Parliament's Committee on Independent Entities has begun deliberating on the controversial media regulation bill after the piece of legislation was accepted by the parliament yesterday.
The bill was accepted with votes from 49 MPs amid protests outside the Parliament building staged by reporters.
Committee deliberation began with a timeline for the bill, as suggested by the MP for Fuvamulah South Constituency Ibrahim Hussain outlined that the bill's work should be wrapped by the 5th of September.
He also suggested seeking public and stakeholder consultations starting today and until the 6th of next month.
The Committee has also scheduled meetings next week with the Media Council, Maldives Broadcasting Corporation, registered media outlets, the Youth Ministry, and the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives to seek their opinion on the matter.
MP for Thulhaadhoo Constituency, Abdul Hannan Abubakur, submitted the bill earlier this month, which proposes to combine the Media Council and the Broadcasting Commission to form a new entity that would regulate media practices in the country.
Media organizations in the country say that the bill will snatch the rights of reporters and restrict freedom of expression, and speech.
