclusion, PEMRA has decided to unanimously draft out a clear strategy for guidelines and rules pertaining to the content and topics of TV dramas. The strategy will then be required to be implemented on all TV channels, private or not.
While there is no definitive strategy laid out yet, the parameters of it require TV channels are to ensure that the topics of their TV dramas fall within the social, religious, moral and societal values of Pakistan.
