KARACHI: The All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) has expressed its reservations on a notification issued by the Ministry of Information on April 3, wherein a new procedure for release of government advertisements and payment of advertisement bills has been notified.

In a press release, APNS president Hameed Haroon and secretary general Sarmad Ali stated that the mechanism had been proposed in the Draft Centralised Advertising Policy which had not yet been finalised through consultations with stakeholders, namely APNS, PBA (Pakistan Broadcasters Association) and PAA (Pakistan Advertising Association), as assured by the ministry.

The APNS, PBA and PAA already submitted their position papers, but so far no consultation meeting has been convened by the ministry.

The APNS reiterated that the unilateral issuance of the notification by the ministry strongly suggested that the consultation process was meaningless for the ministry as it had already decided to implement the draft policy inimical to fundamental press freedom.

The APNS office-bearers stated that the proposed mechanism was not feasible as at present all government advertisements, display as well as classified, were released by advertising agencies which recovered the payment of ads from sponsoring departments and clear the dues of newspapers. If the proposed mechanism is enforced by the ministry, the advertisement releasing agencies would be absolved of their responsibility for payment and the newspapers would have to run from pillar to post for the recovery of their bills.

The notification, while proposing a new mechanism for the payment of government advertisements, has fixed agency commission of 15 per cent which is in direct contravention of the clear instructions of the Competition Commission of Pakistan that newspapers shared trade discount to agencies as per bilaterally-agreed rates.

The APNS, therefore, urged upon the ministry to withdraw the notification and refrain from implementing the new draft policy until it is finalised in consultation with the stakeholders.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2020