26 April 2007

Alert

Regulatory authority suspends transmission of private TV channel following coverage of judicial crisis


Incident details

television station(s)

suspended
Regulatory authority suspends transmission of private TV channel following coverage of judicial crisis

(PPF/IFEX) - The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) directed cable television operators in the capital city of Islamabad to stop transmission of Royal TV. The channel's transmission has been suspended in Islamabad and the adjoining city of Rawalpindi since the morning of 24 April 2007. According to a Royal TV press release, PEMRA's action was linked to the channel's coverage of the judicial crisis resulting from the government's actions against Pakistan's Chief Justice.

PEMRA denied taking any action against Royal TV. The president and secretary general of the Rawalpindi/Islamabad Union of Journalists, who condemned the act as being in bad faith and contradicting the claims of the government regarding media freedom in Pakistan, rejected PEMRA's denial.



Source

Pakistan Press Foundation
Press Centre
Shahrah Kamal Ataturk
Karachi 74200
Pakistan
ppf (@) pakistanpressfoundation.org
Phone: +92 21 263 3215
Fax: +92 21 221 7069