Marriyum Aurangzeb terms news item about Azam Chaudhry as false

ISLAMABAD: The Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb stated on Tuesday that the news report on Azam Chaudhry that appeared in the Friday Times was untrue and without merit. Sheclaimed that Azam Chaudhry was not now employed by Pakistan Television Corporation and never was. She claimed that he had just been a participant in PTV’s issues-based analyst pool. He has not been asked to leave the pool or taken out of it. As she was writing this tweet, she stated that nothing of the such had been communicated to him and that he was a member of the pool of PTV Lahore analysts.

She said that the views and opinions of the said journalist were known to the government at the time he was invited to the press conference.

“If the government wanted to suppress his voice or questions, he would not have been invited and given an opportunity to ask his questions. The Prime Minister answered his questions in detail,” she said.

The minister said that she also answered his questions. She said that the PM spent a significant amount of time answering questions from various reporters at Governor’s House that day.

The minister said that unlike the previous PTI regime and its fascist PM, who was declared a Press Freedom Predator by Reporters Without Borders, PM Shehbaz and the present government firmly believed in the freedom of media.

The PTI government used to only allow selected reporters and journalists to its fascist PM’s press conferences, she remarked. The present government ensured that PM Shehbaz Sharif’s press conferences are open to all reporters and journalists.

The minister said that this story was published without taking the government’s point of view which was unprofessional and fell short of journalistic ethics and standards.