Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz Monday said resolving the problems of journalists and media workers was the top priority of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government as it firmly believed in the fundamental right of freedom of expression.
During a meeting with office-bearers of the Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE) through video link, the minister said the payment of outstanding dues to the media houses was being started today, which would provide relief to the media industry and workers. The payment of dues would be linked to the payment of salaries to the journalists and media workers by the media houses. The government was planning to evolve a mechanism so that the media workers should not face such problems in future with timely payment of their dues, he added.
The minister said the quota of government advertisements for regional newspapers was imperative as many eminent journalists had emerged from small newspapers.
The minister said transparency would be ensured in the affairs of Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC). He also assured that the problems of news agencies would be resolved.
He said another meeting with the CPNE would be held after Eidul Fitr to decide the matters with consensus. During the meeting, the CPNE delegation briefed the Information Minister on the issues related to the media industry.
Secretary Information and Broadcasting Akbar Durrani and Principal Information Officer Shaheera Shahid also attended the meeting. The video conference was attended among others by CPNE President Arif Nizami, Secretary General Dr Jabbar Khattak, and vice presidents Ikram Sehgal and SK Niazi.
Meanwhile, Shibli Faraz said that the world is praising Imran Khan’s initiative of establishment of Corona Relief Tiger Force for assistance the people.
Tagging an article published by United Kingdom leading newspaper Daily Telegraph, he said that with the national spirit, the youth were helping the people in the fight against coronavirus. The minister said that young volunteers, facilitating the people at this difficult time were pride of the nation.
Daily Telegraph of the United Kingdom in a detailed piece had in an article written by Ben Farmer said the initiative will tap into youth population that is the country’s one of the biggest resources.The force will provide masses of enthusiastic volunteers to aid the police, civil servants and health officials, it said. Their tasks will range from ensuring social distancing rules, applied at public places and food shops to helping hand out emergency cash payments to the poor. The article said among over a million volunteers who signed up for the Tigers force, are some 400,000 students including 50,000 engineers, 45,000 teachers, and 5,000 or 6,000 lawyers.
