Free Media: ‘Reliance on ads hurts journalism’

LAHORE: The financial influence that businesses have over the media in terms of advertising revenue is a major hurdle to independent and unbiased reporting in Pakistan, said local journalists at a media conference here on Tuesday. The Free, Independent, Responsible Media (FIRM) conference was organised

by Individualland, a non-governmental organisation, and aimed to bring together print and electronic journalists to share their professional experiences and discuss solutions to the problem of biased reporting.
The journalists who attended complained that they
were barred from writing about scandals in private companies because of financial pressures. The companies being covered would withdraw their advertising, thus hurting the bottom line of the channel or newspaper. They also spoke out against “dummy newspapers” – newspapers that have insignificant circulation or original reporting, but are printed to gain revenue from government advertising – saying they produced sham journalists and were an embarrassment to the profession. They discussed the extent to which intelligence agencies have penetrated the newsrooms of newspapers and television channels. The participants also spoke about the pressures that political parties and religious groups put on journalists, the Wage Board Award (which has been pending for several years) and job security for young journalists.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2011.