President urges media's active role on social, health issues
The president was addressing Pakistan Media Convention in Islamabad.
ISLAMABAD, Jan 18 (APP):President Dr Arif Alvi Friday while eulogizing media’s struggle to safeguard democracy, called for its active role to highlight the social and health issues like malnutrition and stunting of children’s growth.
Addressing Pakistan Media Convention organized under the auspices of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors in Islamabad, he said media is disposing its responsibility of informing, educating and entertaining the masses professionally and responsibly.
The president maintained that print media is facing multitude of challenges in current times including the one posed by social media.
Dr. Arif Alvi pointed that the younger generation is hooked more to the social media, than print publications. The President, however, said opinion makers still rely on print media for opinion making.
Emphasizing the need of developing independent media business models, the President said sustaining of media business should be based on self-reliance, rather than depending on government advertisements.
He suggested that media freedom is a fundamental right but it should be exercised with responsibility and self-regulation, rather than censorship by authorities.
Addressing Pakistan Media Convention, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary urged the media to pursue the narrative that is in the country’s economic interests.
He said the media sustainability is also linked with the economic sustainability of the country.
The Information Minister told that foreign investment of billions of rupees is pouring into the country with Saudi Arabia setting up the third largest oil refinery in Pakistan but the media has not given due coverage to it.
He said China Pakistan Economic Corridor project is a backbone for our economy. He however regretted that our media sometimes buys the western narrative which is anti CPEC and anti Pak-China relations.
Information Minister said we believe in openness and are doing away with visa restrictions for the citizens of sixty six countries.
He said the media at this juncture should stand by the economy.
Referring to the problems of the media industry, the Information Minister said advertisements worth 300 to 350 million rupees were issued to the print media during the current month.
He said we fully stand shoulder to shoulder with the media workers and extend full support to them. However, ultimately the media will have to emerge as a sustainable model ending dependence on the government.
Earlier, President of CPNE Arif Nizami highlighted the problems faced by the media industry especially the print.
