Why Fawad Chaudhry Labeled Media Owners as ‘Kaalia’?
The minister said that the media houses received Rs 700 million from the government during the past 2 months but they didn’t pay salaries to the employees
Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry lashed out at the media owners and labeled them as ‘Kaalia’.
The minister gave these remarks as he participated in an interactive session with the digital broadcasters on Monday.
He said the proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) will be empowered to impose a fine of up to Rs 250 million on the television (TV) channels.
Fawad Chaudhry labeled the owners of media houses as ‘Kaalia’, the protagonist of a famous Bollywood movie of 1981, supposedly for their malpractices as he listed them down during the conversation.
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Fawad said that the media houses received Rs 700 million from the government during the past 2 months but they didn’t pay salaries to the employees. He alleged that some media owners are also involved in money laundering.
He said that most of them have formed their own journalistic organizations for the protection of interests.
Fawad said that except the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), all other bodies have been formed by the owners and their leaders stand by them instead of the journalists.
The minister said that the giant media groups in the country aren’t ready to give details about their accounts.
“Every individual should be able to see the sources of income of the media houses and their expenditures”, he expressed.
Fawad said that the media houses do not submit their annual reports in the Exchange Commission of Pakistan.
Further, the federal cabinet is all set to approve the bill for the establishment of PMDA in its meeting today.
The proposed bill has been opposed by the owners of media houses who claim it would infringe their rights.
