NA committee asks media outlets to implement minimum wage, pay salaries

ISLAMABAD: The subcommittee of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting chaired by Aminul Haq urged media organisations to implement the government minimum wage of Rs37,000 for journalists and media workers.

Aminul Haq said that media organisations must pay journalists and workers’ salaries, and the governemnt should cease giving advertisements to media outlets that fail to do so.

He said that media organisations and private TV channels were bound to address concerns of journalists, and safeguard their rights.

The meeting also discussed recent recruitments at Pakistan Television (PTV).

Pakistan People’s Party National Assembly Members Sehar Kamran raised concerns about the packages at PTV, questioning the rationale behind new hiring while existing staff were not being paid.

In response, Secretary Information Ambreen Jan explained that if PTV did not hire prominent personalities, its ratings would plummet.

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Sehar Kamran countered by pointing out that YouTubers had been hired at PTV, who were struggling to boost viewership of their own channels. She questioned how they could improve the PTV’s ratings.

Ambreen Jan responded that only two PTV channels, PTV Sports and PTV Home, were profitable, but ample attention was not given to PTV Home.

Aminul Haq strongly opposed political appointments at PTV and called for further steps to restore public trust in the public entity.

He said that with 4,000 employees, PTV had become another PIA.

Sehar Kamran said that public interest in PTV had waned as participants are hardly allowed to speak freely during talk shows. She said that people prefer not to participate in PTV talk shows despite being invited.

The committee also reviewed details shared by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority regarding licences and renewals.

It transpaired that ARY’s broadcast licence had not been renewed since 2018.

The committee directed the information ministry to ensure the payment of salaries to employees of ATV and Shalimar Network.

The committee issued firm directives to ensure payment of salaries of media workers observing that journalists should not be expected to work without wages.

The committee asked the information ministry to take strict action against media organisations not paying their staff. The committee suggested that the government halt advertisements to non-paying media organisations.

The committee was also briefed on the state of the newspaper industry. It was revealed that some newspapers, despite being registered with the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) for a circulation of 200,000 copies, had seen a decline in circulation.

It was revealed that some publications continue to operate on outdated ABC certificates despite laying off a considerable number of their staff.

MNA Sahar Kamran noted that some newspapers were being run by people who have inducted their family members with personal interests, playing havoc with the media industry.

The committee proposed creating a special mechanism to address these issue.

MNA Muhammad Moazzam Ali Khan questioned why newspapers, despite receiving billions of rupees in advertisements, were not conducting audits of their operations.

In response, the committee urged the information ministry to take decisive action against media organisations that fail to pay salaries and asked for further proposals on how to address these issues.

Convener Aminul Haq announced that all briefings would be presented to the NA Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting and authorities concerned would be given another opportunity to respond to the concerns raised in the meeting.