No media space for convicts or those under trial: government

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 11 July 2019

The Pakistani government has decided to restrict media coverage for those who are convicted or under-trial. This decision is aimed at preventing the promotion of narratives by jailed politicians such as Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari.

Summary

ISLAMABAD — The government has decided that media should not be allowed to promote the narrative of convicted or under-trial persons, in a move that aims to curtail the space given by the press to jailed politicians like Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari.

A cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday directed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to fulfill its “responsibility” to discourage airing of such programs by the electronic media.

Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood said Khan and members of his cabinet unanimously decided that no convicted or under-trial prisoner should be given media coverage or allowed to give an interview, Dawn reported.

“Those who have plundered national wealth and brought the country on the verge of collapse should not be glorified. No democracy permits interviews and media coverage of those who have been arrested on charges of corruption,” Mehmood quoted the prime minister as saying. - Agencies/Photo: Twitter (@ImranKhanPTI)