Executive Committee Meeting Press Release
The APNS flayed the Federal as well as Provincial government advertisements’ policy to release their advertisements in non-APNS publications as well as dummy newspapers due to corruption and malpractices rampart in the government advertisements, stated a press release of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society.
Sarmad Ali, Secretary General, APNS while releasing the decisions taken at the Executive Committee meeting held under the chairmanship of its President, Hameed Haroon has stated that on the report of members, present from across the country, the Executive Committee noted that the Federal as well as the Provincial government advertisements were being doled out to dummy and non-existent newspapers which seldom appear. This practice not only results in the wastage of public money but also badly affects the economies of genuine publications brought out for decades. The Committee noted that newspapers especially in Balochistan were on the verge of closure due to the injudicious policy of release of government advertisements. The Executive Committee strongly urged upon the Federal Government as well as the Provincial governments to act immediately to check these malpractices. The Executive Committee also noted that the payment of government advertisements have been stuck for many months which has also increased the financial crunch in the print media.
The Executive Committee considered the report of the Punjab Provincial Committee and noted with concern that the DGPR Punjab has curtailed display advertisements which are being released only 2 or 3 newspapers whereas the allocation of IPL advertisements to Metro B and Regional publications has been considerably slashed. This policy has resulted in the threat of survival for many Metro B and Regional newspapers which may result in the unemployment of hundreds of journalists and newspaper workers. The Executive Committee has urged upon the Chief Minister, Punjab to intervene in the matter and ensure that the dues relating to government advertisements to newspapers are timely paid, so that the medium sized and smaller newspapers could brave the financial crisis.
The APNS Executive Committee approved the report of Regional Press Committee and advised it to expedite preparations for regional press convention to be held at Lahore in the month of January 2011 wherein the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani will be invited as chief guest. The proposed Convention will consider the problems faced by regional press in Pakistan and finalize its recommendations to address these problems. The Executive Committee also approved the proposal for holding of an international workshop / seminar on the efficacy of the print media where experts from neighboring countries would be invited.
The members of the Executive Committee unanimously approved full membership of Daily Pakistan Today, Lahore as in acknowledgement of Mr. Arif Nizami’s services for the APNS as member of the Executive Committee and President for many terms and as a tribute to his father as an illustrious pioneer of the newspaper industry. The Executive Committee also granted associate membership to Daily Mussalman, Islamabad and Daily Express, Sukkur unanimously. The members through a ballot, approved associate membership to Daily Gulf News Lahore, Daily Hairat Multan, Daily Taaqat, Peshawar and Daily Tijarat, Karachi.
The report of the Advertising Committee was considered by the Executive Committee which granted registration as Media Buying House to M/s. Media Axis (Pvt.) Ltd., Karachi. It approved the restructuring of M/s. Commtech Advertising, Rawalpindi, M/s. Crosscheck Communications (Pvt.) Ltd., Karachi, M/s. Pak Media Communications, Karachi, M/s. 5th Element (Pvt.) Ltd., Karachi and conditional bifurcation of M/s. Xposure Advertising & Marketing (Pvt.) Ltd., Islamabad into M/s. Xpsoure Advertising & Marketing (Pvt.) Ltd. and M/s. X Nine Communications (Pvt.) Ltd., Karachi.
The members present in the meeting, offered Fateha on the sad demise of the sister of the former Secretary General, Dr. Jabbar Khattak.
The meeting was attended by the following :
Hameed Haroon, President APNS, Muhammad Aslam Kazi, Sr. Vice President, Umer Mujib Shami, Vice President, Sarmad Ali, Secretary General, Ms. Shimaila Matri Dawood, Joint Secretary, S.M. Munir Jillani, Finance Secretary, Anwar Farooqui (D/Aghaz), Mehtab Khan (D/Ausaf), Waseem Ahmed (Daily Awam, Quetta), Mumtaz A. Tahir (D/Aftab), Ghulam Akbar (D/Al Akhbar), Arshad A. Zuberi (D/Business Recorder), Abdul Rashid Ghazi (D/Business Report), Syed Faseih Iqbal (D/Balochistan Times), Najamuddin Sheikh (D/Deyanat), Najam-ul-Hassan (F/Engineering Review), Aijaz-ul-Haq (D/Express), Ms. Qudsia K. Khan (D/Financial Post), Kazi Asad Abid (D/Ibrat), Javed Mehr Shamsi (D/Kaleem), Aamir Mahmood (M/Kiran), Kh. Munawwar-ul-Hasan (D/Musawat), Bilal Mehmood (D/Nawa-i-Waqt), Sardar Khan Niazi ( M/Naya Rukh ), Faisal Zahid Malik (D/Pakistan Observer), Dr. Waqar Yousuf Azeemi (M/Roohani Digest), Riaz Ahmed Mansuri (M/The Cricketer), Jamil Ather (D/Tijarat), Altaf Hasan Qureshi (M/Urdu Digest) and Prof. S.B. Hassan (M/Investment & Marketing).
Dr. Jabbar Khattak (ex-officio), Mushtaq Ahmed Qureshi (M/Naey Ufaq), Younus Riaz (D/Beopar), Muhammad Mustafa Abbasi (D/Ibrat) and Masood Hamid attended as special invitees.
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