News channels sign of democratic culture: Ms. Sherry Rehman

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Ms. Sherry Rehman said here on Thursday every news channel coming on-air is a responsible outfit and a welcoming sign that a democratic culture is in place. She said this while talking to media during her visit to the office of another News Channel of Geo Television Network “Geo-English.”
Our government is in power for the last about three months and the “Geo English” has got the license, which, Ms. Sherry Rehman noted had not been issued for the last one-and-a-half-year.
Speaking about issuance of license to the new news channel, the Information Minister said this is not a gift from the government, but indeed an integral part of the fundamental rights which we had promised in hundred days programme.
Federal Information Minister said that we have been pursuing a policy of Press freedom and removal of restrictions from the mass media from the very first day.
To a question, she said now the media was free to a great extent and it has to self-regulate.
She said our commitment is about not to put curbs on the media, neither we believe in restrictions on media nor it has been part of our manifesto.
Sherry Rehman said that now the media will have to self regulate and will have to design its own code of conduct.
To become a mature and responsible media, it has to take measures itself and there should be no role of the state in it but only to facilitate the media, the Federal Minister said.
She said in three months period of our government we have fulfilled the commitments beyond the promises we made.
We have removed the black laws of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). Now no one uses PEMRA to block channel, she added.
All the laws related with the media will be enacted with the consultation and inputs by the stakeholder, she said.
Speaking about new news channels, she hoped that the new channels will introduce new tradition of responsible reporting and news processing.
Earlier, the Federal Minister visited the different sections of the news channels and also met with members of its management.