An interesting exchange took place between an All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) delegation and Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan when the former called on him on October 16, 2018. The PM conceded that without the media's help he would not have attained the high office he occupies. In response to the APNS's elucidation of the woes attending the print media, Imran Khan promised to extend all-out support to the newspaper industry to enable it to deal with its long-standing problems and continue to play its important role in strengthening democracy. He appreciated the crucial role played by the media in disseminating the message of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to the people that assured its success. The PM went on to say that a strategy was being formulated to ease the financial pressures being encountered by the newspaper industry through payment of outstanding bills dating back to the previous government. These words of acknowledgement and assurance must have come as music to the ears of the print media owners represented in the APNS delegation, since the newspaper industry has been crying itself hoarse for payment of the arrears owed to it by government for years. The following day, October 17, 2018, PM Imran Khan met an expanded media delegation comprising APNS, Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) and the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE). They were greeted with the announcement by the PM that the five percent duty on imported newsprint was being withdrawn as part of the PTI government's effort to assist the media to overcome its financial problems.
So far so good. The fact that the media entire, print and electronic, was accommodated by PM Imran Khan and promises made to help the media in its time of straitened finances is a positive beginning early in the new government's tenure. However, there are some issues that still require addressing. First and foremost, the days when government advertising represented the bread and butter of newspapers is arguably over. Private sector advertising has grown, if not overtaken government advertising entirely, at least the print (and now electronic media) can rely on the two options of government and private sector advertising revenue to keep afloat. This should not mean that the penchant of governments in the past to withhold advertisements from the media as a whole or from those sections it does not like should continue. If PM Imran Khan means what he says and says what he means, that can be considered good tidings for the fourth estate. Second, the composition of the three media bodies mentioned above has blurred the distinction between owners and professional journalists. Many print media owners are by now also editors, and perhaps even electronic media moguls. In the new kid on the block, private 24-hour satellite TV channels, there is no sign of the traditional gatekeeper - the editor. That can, and arguably has, led to an anarchic manner of disseminating news and information.
The prime minister's appreciation of the role of free media is perhaps not shared by some of his cabinet colleagues, at least not in the same measure. Once again there is an effort to regulate the print media by creating a government-owned and controlled regulator by reshaping the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). The announced intention is to create a centralized regulator for all media by merging all the existing rules and acts relevant to PEMRA, Press Council of Pakistan (PCP) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
So while the media entire is slapping itself on the back after its successful meeting with PM Imran Khan, perhaps this is a moment to reflect upon the media's own internal weaknesses and failings on the touchstone of the responsibilities of a free and independent media and its present-day structures and modes of functioning.
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