Court rejects ARY appeal, rules in favor of PEMRA
JournalismPakistan.com | Published 8 years ago
Join our WhatsApp channel
ISLAMABAD – The Islamabad High Court Thursday rejected an ARY News appeal and ruled in favor of electronic media regulator PEMRA.
The case originated after ARY anchor Dr. Danish in his January 2016 program Sawaal Yeh Hai urged Gen. Raheel Sharif, the army chief at that time, to take over and hold the politicians accountable for their deeds.
Following a complaint by Shanila Sikandar, PEMRA later fined the channel Rs100000 for violating the Electronic Media Code of Conduct 2015.
ARY challenged this decision in the IHC.
The IHC single bench comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb upheld the PEMRA decision and endorsed the recommendations of the regulator’s Council of Complaints.
A PEMRA media release said the judge observed that he did not find the program’s content to be a simple discussion on improving democracy or constituting fair comment.
The court said that it was expected of television anchors to exercise caution and discretion in their enunciations.
