Govt gave Rs16bn ads to media in five years, Senate told

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Friday, while presenting details of advertisements to print and electronic media in last five years, told the Senate that the federal government gave Rs16.068 billion ads to the media.

Out of Rs16.068 billion, Rs9.48 billion advertisements were given to the print media and Rs6.58 billion ads to the electronic media in last five years.

Senator Sarmad Ali had asked a question from the minister for information and broadcasting with regard to the criteria adopted by the government to allocate advertisements to the newspapers and television channels and the amount given by the government to those newspapers and television channels separately during the last five years with year-wise breakup.

Responding to the question, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ataullah Tarar said the newspapers of the country had received the maximum advertisements, adding that the newspapers were facing financial crisis due to which the current government paid special attention to it.

Tarar said at present as per the 1997 Services Manual, advertisements were given to the news and media outlets and a policy for advertisement was introduced in 2021 which was amended in 2022.

“There is no criteria to gauge electronic media’s eligibility for getting advertisements. However, our rates’ committee based on rating of news channels allows a limit or number of advertisements to be given to a particular channel,” he said.

The minister said no advertisements for any news channel were halted by the current government.

He said the criteria for advertisement was to convey the intended message to maximum audience effectively, whereas the rating system for news channels helps achieve that ambition.

Moreover, the Audit Bureau of Circulation checks the circulation of the newspapers and then issues advertisements to the widely circulated newspapers, he added.

In the Budget 2024, he said 10 percent duty was imposed on the paper used for newspapers which was imported, but it was waived off and no new tax was imposed on newspapers due to the prevailing crisis.

He urged the House that the prevailing policy needs to be improved and made effective under the guidance of the mover of the question and All Pakistan Newspapers Society.