ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz said that Pakistan has an independent and vibrant media, ARY NEWS reported.
In a message posted on micro-blogging site-Twitter, Shibli Faraz said that he stands by on his comments quoted by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). “We believe in the constitutional and democratic right to speech,” he said.
بی بی سی سے کی گئی اپنی بات پر قائم ہوں کہ پاکستان میں میڈیا آزاداورفعال ہے۔اظہار رائےکےبنیادی،آئینی اورجمہوری حق پر
کامل یقین رکھتےہیں۔حکومت کی جانب سے کسی چینل یااخبار کوکھبی پریس ایڈوائس جاری نہیں کی گئی اورنہ ہی کسی قسم کا دباؤڈالا گیا۔خود پر تنقید مثبت انداز میں لیتے ہیں۔ https://t.co/AdCzOGGoEK— Senator Shibli Faraz (@shiblifaraz) December 20, 2020
The information minister said that the government had never issued press advice to a channel or a newspaper. “We have never exerted any pressure on media and takes criticism on the government in a positive manner,” he said.
On November 20, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz said while talking to media that the state institutions have lost their credibility to continuous politicization.
To counteract the politicization menace which has affected people’s confidence in the institutions, the incumbent government is ensuring recruitments on merit strictly, said the federal information minister.
He underscored that these institutions are often not found doing what they are supposed to do, suggesting political affinity due to their recruitments in the first place.
There are many state offices including Pakistan Television and Radio Pakistan which are fraught with unethical recruitments that he suggested caused people to lose trust in them.