THE growth of Pakistan`s media industry has led to many benefits. The level of information available to the public has increased and the nature of it has improved. While over the years we have seen sporadic moves to control the flow of information, the country has fortunately been able to ward off most direct attempts to limit the right to free speech. Yet where the media`s rights are eminently worthy of being defended, so are those of the rest of the citizenry. It is for this reason that in demanding the repeal of the Defamation Act of 2002, the Press Council of Pakistan may be acting in haste. The PCP comprises representatives of crucial professional forums including the All Pakistan Newspapers Society and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists as well as government officials and legislators. At a meeting in Islamabad on Friday, the PCP adopted a resolution demanding the repeal of the 2002 legislation and amendments to Section 500 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 502-A of the Criminal Procedure Code, which also relate to libel and slander.The demand is worthy of remark because in all civilised societies, guarantees of media freedoms are balanced with legal mechanisms that allow individuals the right to approach the justice system if they believe they have been wronged. Particularly for people who are not in the public light, or in cases where the release of information cannot be justified under the principle of overarching public interest, there must be laws that can be invoked in the event of wilful or even inadvertent abuse by the media of people`s privacy rights. It is true that Pakistan`s defamation laws are coercive in their current form, particularly in terms of penalties and the presence of, for example, a Zia-era amendment to the PPC that refuses to recognise veracity or public interest as justifications. It is also true that the media, because of their particular task, are often conduits for allegations, not accusers in themselves. Yet the answer does not lie in removing the citizenry`s access to legalrecourse;it lies in amending and improving the existing framework of laws.