APNS expresses concern over ban on govt ads for Dawn group

KARACHI: The All Pakistan News­papers Society has expressed “grave concern” over the complete stoppage of government advertisements to the Dawn Media group.

In a statement on Tuesday, APNS said its executive committee had adopted a resolution at a recent meeting in Karachi, expressing its dismay over the complete ban on the release of federal and provincial government ads to DawnMedia for the last 15 months.

“The Executive Committee noted that the newspaper founded by Quaid-i-Azam is struggling for survival,” it said. “The APNS was of the considered opinion that the denial of government ads to Daily Dawn is not only unjust but also an attack on freedom of expression.

“The APNS observed that this action has been taken to force the media group to change its editorial policy. The APNS reiterated that government advertisements are paid through the public exche­quer. Hence these should not be used as a tool to impact editorial policy of newspapers.”

The Executive Committee, the statement said, unanimously expressed its solidarity with DawnMedia in “this hour of financial strangulation”.

“The APNS Executive Committee exp­ressed its concern over indifference of the federal government to implementing the decision of Prime Minister Sheh­baz Sha­rif three years ago to increase the rates for government advertisements. The de­­lay has not only caused severe financial crunch to the newspaper industry but also shows that instructions of the prime minister are not being honoured,” it said.

The members of the Executive Committee observed that the Press Information Department had not paid a major portion of the outstanding dues of member publications relea­sed after the new advertising policy of 2020.

“They requested the PID to expedite the payment of outstanding dues and allocate a fair share in the quantum of advertisements for the print media.

“They also demanded that regional PID offices be empowered to suggest media of their regions and authorise the clients to select the media of their choice,” the Executive Committee said.

Grievances of Sindh-based members

According to the statement, the Sindh-based members informed the committee that the provincial government had redu­ced the share of member publications in the quantum of advertisements released by it. Further, the payments of non-budgeted advertisements and outstanding liabilities has not been made.

“The members unanimously decided that office-bearers should meet the provincial information minister to apprise him about the problems faced by Sindh-based publications,” said the statement.

Source: Dawn