Pemra fines Health TV for airing ‘indecent’ content

Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) has fined Rs200,000 on Health TV for airing indecent content in its Urdu-dubbed drama serial titled ‘Mahrani’ on March 19, 2017.

The Pemra has also directed the channel to immediately stop airing entertainment content and adhere to the programming mix duly approved by the authority at the time of the award of license to it. It has further directed the channel to appoint an in-house monitoring committee and provide details to them within 15 days.

After receiving a number of complaints about the indecent content aired on the channel, Pemra issued a show-cause notice on March 24, 2017 asking the management to explain its position. The channel representative was also called for personal hearing.

Later, after hearing the representative of the channel and reviewing the complaints it was found that the channel aired indecent content on the said date and violated various sections of the Electronic Media Code of Conduct 2015 and Pemra laws.

The committee also noted that Health TV had violated its license’s terms and conditions by airing entertainment content in the form of a drama serial, whereas Health TV is included in a special category and cannot air content other than health-related issues.

The channel is therefore directed to deposit the fine money within three weeks and take measures to avoid such violations in future. In case of non-compliance the authority shall proceed for revocation of license.

Source: The Nation