APNS rejects ads linkage with Wage Award | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

APNS rejects ads linkage with Wage Award

KARACHI – The APNS has strongly rejected the linkage of government advertisements with the implementation of Wage Board Award, stated a press spokesman of the Society.

The Executive Committee of All Pakistan Newspapers Society, which met under the chairmanship of its President, Arif Nizami, considered the news report relating to the decisions of the Federal Cabinet wherein the information Minister has announced that the Cabinet has decided that a formula for a linkage of advertisements would be worked out.

The Executive Committee noted that government advertisements are issued from the public exchequer and cater the requirements of the advertisers and hence these advertisements should not be released on the whims and wishes of the Press Information Department.

The APNS has, therefore, always opposed the centralisation policy of government advertising and has observed that through this policy, the successive governments have used advertisements as a lever to suppress and victimise the dissenting press.

Receiving public sector advertisements is a right of the national press and as such the government does not have a right to curtail or distribute them as a dole-out.

The Executive Committee hence rejected any linkage of government advertisements and wages, and termed it as another tool to victimise the national press.

It also noted that the implementation of the Wage Board Award does not come under the purview of the Cabinet as there was a separate statutory body for this purpose. Any direct intervention of the Cabinet will be seen as violative of the statutory authority of the ITNE and thus would be ultra vires.

The Executive Committee of the APNS noted with concern that despite meeting with the Prime Minister, Ch Shujaat Hussain, and the designated Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz, the situation of press-government relations has not improved, rather deteriorated further The Prime Minister had assured that the ban on government advertisements to Nawa-i-Waqt/The Nation would be restored within a week but no effort has been made in this regard.

The APNS was dismayed over the passage of Defamation Amendment Bill in the National Assembly whereas the Prime Minister in his meeting with the APNS and the CPNE held on August 11, 2004, had agreed that the reservations of the press bodies on the proposed amendments in the Defamation Ordinance would be given due weight.

The Executive Committee congratulated S.H Hashmi on the award of Sitara-e-Imtiaz and Pir Sufaid Shah Hamdard on being bestowed with the President’s Award for Pride of Performance by the government of Pakistan on Independence Day. The Committee noted that the Award was a recognition of their services in the field of advertising and journalism, respectively.

The Executive Committee granted the provisional accreditation for Future Vision Advertising Lahore and ABC Advertisers, Peshawar.

The members also confirmed accreditation for Eiman Ad Communications, Lahore, Ideas Workshop, Islamabad, Kenad (Pvt) Ltd, Islamabad, Art Techniques (Pvt) Ltd, Lahore, and The Brand Partnership (Pvt) Ltd, Karachi.

The Executive Committee also granted associateship for Media Line Advertising, Karachi.

The meeting was attended by the following:

Arif Nizami, President (Nawa-i-Waqt), Syed Faseih Iqbal, Sr Vice President, (Balochistan Times), Mohammed Aslam Kazi, Secretary General (Kawish), Mushtaq A. Qureshi, Joint Secretary (Naey Ufaq), Waqar Yousuf Azeemi, Finance Secretary (Roohani Digest), Anwar Farooqi (Aghaz), Arshad A. Zuberi (Business Recorder), Najmuddin Sheikh (Deyanat), Hameed Haroon (Dawn), Ms Qudsia Khan (Financial Post), Kazi Asad Abid (Ibrat), Syed Sarmad Ali (Jang), Javed Mehr Shamsi (Kaleem), Mohammad Shabbir (Khabrain), Syed Fawaz Badshah (Mashriq), Peshawar, Inquilab Matri (Millet Gujrati), Mujeeb-ur-Rahman Shami (Pakistan), Ibrahim Ghauri (Mystery Magazine), Khushnood Ali Khan (Sahafat), Riaz Ahmed Mansuri (The Cricketer), Pir Sufaid Shah Hamdard (Wahdat), Abid Abdullah (Express) and Masood Hamid (Dawn) attended the meeting as special observers.

Source: Business Recorder

Date:8/21/2004