ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Infor­mation and Broadcas­ting on Monday asked the information ministry to launch a fresh advertisement campaign to promote business of print and electronic media.

After hearing the stakeholders, committee chairman Faisal Javed said that there has to be a link bet­ween the release of salaries of employees and payment of government advertisements.

“We need to streamline the whole system; the information ministry will devise an updated advertisement policy and present a briefing to the committee to grant media the status of industry,” Mr Javed said.

The committee noted that the Pakistan Electronic Me­dia Regulatory Authority was a weak authority to ensure standard working conditions in electronic media and agreed to work for the upgrade of its rules and regulations.

The committee witnessed a heated debate between the senators, government officials, employers and employees of print and electronic media, which not only led to several disclosures but also exposed official slackness causing distortions in the system.

Office-bearers of the Pakistan Broadcasters Associa­tion (PBA) said they suspected some conspiracy-like situation against the media in the country, as curtailment of advertisements by the government was a tool to curb free speech.

The principal information officer claimed that the issue of non-payment of wages was only a pretext by media houses. He accused the media houses of not following the labour laws.

Officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan said that out of 134 registered media companies, only 32 per cent were filing their annual documentation, and not submitting their audited reports was a violation of law.

Mehtab Abbassi, representing the All Pakistan News­­papers Society, said it was unfair in several respects and even included a clause that the publication would always consider ‘national interest’.

Senator Pervaiz Rasheed asked: “Was it in the national interest when you media people aired that sit-in at D-chowk round the clock?”

This led to a brief exchange of words between him and the committee chairman.

Acknowledging the demand of PBA chairman Shakeel Masood, Faisal Javed directed the information ministry to streamline its mechanism to clear the dues.

Mr Masood said advertisement bills had to be cleared within 60 days as per the law, but the average time was one year, and some payments had been pending for five to seven years.

The case of media workers was presented by the Parliamentary Reporters Association and the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists.

Senators Sajjad Hussain Turi and Rukhsana Zubairi asked the PBA to submit a list of employees who did not get salaries.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2020