Pak's media watchdog warns channels against airing fake news

Lahore: Pakistan's media watchdog on Wednesday warned TV news channels against airing fake news items picked up from social media, weeks after they carried false reports of the killing of Indian soldiers at the India-China border.

"Airing fake news on July 17, 2017 regarding the killing of Indian soldiers at India-China border is in violation of several clauses of PEMRA Ordinance 2002 as Amendment by the PEMRA (Amendment) Act 2007 and Electronic Media Code of Conduct 2015," the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) said in the notice.

It also advised all satellite TV channels to adhere to the code of conduct and avoid airing fake news reports/items picked from social media in order to hold the basic professional standard and their credibility.

In case of non-compliance, the matter shall be dealt strictly in accordance with PEMRA laws, it warned.

The Pakistani TV news channels had on July 17 run fake news of the killing of at least 158 Indian soldiers at India- China border. Some Urdu language papers had also carried that news from their monitoring desk.

India's External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay termed as "utterly baseless, malicious and mischievous" the report about casualties of Indian soldiers.