Public Information Officer, Office of the Press Registrar is directed to provide the Appellant following requested information within 7 working days of the receipt of this Order:
“Verified copy of the latest original application form including the mandatory requirements for the transfer of ownership / publisher ship of Akhbar-e-Sheher in Urdu (اخبار شہر) from Peshawar in the name of MS Nighat Shaheen submitted at the office of Press Registrar for NOC.
Verified copy of the original application form including the mandatory requirements for the transfer of ownership / publishership of AAJ from Peshawar in the name of MS Nighat Shaheen submitted at the office of Press Registrar for NOC.
Verified copy of the original application form including the mandatory requirements for the transfer of ownership / publishership of AAJ from Abbottabad in the name of MS Nighat Shaheen submitted at the office of Press Registrar for NOC.”.
Public Information Officer, Office of Press Registrar is directed to ensure that personal information such as health condition, bank account numbers, financial statements, phone numbers, addresses and CNICs is not disclosed while providing information to the Appellant.
This commission is of the view that any application form and mandatory documents submitted for the transfer of ownership of newspapers is a matter of public importance as these documents relate to the regulation of public good. That is why Section 5 (1) (e) of the Act requires every public body to proactively disclose “particulars about the recipients of any concession, permit, licence or authorization granted by a public body”.
The constitutional right of access to information in matters of public importance encompasses information pertaining to those who are licensed to provide information to citizens about matters of public importance because each media organisation has a certain world view, an ideology which it ends up preaching to the citizens while providing information.
No matter how hard a media organisation may try to be objective, the form and content of information provided by the media organisations is shaped by the world view and ideology of media organisation. Furthermore, it is a common knowledge that the media performs an extremely critical task of shaping opinions of the masses. Therefore, citizens have every right to know about the media organisations so that they could know what is the narrative of those who are trying to shape their narrative.