MARDAN
Deputy Commissioner, Habibullah Arif on Thursday issued directives to all the heads of provincial and federal departments to follow the code of conduct issued by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Information and Public Relations Department for interviewing government officials and media talk.
“No journalist or social media activists who do not have an information department card will be not able to interview government officials, it was stated in a statement issued here by deputy commissioner.
According to the statement, Deputy Commissioner Habibullah Arif issued a letter to the District Police Officer, all district and federal departments to implement the code of conduct for interview, media talk, press conference and other functions to ensure implementation of the orders issued by the Information Department.
“Entry into government offices and banning self-expression on the basis of social media only, journalists with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information and Public Relations card holders will be allowed to attend the functions, meetings of the heads of any government departments in the district.
It was stated in the statement that reporters who do not have the accreditation card of the Information and Public Relations Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will not be able to attend or cover any function, meeting or press conference of the heads of government departments.
“We will ensure the implementation of rules and regulations issued for journalists. Anyone who runs a social media activist or Facebook page will not be considered a journalist”, it was stated in the statement.
Habibullah Arif added that we will ensure full implementation of information instructions.
He added that Journalism is a sacred profession and real journalists are considered as the eyes and ears of the society and keep the people informed about the happenings in the society.
He added that only through journalism it is possible to differentiate between the oppressed and the oppressor in light of this, social media activists and Facebook page operators have been banned from interviewing government officials or doing media talk. He added that it is our duty to ensure its implementation.
He added that social media activists and Face book page operators are also posing as journalists and interviewing officials of various departments, although to consider them journalists would be an abuse of the journalism sector and real journalists.
