Media Houses Earn Billions of Rupees, Journalists Commit Suicide Due to Unemployment
Thousands of journalists and media workers were fired from all media houses on the pretext of financial problems and deficits
During the five years from 2013 to 2018, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting gave advertisements worth Rs. In 8 years, media houses earned a total of 12621.298 Million rupees in terms of government advertisements.
But at the same time, thousands of journalists and media workers were fired from all media houses on the pretext of financial problems and deficits, and others’ salaries were cut in half and basic necessities such as medical care were cut. Due to this situation, the conscious and educated section of the society fell victim to severe financial crisis due to unemployment, many journalists and media workers passed away due to mental stress or some of them committed suicide. Despite receiving such huge sums in government advertisements alone, many media houses, including Bol News and Nawa-e-Waqt, still do not pay journalists’ salaries and other dues over the years.
Billions for advertisements but don’t pay salaries. Chairman Committee
The Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting was chaired by Faisal Javed at Parliament House. Chairman Committee Senator Faisal Javed said that despite receiving advertisements worth billions of rupees, many months salary was not paid in the institutions due to which the employees were forced to commit suicide.
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He said that despite taking government advertisements, media houses did not pay salaries and other dues of those working in the institutions on time.
Certain media groups have been awarded in the past. Minister of State
Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib said that in the past certain media groups were awarded. In this regard, an audio has also come to light. Can you talk about releasing advertisements or not? The Minister of State said that if some channels received more advertisements than required then some of them would not get it. He said that advertisements are given according to the ratings of the channels
How many government advertisements did media houses get during PML-N era?
Details of funds released for advertisements from 2013 to 2018 were presented in the meeting. The standing committee was informed that a total of Rs. 9 billion was released for government advertisements. All the taxpayers’ money was spent on advertisements.
According to the details presented in the meeting, Jang Group received the most advertisements, thus from 2013 to 2018 Rs 3.12 billion and in eight years Jang Group received a total of Rs 4 billion, 20 crore, 87 lakh, 84 thousand.
During 2013-18, advertisements worth Rs. 62 crore to Geo News (besides payments to subsidiaries), Rs. 1 billion, Rs. 11 crore to Dunya Group, Rs. 1 billion, Rs. 70 crore to Express Group, Rs. 45 crore to TV and Rs. While Rs 26 crore was released for Dawn TV, Rs 21 crore for Rose TV, Rs 21 crore for PTV, Rs 19 crore for Aaj TV, Rs 180 crore for Samaa TV and Rs 160 crore for Waqt TV. News One 150 million, 92 News 130 million, ATV 120 million, New TV 110 million, Khyber TV 110 million, KTN 100 million, ARY 80 million and Channel 24 News 8 million Crores were issued.
How many advertisements did media houses get during PTI era?
The details of the amount paid to media houses by the PTI government in the form of government advertisements from 2018 to November this year were also presented in the standing committee. Rs 93 million, Rs 992 million to Express Group, Rs 50 million to date, Rs 40 million to Capital TV, Rs 96.2 million to Dawn TV, Rs 112.5 million to PTV, Rs 112 million to Aaj TV 12 crore was released to V. News 110 million, 92 News 110 million, ATV 50 million, New TV 30 million, Khyber TV 20 million, KTN 10 million, ARY 15 million. Crore and Rs. 2 crore were released to Channel 24.
He also demanded an inquiry into Musharraf’s advertisements
Senator Irfan Siddiqui said that we have not got the record of this data yet so no inquiry should be made regarding advertisements. He also demanded an inquiry into the advertisements given during the Musharraf regime. He said that the data before 2008 should also be presented in the committee.
How much did PTV Sports earn?
The management of PTV Sports also briefed the committee on the performance and programming of the channel. The committee was informed that ستمبر 12.5 million has been cleared from September 2019 to March 2021. Officials said that PT The income of V Sports stood at Rs 1.8 billion. The committee was informed that before the seventh edition of PSL (January 2022) PTV Sports would be converted to Ultra HD
What happened to Shoaib Akhtar and Dr. Noman?
While briefing the standing committee on the matter regarding Dr. Noman Niaz and Shoaib Akhtar, MD PTV said that immediately after the incident, we took immediate notice of the incident and PTV management took both of them off air. V said that the anchor apologized for the incident and said that he was ashamed. Federal Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain reconciled and still we have kept the two of them off the air. Earlier, the two had reconciled. Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib said that you should complete your inquiry soon and issue a notice to Shoaib Akhtar so that the inquiry can be completed. The chairman of the committee said that Shoaib Akhtar is a legend. The chairman of the committee directed MDPTV to share with the committee when the inquiry is completed.
