a. GEO Asool is a set of draft self regulation guidelines that will be adopted on 14th August. These guidelines are a form of social contract with you, the viewer, our ultimate employer.

a. Trust is a precious value and asset. Most in the country have valued the emergence of independent media and consider it to be a positive check on authoritarian tendencies in the government and other actors of the state as well as members of the public at large. However recently the trust has been shaken somewhat. We feel that the media and the judiciary are both working as change agents and thus are an obstacle for those status quo agents who are more interested in protecting the past than the future. Media accesses are responsible as well but many are also by design trying to destroy the credibility of the media. In this context and background many are looking up to us to be industry leaders and take an initiative as we have a 60 year journalism legacy and we can afford certain truths and pains.

The media's role in informing, educating and entertaining brings with it a huge responsibility. Freedom is not license. The social contract between media and its consumers however has been unwritten….until now.

a. We believe that by making the GEO Asool documents public binds us to them. Pressure from civil society will help us follow our chosen path and balance freedom with responsibility. Also it is important to manage expectations of the customer and in this case GEO Asool helps declare our biases and our values as well as our commitments. We will be relying on the public to give us feedback based on our own declared principles and promises, as that kind of consciousness is more effective than any other kind. We also believe that making this documents public will help our industry at large. A better media will lead to a better Pakistan.

a. GEO Asool documents have been edited and created using some of the best minds in the profession who openly debated, argued and deliberated on the principles that would bind us and keep us on the right path. A committee of reporters, senior editors, hosts and members of our group's editorial and management team vetted seven different codes of conduct from reputable media and regulatory bodies across the world. International and local experts have also given their input to parts of the documents. Acknowledgements

a. GEO Asool does have sections that promise our attempt to be neutral (for example between male vs. female, ethnicities etc). However, it is not always easy to be neutral or unbiased on every issue. For example can one be fully neutral towards a terrorist who has tried to kill innocent people, or a kidnaper or rapist? Though not all issues are that extreme GEO does have certain agendas. But we believe having agenda's is not a bad thing and in fact all organizations and individuals have goals and ambitions. What is different about GEO Asool is that we have for the first time declared our agendas and biases. For example after several debates and discussions we came to the conclusion that judiciary is the most important institution in the interest of Pakistan. This value alone has created 'losses' worth several billion rupees. However we believe it is in our larger selfish industry interest as well because independent judiciary ensures an independent media and also protects democracy in the long run. We believe that as long as we have declared our biases to the viewer, he or she is not being mislead and or unduly influenced. We promise to declare all relevant and important biases to the viewer as well as areas where we promise to be neutral.

The Editorial Committee Chairman, will function like an Ombudsman. The Editorial Committee will include Director News, Managing Director, CEO, President and Chairman or his representative. The Editorial Committee Head will recommend the following punitive measures when GEO Asool is violated. The alleged violator will be given a fair chance for explanation and can bring up to two additional people to give a particular point of view. Video Conference or audio conference will be used where needed for these sessions which will routinely be done once a week and at anytime for an emergency.

1) Call for explanation/inquiry (this can be done solely on the authority of Chairman EC, or at the request of two of the committee members)
2) Issuing Apology (this can be done through recommendation of Chairman and 1 member of the committee)
3) Issuing Fine (this can be done through recommendation of Chairman and 2 members of the committee)
4) Suspension of person Involved (this can be done through recommendation of Chairman and majority vote of the committee)
5) Firing (this can be done through consensus of the members of the committee)

Level 5 penalty will apply to extreme violations or repeat of severe violations or repeat of level 3-4 violations.

Level 5 includes but is not limited to violations of GEO Asool that incite violence, promote dictatorship as an agenda, involve accepting of money or favors to propagate a particular point of view or person, blackmailing and extortion.

a. GEO Asool does have several areas that one can call declared agenda's or positive biases. However mostly GEO Asool is about the don't, and especially related to areas where we may cause harm using the medium and message. As long as our anchors and hosts and others are not causing harm to others and are within the constraints of tolerance (Geo Aur Geenaydo), more or less they are free to have their own opinions. However as per Geo Asool we will make sure that distinction between opinions and facts is cleared and variety of opinion is given (Geo Asool – Opinion). It is also important to give benefit of the doubt to people. Public figures sometimes are open to more criticism than others and some of that maybe unwarranted. It is best to not take someone as face value and not worry about who is saying something, but what they are saying.

a. There are three types of regulations. One is the obvious government sponsored regulation. This form will always throw the baby with the bath water. Government regulation has a huge conflict of interest since it will always protect itself and its rule. The Government has too much incentive to influence the media and reduce criticism and embargo the truth. The other form of regulations are independent and self regulation. Self regulation is a good start since it allows you to lay down your own rules that are declared and that society can judge you against and also hold you responsible for through pressure groups and feedback. An independent ombudsman on top of the self declared codes can help even further. The ideal solution however is a truly independent authority that conducts regulation. In order for such a thing to exist the media has to give up its own authority and hand it over to this committee and more importantly the authority has to deserve that power and truly be close to other outside influence and also be practical in its approach. Such an experiment exists in many countries, and one good example to follow is that of India where 4 experts from civil society are chosen along with 4 rotating serving editors, all headed by a retired Supreme Court Chief Justice. This committee is armed by an agreed code by the industry and has authority in fact to fine and also recommend suspension and closure to the government. In order for this to happen in Pakistan three things need to happen. One, all the channels will need to agree on a code. Two, the channels will need to agree on the committee and structure of the independent authority as well as the names who will be its executive body. Three they will need to give that authority the capacity to take punitive measures. Three the government will have to back off from its demand of government regulation and will need to give space for independent regulation to work.

Recently GEO has addressed the first two requirements. One, through Geo Asool it has given a potential blue print for the industry to use as a basic draft code. Two, recently GEO has sent to PBA a recommendation structure for the independent regulation modeled on the successful Indian model (see nbanewdelhi.com). However lack of unity due to government interference and support has not allowed the association to move forward as fast as it can. It is predicted that GEO and like minded organization will allow for progress to take place now.

a. no allegation aired without point of view of the alleged or his or her representatives
b. no presenting opinions as facts
c. no enticing or condoning violence in any shape or form
d. All anchors and hosts will submit ideas for programs that will include topic, guests and questions that they would be covering in the future programs so Editorial Committee (EC) can give PRE Feedback and post feedback to the hosts and producers of the show using GEO Asool. Baisic idea is that no single shots without checks and balances. A reporter must discuss idea with an editor, a copy editor must discuss with copy desk head, an anchor and producer must discuss with EC.

a. Please give your feedback before 1st August, 2012.

a. A Complaint section will be created on the Geo Asool website post 14th August, 2012 where feedback can be provided on the code and for any violations.

a. Media is the fourth and critical estate in any democracy. In Pakistan, Parliament has been crippled by the establishment and lack of cycles afforded to it. The judiciary and the media are the only pillars that are helping make the other pillars stronger in the long run. However there is always a status quo power stakeholders who will be afraid of change and do not want their ways and their past to be exposed. Some of them may even be in the opposition, establishment and judiciary and not just the government. Granted that media and judiciary need to improve and have an element of watchdogs and regulation and pressures to self-cleanse but the bigger risks comes from those status quo agents who want to prevent exposure and change and information to be available to the public. In this scenario protecting media's independence, even from its hosts, owners, and especially from government, becomes critical.
When we discuss media we at times forget to talk about the most important areas that are affecting freedom of speech in Pakistan:

1) Government Advertisement- Government is the largest single advertiser of Pakistan. However there is no real audit done on how government is spending its advertising and on what merit. Independent analysts estimate that more than 50% of the government advertisement budget is used to buy influence of media and keep it under severe pressure or goes to corruption. Geo in fact gets 35-40% of every advertising rupee share that is spent from all commercial clients. However the Government gives less than 1% of its advertising budget. These anomaly exists to a great extent. For example there is some data that shows that small city channel which gets less than 0.5% of advertising of the commercial market but gets 5% Government advertising. There is one channel that gets 4 crore a month from Government advertising, which makes up almost 50% of its overall advertising- this is an amazing % and nowhere in the world does Government make up such a big figure. How can that channel ask the Government right questions on behalf of public when 50% of its revenue comes the Government.

The alarming thing is that not only government advertisement is not audited properly nor is there an independent committee that oversees it, but there are no rules in existence for TV advertising. Existing Government Advertisement needs to be audited and we need to expose who is getting extra share and why? A new and improved Government advertising law needs to be created and implemented that includes an independent commission that oversees it to ensure that freedom of speech is not being influenced.

2) PEMRA, so called media regulator, is also used as a tool by Government against freedom of speech. Cable Operators are kept under pressure by PEMRA and their equipment is confiscated and or license nor renewed or they are threatened to be turned off. PEMRA also encourages cable operators to air illegal channels and lets them air illegal advertising on them and then uses that as leverage against the cable operators. This forces cable operators to follow all verbal directions of PEMRA to stop or shuffle channels at the back of the spectrum so no one can see the channel or program that is exposing the Government. PEMRA needs to be headed by an independent person, that is not part of the Government. It should be like the NAB and or Election Commission as right to be informed is a basic right and it is too risky to let the Government interfere in that right and no government will be able to resist the temptation not to do so for its own interests and prolonging its rule. PEMRA should also be forced to have quarterly audit by an independent commission made of professionals from civil society that are free from government selection and that can verify that PEMRA rules are not selectively being implemented to help the government influence and muzzle the press.

3) Freedom of Information Act - Though investigation journalism has increased in Pakistan in the past 10 years since private electronic media, still too much of what is known as investigative journalism is actually a collection of leaks to the media by different institutions. Before it was usually just the establishment who was leaking but now there almost all institutions and the private sector is leaking information to the media. However most leaks have an agenda and in order to do increase independent investigative journalism freedom of information act will have to be implemented. This act will allow journalism's contribution to exponentially improve. Cost of investigative journalism will also decrease and competition will increase and at the same time the threat of being exposed will increase for everyone. This is imperative for our society. Pakistan does have a Freedom of Information Act but its ranked as one of the poorest and India's is ranked one of the highest (better than USA). And also the infrastructure required to process the act (manpower and independent audit board that oversees and monitors it is also missing, in India for example each ministry has a Freedom of Information Act Desk).

4) Secret Funds- all secret funds to do with media need to be abolished even if they are part of establishment or government- especially the information ministry.

a. Our finance department has often claimed that GEO Network and Jang Group has lost over 6 billion rupees trying to protect our Asool (Cost of Geo Asool). However we believe that this 'cost' or 'loss' is actually an investment. One analogy and comparison can be made to paying taxes. Paying taxes for us, as well as taking loss for our Asool, is an insurance policy and investment and not just a civic duty. If we pay our taxes, we can be free from government pressures when we are printing or airing the truth about their performance. Due to this viewers and readers tend to trust and stick to our brand and this helps us increase our revenue and market share. Paying taxes is a way to increase our marketshare. Similarly when governments hurts our channels by taking them off air, or takes away government advertising (as all have done in the past), the public puts more faith in us. Yes greed or making money are important for survival as well as for growth. However in the long run, sticking to GEO Asool is a more long term greedy approach.