Fawad Chaudhry, the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, finalised the digital policy for all newspaper websites on Friday, giving in to the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors’ long-standing requests (CPNE).
In a conversation with CPNE members following the death of CPNE president Arif Nizami, he conveyed his condolences and thoughts. He stated that a summary of this policy will be presented to the cabinet for approval next week.
Sohail Khan, the government’s principal information officer, stated that under this strategy, the government will issue/grant advertisements to news websites individually, and that Rs1 billion may be allocated for this purpose.
According to the information minister, regional and local publications will be given their own quota in addition to national newspapers. “Advertisements will be considered for any news site that has been active for more than six months. Advertisements like these will be monitored by a cyber wing “Added he.
Provincial presidents Arshad Arif and Ayaz Khan, together with CPNE senior vice president Kazam Khan, thanked the federal minister for his efforts in getting the digital policy approved.
In June, Fawad promised a group of newspaper editors that an authority to oversee electronic, print, and social media would be established only after all stakeholders had voiced their concerns.
“All media organisations have received the concept document for the authority that the government plans to establish,” he stated.
“We’ll now seek feedback from media organisations, including the CPNE,” says the spokesperson.
The minister said that the social media ordinance was “false news” and that the government had nothing to do with it.
“This necessitates the passage of legislation to ensure that misinformation is not spread through social media, particularly YouTube.”
Source: tribune
