ISLAMABAD: Minister of Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry has urged the private media owners to develop successful business models for profitability rather than relying on government advertisements to run their businesses.
Addressing a seminar on National Security and Role of Media in Islamabad on Thursday, he said Pakistan is the most deregulated country in terms of media in the world. He said the biggest peril to media is the business model of media organizations itself.
He said relying on the government to run their media businesses is not a feasible idea.
He said the government is already under a heavy burden of debts.
He said it is not government’s job to support media businesses. He said due to a gradual increase in the speed of the internet, the shape of media would be quite different in the next decade.
The Information Minister said the government wants to regulate social media which is not possible without an active collaboration with global social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others.
Fawad Chaudhry said we have to see how much we can cope with international regulations and over time the international regulations will govern the rules of national regulations.
The Minister said Pakistan is the most modern country in the world in terms of media development. However, he cautioned that only those media outlets will survive that will produce quality content to stay ahead in the game of competition, while others will cease to exist.
He said the mass communication departments of the universities will also have to update their curricula to meet the future challenges.
He said the current curriculum of mass communication is not updated and it should be made dynamic to reflect the changing media landscape in the world.
He said efforts are afoot to merge the academies of Radio Pakistan and Pakistan Television Corporation as part of proposed Pakistan Media University that will act as the main institution to impart training to students as well as working professionals.
