Govt to take positive steps for print media’s success: Marriyum

KARACHI: Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb has announced an increase of 15 percent in the rates of government advertisements. She said the advertisement budget was being separately specified for each medium, including electronic media, digital media and print media. Adding to it, the minister said that there would also be a considerable increase in the advertising budget.

While acknowledging the role of the media in the success of the society and the promotion of democracy, the minister announced that the government would take positive steps for the success of the print media. She further assured to increase the advertisement volume for newspapers, while keeping in view the significance of regional and small newspapers.

The information minister made these announcements during the lunch organised by the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) for the members of its executive body. The Principal Information Officer (PIO), Rao Tehsin Ali Khan, was also present in the session.

By making it clear that the government’s primary policy is to get clearance of dues, the minister assured that the abolished ministries, governmental institutions and other ministries would pay their dues soon. In this regard, she specified that the process of the clearance of dues was underway. She also highlighted that the prime minister had approved the summaries of payable dues and they were expected to be paid soon.

In this session of the executive body, the associate membership of Daily Ummat, Islamabad, Sindh Post, Karachi, Daily Awami Mahaz, Karachi, and the membership of Today Muslim were reinstated after approval.

Before the meeting of the executive body, the APNS roundtable was organised on January 17, 2017. The agenda of the roundtable was to discuss the role of the government sector in advertisements and it was discussed in detail. The keynote speaker of the roundtable, PIO Rao Tehsin Ali Khan, had shed a light on the role and effects of advertisements of the government sector on the media. The Director General External Publicity Wing Shafqat Jalil and Deputy Director Advertising Press Information Department (PID) Samina Farzin had outlined the current challenges being faced by the media. They also reiterated the need to be compatible with the needs and demands of future.

CEO Midas (Private) Limited Inam Akbar, CEO Channel 7 Jawad Humayun, CFO Mcomm Zahid Khan made presentations during the roundtable session. In these presentations, it was strongly stated that the challenges faced by the print media could only be tackled if newspapers would focus on the burgeoning sphere of technology and new policies.

Many people belonging to newspapers and advertising agencies took part in this session, including the APNS President Sarmad Ali, APNS Senior Vice-President Rameeza Majid Nizami, APNS Vice-President Mumtaz A Tahir, APNS Secretary General Umer Mujib Shami, APNS Joint Secretary Syed Muhammad Munir Jilani, Mehtab Khan (Daily Ausaf, Islamabad), Waseem Ahmed (Daily Awam, Quetta), Rehmat Ali Razi (Weekly Azm/ Daily Taaqat, Lahore), Humayun Tariq (Daily Business Report, Faisalabad), Sohail Aziz (Daily Business Recorder, Lahore), Najamuddin Shaikh (Daily Diyanat, Karachi), Rizwan Ashraf (Daily Dunya, Lahore), Kazi Asad Abid (Daily Ibrat, Hyderabad), Javed Mehr Shamsi (Daily Kaleem, Sukkur), Mian Akbar Ali (Daily Khabrain, Lahore), Syed Mumtaz Ahmed Shah (Daily Mashriq, Lahore), Mushtaq A Qureshi (Monthly Naye Ufaq), Gauhar Zahid Malik (Daily Pakistan Observer, Islamabad) and Waqar Yousuf Azeemi (Monthly Roohani Digest, Karachi).