LAHORE: Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Saturday said that institutional and sectoral reforms initiated by Prime Minister Imran Khan would ensure a positive change in the people’s lives.
Speaking at the launching ceremony of the book ‘Talkhiyyan’ here at the Aiwan-e-Iqbal, he said that the reforms would also prove to be beneficial for the working journalists by upgrading their socio-economic status. “The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was taking effective measures to streamline the affairs of the media industry by resolving the problems of journalists,” he added.
Fawad said the government had completed working on the wage board award, besides introducing a new advertising policy, under which the role of advertising agencies had been minimised.
Media houses, he said, would now receive advertisements directly from the ministry, which had linked the issuance and payment on their account with the payment of salaries to the journalists and media workers. It would help in improving the living standard of the working journalists, he added.
On this occasion, Pakistan Today Editor, renowned journalist and analyst Arif Nizami said that the media policy of the PTI government was emasculating the free media not only financially but to add insult to injury, the government officials have already started to declare print and electronic media as things of the past to discredit their significance.
He added that media workers had struggled for a long period in the country, especially during the eras of dictatorships, to bring press freedom, regretting that the newly-proposed Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority (PMRA) is likely to curb the freedom of speech.
Meanwhile, Fawad said he had acquaintance and friends from the journalists community. He used to have discussions on social and national issues with them at a Lahore hotel. The Lahore Press Club was his second home, he added.
“Whenever I talk to APNS (All Pakistan Newspapers Society), CPNE (Confederation of Pakistan News Editors) and other media owners’ associations, my heart always beats for the working journalists,” Fawad said while lauding contribution of journalists in the society.
