No TV anchor stopped from expressing views, says Awan.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) has not barred any television anchor from expressing their views during talk shows, government's chief spokesperson Firdous Ashiq Awan said on Monday.

Taking to Twitter a day after Pemra directed TV anchors not to give their 'opinions' during talk shows and limited their role to a 'moderator', she said the anchorpersons are free to "discuss anything and everything" during their "exclusive shows".

Awan, the special assistant to the prime minister on information and broadcasting, stressed that the Pemra advisory was a reiteration of the authority's existing code of conduct concerning court orders "which needs to be taken care of to avoid conjecturing".

In a scathing directive issued on Sunday, Pemra had directed the anchors hosting regular shows not to appear as experts in talk shows on their own or other channels. Media houses were advised to select the guests in talk shows with utmost care and keeping in view their knowledge and expertise in a particular subject.

'Participants/invitees should be selected with due care having credibility as fair and unbiased analysts with requisite knowledge/expertise on the subject matter. As per Pemra code of conduct, the role of anchors is to moderate the programmes in an objective, unbiased and impartial manner, excluding themselves from their...