Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb has clarified that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s press talk that was ‘deleted’ from PTV was in fact a private conversation with journalists that was never meant to be aired live.
Responding to a question about the speech that was later taken down from PTV, the minister told journalists that cameras were not allowed at
the meeting PM Abbasi’s meeting with journalists following
the meeting of the National Security Com
mittee (NSC) on Monday.
Marriyum added, “If the video had been deleted or prevented from being aired, I would have made a statement on this. It was my decision to take the video off since the press talk was never meant to be aired publicly.” She also criticised
the media’s penchant of relying on ‘sources’, saying: “A recent trend has emerged where media outlets rely on source
s. Had the media
approached me directly instead of resorting to these sources, I would have clarified the matter. However, since this narrative (of the video being deleted) emerged, I decided to
let it be.”
Published in Daily Times, May 19th 2018.
