Says a vibrant press keeps eye on functioning of govt, highlights issues of public interest
The Federal Government will soon implement the assurance given by Prime Minister, Mian Shahbaz Sharif to the All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS) with regard to increase in the government advertisement rates as it believes in the promotion and development of vibrant print media to counter the fake media platforms, stated Mr. Attaullah Tarar.
Tarar made these reassuring remarks while ad-dressing members of the APNS Executive Commit-tee at a dinner he hosted for them at the Information Ministry.
The dinner was attended by Secretary Information, Ms. Ambreen Jan, PIO Mr. Mubashar Hasan and officials of the Ministry. The APNS was represented by Muhammad Athar Kazi, Secretary General, Fi-nance Secretary Naveed Kashif, Chairman of the Federal Capital Committee (FCC) Islamabad & Rawalpindi and Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Pakistan Observer, Mr Faisal Zahid Malik and other members of the Executive Committee. The Federal Information Minister stated that the issues of pay-ments faced by the newspapers industry were being addressed and the Federal government had paid over Rs.6 billion to the media as their dues.
He announced that the share of print media in the payment as well as the quantum of advertising would be increased. Tarar assured that the Ministry is putting in its best efforts that all dues be cleared regularly leaving no dues pending for payment. He stated that a committee of all stakeholders to weed out dummies has been formed which will benefit the economies of genuine publications. He also advised the newspapers to innovate themselves in order to brave the challenges being faced by the print media.
The minister was earlier briefed by the President APNS Senator Sarmad Ali and members of the Executive Committee on the issues confronted by the newspaper industry.
The members stated that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in August 2023 had announced increased in the government advertisement rates but the decision has not yet been implemented despite various assur-ances. They also apprised that the print media was facing acute monetary crunch due to the non-payment of their dues as the major share of the payment released was allocated to electronic media, whereas newspapers were paid less than 20pc of the released payments.
They also requested that a fair share in the quantum of advertisement for the print media be allocated. The members reiterated their demand that the re-gional PID offices be empowered to suggest media of their region.
Meanwhile, the Executive Committee of All Paki-stan Newspapers Society held its meeting on Wednesday with President, Senator Sarmad Ali in chair. Mr. Mohammad Athar Kazi, Secretary Gen-eral announced the decisions urging the federal and the provincial governments to expedite payments of long pending bills to help newspapers meet the fi-nancial crunch faced by the print industry.
The members expressed their concerns over the non-payment of dues by DGPR relating to the pre-vious tenures. The members also decided that a delegation led by APNS President would meet Sec-retary Information Sindh to press for payment of long overdue non budgeted payments.
The Executive Committee approved the report of the Advertising Committee and granted provisional accreditation to M/s Brand Spectrum (Pvt.) Ltd. Lahore.
The meeting was attended by Senator Sarmad Ali, President; Mohammad Athar Kazi, Secretary Gen-eral; Naveed Kashif, Finance Secretary; Mohsin Bilal, Joint Secretary; Faisal Zahid Malik ( D/ Paki-stan Observer), Mohsin Seyal (Aftab), Bilal Farooqi ( Aghaz), Ansar Mahmood Bhatti (Monthly Centre Line), Fauzia Shaheen (M/Dastak), Najamuddin Sheikh (D/ Deyanat), Javed Mehr Shamsi ( D/Kaleem), Imtinan Shahid ( D/Khabrain), Bilal Mahamood ( Nawa-e-Waqt), Rasakh Munir ( D/Mashriq Peshawar), Aamir Malik ( D/ Mashriq Quetta), S.M.Munir Jilani (D/Paigham), Usman Mujib Shami (D/Pakistan ), Khushnood Ali Khan (D/ Sahafat), Humayun Gulzar ( D/Sayadat), Imran Ather (D/Tijarat) and Syed Haroon Shah ( D/Wahdat).
