DNA
KARACHI: The All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) has called upon the information ministry to implement recommendations and proposals agreed upon during meeting of stakeholders and information ministry on December 7, 2020.
In a letter written to the Information Secretary Shahera Shahid, the APNS Secretary General Sarmad Ali drew the attention of the Secretary towards that meeting stating it was concluded that the Ministry of Information will streamline the government advertising procedures and amend the new mechanism being implemented after April 03, 2020.
It was specifically agreed upon that the classified ads will be reverted to advertising agencies as in the past to resolve the problems being faced in billing and payment procedures. It was also agreed upon that the client departments would be allowed to select the media of their choice with the right of PID to make additions / deletions in release of advertisements
It is regretted that the agreed conclusions have not yet been notified instead a notification has been issued on January 08, 2021 wherein the procedures of Centralized Advertising Policy were reinforced whereby the government departments were strictly forbidden to suggest the media of their choice. This action has caused massive decrease in the quantum of advertisement being released to regional and medium sized newspapers
You would appreciate that in the era of decentralization and devolution, the insistence on centralization of media, would be disastrous for the growth of newspaper industry and would not only negate the democratic norms but also deprive the departments / ministries / autonomous bodies to select the media of their choice as sponsoring clients are better aware and capable of selecting the media to reach their targeted audience
The Secretary General requested the Information Secretary to allow the client departments to select the media for their advertisements and notify the decisions taken at the stakeholders meeting of December 08, 2020.
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