One of the significant principles for a newspaper is to apportion more space to important information on a page in consonance with its importance, however, the tables have turned in Pakistan as the newspapers are turning out to be more of portable ‘signboards’.
The balance between ads and news in a newspaper reflects the policy of an institution and its regard to journalistic values.
It is an established principle that news should be placed in an appropriate position in a newspaper while advertisements are given second priority keeping in view the interests of a reader.
Be it a news website or a newspaper, there should not be a plethora of advertisements and paucity of news. However, the news publishers in Pakistan have overlooked this principle and try to make more money by giving more space to ads.
More space in a newspaper for advertisements signifies owners’ interest in raking in money and the least significance they give to their readers who buy a newspaper to get information.
Following are front-pages of prominent Urdu daily newspapers’ morning editions in Punjab the next day of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) rally in Lahore.
The PDM supporters criticized that the Punjab government injected money to veil the photos of the Lahore power show from front-pages.
However, more should be the onus on the newspapers that still took the advertisement which was their discretion, and turned them into signboards.
Read Also
Are Unbiased Journalists in Pakistan Non-Existent Anymore?
It is credence of the fact that the owners of news agencies are rather keen to make gains from advertisements than to disseminate information to their readers.
The average price of a deemed-credible Urdu daily newspaper in Pakistan lies between Rs 10-15.
However, when a reader purchases it, he experiences something different which he might encounter in free or evening publications with ads all over the page and dearth of information.
As per the core values of journalism, it can be viewed as a violation of readers’ rights who spend money not to look at advertisements but rather to gain information.
Meanwhile, despite heavy earnings, the employees of the same news agencies or media groups long for their salaries for months.
They decry that the owners make money by publishing ads in important sections on a page but were parsimonious to give salaries to their employees.