Govt finalises digital policy for all newspaper websites

Any news site activated for more than six months will be considered eligible for advertisements, says info minister

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Friday finalised the digital policy for all newspaper websites giving in to the long-held demands of The Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE).

He expressed his condolences, and views while talking to the members of CPNE upon the death of CPNE president Arif Nizami. He told that the summary of this policy will be presented for approval in the cabinet session next week.

Principal information officer Sohail Khan said that the government will separately issue/grant advertisements to news websites under this policy, and Rs1 billion might be granted for this purpose.

Read more: Fawad says media authority won’t be set up without stakeholders’ input

According to the information minister, along with the national newspapers, the regional and local newspapers will also be granted a separate quota. "Any news site which is activated for more than six months will be considered eligible for advertisements. Such advertisements will be monitored through a cyber wing," he added.

Along with the senior vice president CPNE Kazam Khan, provincial presidents Arshad Arif and Ayaz Khan expressed their gratitude before the federal minister over his efforts for the approval of the digital policy.

In June, Fawad had assured a delegation of newspaper editors that an authority to regulate the electronic, print and social media would be set up only after taking the input from all stakeholders.

“All media organisations have been sent the concept paper of the authority which the government plans to set up,” he added.

Also read: Why is the govt's planned media authority so controversial?

“Now feedback from media organisations including the CPNE will be sought on it.”

The minister maintained that the ordinance circulating on social media was “fake news” and the government had nothing to do with it.

“This makes it necessary to introduce laws to ensure disinformation was not spread through social media, particularly on YouTube.”