ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Saturday launched a project to digitalise the state media organisations, including the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), Pakistan Television, Radio Pakistan and Digital Media Wing (DMW) at a ceremony here at the Pakistan-China Friendship Centre.

The Digital Transformation of State Media (DTSM) project, initiated by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting also included Directorate of Electronic Media and Publication (DEMP) as well as the advertisements of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

The ceremony was attended by Begum Samina Alvi, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib, Speaker of the National Assembly Asad Qaisar, Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari, Senator Faisal Javed, parliamentarians, media persons, and officials of the Information Ministry and state media outlets.

During the ceremony, the president also gave away award of ISO 9001:2015 and 27001:2013 certifications to APP Managing Director Mobashir Hasan in recognition of the organisation’s improved quality standards of management at par with the international level.

Under the digitalisation project, the APP Digital will be fully operationalised and expanded; the PTV News will go High Definition (HD); Pakistan Radio will start podcasts; National Media University will be established with focus on art, design, animations and digital journalism, while the DMW will focus on strengthening the Digital Media presence of the State of Pakistan.

The digitalisation of the news and other services will provide much improved users experience, and boost speed of news distribution and reach.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2021