ISLAMABAD: The state-run Pakistan Television (PTV) remains under the control of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) even after the dissolution of the National Assembly on April 3.
A journalist working in PTV said on condition of anonymity, “We were directed to give Imran Khan the same protocol as before. The former cabinet ministers of PTI who are not even members of the National Assembly are also receiving the same coverage as before in violation of the PTV policy”.
He added that previously, in similar circumstances PTV was required to cover all opposition parties.
“As per PTV policy, only the leader of the house, leader of the opposition in both the National Assembly and Senate, chairmen of the parliamentary committees are entitled to PTV coverage. However, during the PTI tenure we have rarely covered Shehbaz Sharif, and when we did it was negative coverage while we were directed to give coverage to even local PTI leaders," another employee of state-run television stated.
Soon after coming to power, the PTI government announced it would give more coverage to opposition leaders on PTV news bulletins than in the past and pledged to transform PTV on the lines of BBC. However, it did not keep its promise.
PTI faced criticism when Naeem Bokhari, Chairman PTV, was asked if PTV would give equal coverage to opposition to which he responded “absolutely not. This is PTV, not any other channel. This is state television which represents the government”.
For the past few years, there has been an ongoing debate as to why PTV, which is run on taxpayers’ money, should only present the government’s views.
In April 2017, Imran Khan had written a letter to Secretary Information, who was also the Managing Director PTV, asking for his approval to allow PTV to give live coverage to his address to the nation on the “disinformation” campaign launched by the then cabinet members on Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital.
His request was turned down by former information minister Pervaiz Rashid who said, “We cannot permit Imran Khan to speak live without directive from the National Assembly’s speaker”.
Khursheed Shah as a leader of opposition in National Assembly also lodged a formal complaint over PTV’s biased and selective coverage of the National Assembly sessions.
A former news controller PTV on condition of anonymity said that all the previous governments including PTI called PTV a state broadcaster which was wrong as it is supposed to be a public broadcaster – meant to serve the public and not simply be a mouthpiece for the state or government of the day.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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