ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Friday said it was her decision not to telecast Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s press talk live.
Talking to media representatives in Islamabad, Marriyum Aurangzeb said it was a press talk and not a press conference, therefore it wasn’t necessary to telecast it live.
The information minister said journalists were called to the Prime Minister’s House for a press talk. She said cameras were not permitted to be taken in.
Marriyum Aurangzeb said a new tradition of airing news, taken through sources had started. She said if she was asked by the media, she would have explained everything.
The minister also said if the press talk footage was deleted from Pakistan Television (PTV), she would release a statement.
It is worth mentioning here that on May 14, following the meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) which unanimously termed Nawaz Sharif’s remarks appeared in Dawn on May 12 as incorrect and misleading, the prime minister held a press conference; however, that wasn’t telecast live, triggering a wide ranging criticism.
Even some of the sources alleged that either the Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb had deleted the press conference footage at PTV by herself or seized that in her custody.