APNS Urges Government to Address Newspaper Industry Issues

KARACHI: Principal Information Officer Raisa Adil visited the office of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) and met Sindh-based members of its Executive Committee.

She was accompanied by Irum Tanvir, Director General PID, Karachi.

APNS President Senator Sarmad Ali welcomed the officials and briefed them on challenges facing Pakistan’s newspaper industry.

APNS Seeks Higher Government Advertising Rates

Senator Sarmad Ali said the Prime Minister’s commitment to increase government advertising rates for print media had yet to be implemented.

He said newspapers were facing severe economic challenges. He urged the government to implement the promised increase in advertising rates.

The APNS president also proposed delinking government advertising rates from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).

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He suggested that existing rates should remain unchanged until a new mechanism is developed to determine newspaper circulation and readership.

The APNS leadership also proposed merging the offices of the ABC and Press Registrar into a single entity.

Publishers Call for Media Policy Reforms

The APNS president said the authority to determine government advertisement rates should be shifted from the Cabinet Division to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

He said this would bring print media in line with the policy framework applicable to other media sectors.

APNS members also called for reforms and restructuring of the ABC and the office of the Registrar. They proposed simplifying registration procedures through consultation with all relevant stakeholders.

Publishers Seek Clearance of Outstanding Dues

The APNS members raised concerns over outstanding payments owed to member publications.

They said the PID Islamabad had not cleared a major portion of dues related to advertisements released after the implementation of the 2020 advertising policy.

The members urged the Principal Information Officer to expedite payment of the outstanding amounts.

They also called for a fair share of government advertising for print media.

APNS members further proposed empowering regional PID offices to recommend media outlets in their respective areas. They suggested that client departments should also be allowed to select suitable media according to their communication requirements.

Call for Review of Government Advertising Policy

Senator Sarmad Ali said the existing government advertising policy was largely based on a framework dating back to 1964.

He called for a comprehensive review to bring the policy in line with current media conditions and requirements.

APNS Executive Committee members proposed giving regional PID offices and client departments greater flexibility to prepare media plans.

They said such plans should reflect communication objectives and target audiences.

PIO Assures APNS of Support

Raisa Adil thanked APNS representatives for the meeting and discussion.

She assured the members that efforts would be made to address the issues raised during the meeting at the earliest.

The meeting was attended by APNS Senior Vice President Nazafreen Saigol Lakhani, Vice President Shahab Zuberi, Secretary General Muhammad Athar Kazi, and other Executive Committee members.

Other participants included Javed Mehr Shamsi (Kaleem), Kazi Asad Abid (Ibrat), Younus Mehr (Halchal), Dr Jabbar Khattak (Awami Awaz), Bilal Farooqui (Aghaz), Fauzia Shaheen (Dastak), Mumtaz Phulpoto (Awami Parchar), Tahir Qureshi (Naey Ufaq), Syed Akbar Tahir (Jasarat), Najamuddin Sheikh (Deyanat), Aamir Malik (Mashriq), Ali Hamza and Muhammad Irfan (Ummat).