KP minister’s paper gets millions in ads

ISLAMABAD: Although Pakistani media is deep in the financial crisis, a little-known newspaper in Peshawar is doing a roaring business. Secret of success? It has received a record business of Rs57.42 million from the owner who happens to be a provincial minister.

The newspaper is among the top seven highly paid newspapers in the media list. There are 108 newspapers on the media list of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government. The provincial government has fixed Rs457.31 per centimeter rate for the paper.

The newspaper which doesn’t has its own website received Rs23.12 million for 48,000-centimetre advertisement from the provincial government from August 2018 to July 2019. Similarly, the paper was awarded Rs34.30 million advertisement from 2014 to May 2018, official documents reveal.

The minister denies the ownership of this newspaper and giving any favour to it. However, the official documents confirms he has handed over the publishing rights to his brother but the printing rights are still with him. Whereas, the record also proves the paper receives whopping business during minister’s stint in the office. The newspaper advertisement declined during the caretaker government in 2018 keeping the actual circulation of the paper.

Interestingly, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has a law which prevents and minimize the possibility of conflict between the private interests and public duties of the public office holders.

Talking to The News, the minister said he is no more attached with the newspaper as he has handed over the declaration of this newspaper to his brother. However, the official record contradicts the minister’s claim.

As per the documents, a person made a declaration on July 19, 2016 to cease his authority in favour of another person (the minister) to be the printer and publisher of two newspapers. Similarly, the former also made two separate declaration to have ceased to be the publisher and printer in favour of the latter.

However, the latter then issued a declaration in favour of his brother to be the publisher of the paper who then declared himself as the publisher of the papers. However, the latter has neither withdrew his authority in favour of his brother to be the printer nor the brother has declared himself as the printer of the papers. Therefore, minister continues to be the printer and legal owner of the papers.

The documents reveal that the newspaper in question received a total of 1932 centimetres (cm) advertisement in 2014-15 from the KP government. However, all of a sudden it increased manifold in the coming years as in 2015-16 the paper received total government advertisement of 15,704cm, in 2016-17 it increased further to 20,801cm, in 2017-18 it received 21,011cm and in 2018-19 it received 11,400cm. The paper was awarded 88,242cm of total advertisement by the KP government from 2014 to 2018 and the cost of one centimetre was fixed Rs388.71. Hence, a little known received Rs 34,300,857 from the government.

On average, the paper received 17648 centimetres (Rs6,860,109) advertisement from the KP government annually 1407.7 centimetres (Rs571,675) monthly. However, during the second tenure of PTI government, the newspaper business thrived even more as the minister got his newspaper’s rate increased from Rs 388.71 to Rs 457.31.

After the General Elections 2018, government ads rate for the newspaper were enhanced from Rs 388.71 to Rs 457.31 per centimetre. The sources in the ministry informed that the minister used his influence to get the rates increased. The sources claim that newspaper’s advertisement was enhanced without any scrutiny or monitoring report regarding the actual circulation of the paper.

Documents show the government advertisement for the newspaper dropped during the caretaker government in 2018. The newspaper was awarded 1336cm, 516cm and 243cm advertisement in May, June and July respectively. However, in August when the PTI won the elections, the advertisements for the paper again increased manifold. Some 1978cm, 1959cm, 1944cm, 2695cm, 2443cm, 3355cm, 2983cm, 3240cm, 3465cm, 3618cm and 2307cm were awarded to the paper from August 2018 to June 2019 respectively. A total of 48000cm advertisement were given to the minister’s newspaper from August 2018 to June 2019.

When multiplied this with the price per centimetre, Rs 21,950,880 were given to his own newspaper in one year only. Similarly, in July the paper got 2564cm advertisement from the provincial government. Hence, the paper received Rs23,123,423 during this period. The sources further claim that besides the classified ads, the paper is regularly getting four to five color displays every month.

It is pertinent to mention here that the paper had been receiving a nominal advertisement from the provincial government before PTI came into power in KP. This is reflected even in the official record as the newspaper received only 1932 centimetre ads from the provincial government during 2014. However, the ratio of advertisements for the paper increased manifold after the minister assumed the office.

When contacted, the minister said he had nothing to do with the paper as after assuming the office, he handed over the newspaper to his brother and he didn’t know how much business the newspaper is getting. He said the paper was getting government ads as per the government’s policy.

When asked whether he used his influence to get the newspaper’s rates enhanced, the minister categorically denied and said the rates are fixed by the Press Information Department (PID) and he has nothing to do with this. “Fata has been merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa hence; the newspaper market has grown and this might be one of the reason of increased rates”, he said.

“The newspaper was one of the top newspapers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, during the ANP government it was politically victimized. The ANP government stopped paper’s advertisement because being the Chief Editor of the newspaper I was criticizing the then provincial government. Still the current rates of the paper are not higher if you compare it with its competitors”, commented the minister.

When the minister was asked whether it is not a violation of “The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Prevention of Conflict Of Interest Act, 2016” as his paper is getting maximum advertisement from the government, he said he was not violating the law as the newspaper didn’t belong to him now.

When the minister was told that the documents still showed him owning the printing rights, the minister got angry and said “write whatever you want to write” and then hung up the phone.