Before the role of the press could have been determined, the 'media-friendly' government has proposed a press council, whose prime responsibility would be enforcement of code of ethics to ensure responsible journalism. The proposed draft has become more of a controversy among the journalist circles as we witness conflicting statements in the newspaper everyday. While certain journalists groups have lauded the efforts of the government, the representative bodies of journalists out-rightly reject press council for as many reasons. 

To have a clear-cut version of the journalists on the issue, Journalists Resource Centre (JRC) in collaboration with Punjab Union of Journalists (PUJ), organised a dialogue on press council in Pakistan at Nisar Osmani Auditorium of Press Club, Saturday last week. The senior journalists, academicians, working journalists and office-bearers of journalist unions attended the dialogue.

The participants of the dialogue maintained that any press council proposed or formulated by the government would not be acceptable to the journalists, unless the governments agrees to end the state monopoly of electronic media and abolishes all the existing anti-press laws and censors.

Addressing the dialogue, President Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) Mr I H Rashid said that absence of working journalists' representation in the press council had made the council's character and scope quite dubious. The government claimed that it had secured the support of Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) and All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS), regarding formulation of the press council, whereas the role of these bodies have been tried and tested in implementation of wage award. Her feared that the formulation of the council would pave way for further anti-press laws and asserted that in case of any forcible imposition journalists would resort to agitation. He also feared that the powers of the press council could be abused both by the government and the newspaper owners for their political and commercial benefits. 

Renowned expert on mass media, while elaborating on the history of the press council, Prof Dr Mehdi Hasan said that it was fifth attempt by any government to make a press council in The earlier attempts foiled, as there was no representative of the working journalists in the council and the latest effort would fail for the same reason. Apprising the audience of the press councils in different countries he said that such councils are formulated voluntarily by the journalists in those countries where there is no press law, so that the media might not ignore its social responsibility. Whereas in Pakistan there were 16 laws that thwart the freedom of the press in one way or the other and these laws were introduced by the colonial regime in emergency times, which were later made permanent by the successive governments after the colonial rule. He stressed that the interests of the newspaper owners and the government are the same. Complete funding of the press council by the federal government was infact an attempt to 'buy out' journalists and this practice is not new as earlier journalists were bought out by awarding them plots, financial favours and other privileges. Where he maintained that the code of conduct is necessary for the journalists to follow, he questioned the effectiveness of the press council in enforcing it. Speaking on the lack of professionalism among journalists he said that the role of the professional editor or the news editor has been almost eliminated from a newspaper resulting in further degeneration of the press. "Everything that comes to the newspaper gets published without ascertaining the negative impacts it may have on the society," he added.
 

Secretary PFUJ Ms Fouzia Shahid said that the institution of professional editors should be restored as was in the past and access of information should be given to the journalists. Any press council, whether working journalists become a part of it or not, would not be acceptable to the journalists. She said that the journalists had witnessed newspaper offices being taken over by government and press council would be no exception to it. She said that it was indeed surprising that a government, which had promised to disband the information ministry before entering the corridors of power, was now insisting on formulating a press council, instead. She questioned that when almost all the institutions of the country have corrupted, why does the government want to make a special arrangement for the press.

Rejecting the press council idea Chief News Editor Jang, Khawar Naeem Hashmi suspected that the proposed press council was the brainchild of a certain Mafia of journalists on the instructions of the government. The idea of formulating a press council makes sense only if it had been propounded either by the journalists or by the people. Criticising the government claims of being a supporter of press freedom he said that the freedom of press could be gauged from the fact that the key posts of every newspaper are filled by government's own men. He also claimed that press advice to the editors is still operative in Pakistani press where officials of the government control news like the past dictatorial regimes. The present government, in its attempt to harness the press has resorted to such measures that were not even followed during the dictatorial regime, he added.

President Press Club Saqlain Imam, presenting his viewpoint, maintained that since legislation in Pakistan is not done in line with the political destiny, rather it is based on situational circumstances, the present government seems to lack vision in the proposed draft. Freedom of press is neither a propriety right of the newspaper owner, nor a privilege of the journalist, rather it is an offshoot of the law regarding freedom of expression. He admitted that there were manipulations of facts by the journalists for vested interests, in the absence of a code of ethics - political manipulations being the worst of all. He said a free press requires no control on media, rather it needs protection of the rights of journalists and better working conditions for them. He said that the United States of America had no press council, in fact the editor's representative body rejected the idea on the premises that it would create elitist values for the press.

Academician and representative of Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP), Mr Salman Humayun elaborated on the perspective of the information consumers, the buyers of the newspaper and their stakes involved in formulation of a press council. He termed the proposed draft by the government as ineffective since it was not taking into account the concerns of the consumers and the public in general. The change in prices of the newspapers without prior notice, publishing of misleading advertisements, irresponsible journalism and space manipulations for commercial benefits were some of the considerations of the newspaper consumers which he pointed out. He said that the role of the press council had been restricted to that of an agency responsible to enforce code of ethics, but the promotion of research and improving the working conditions of the journalists had not been completely ignored by the proposed council. "The inadequacy of the press council could be determined from the fact that even the tenure for the members of the council and their jurisdiction has not been mentioned in the proposed draft," he added.

Senior Journalist Mr Ahmed Bashir observed that the issue of press council needs to be conceived and addressed in the context of history of Earlier General Secretary PUJ Tasawwar Raza and Executive Director JRC Mohammad Tanveer welcomed the participants.

(Courtesy: The News on Sunday, Sept. 5, '99)