Media bodies slam Fawad for sharing ‘fake news’ on revenues
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain addressing a press conference in Islamabad on December 14. PHOTO: APP
Top media organisations of the country have slammed Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry’s claim that media revenues had increased by 600 per cent between 2018 and 2021.
In a joint statement issued late Monday, media associations including All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), and Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) took serious notice of Fawad Chaudhry’s tweet and termed it “baseless and incorrect”.
The original source has also already clarified that the figures were printed erroneously due to a technical error.
The statement labelled the minister’s tweet as a “classic example of fake news”. The statement said the statement was a failed attempt to create a divide between media houses and their workers.
The statement further added that spreading deliberate disinformation is a classic example of fake news which the minister himself has displayed.
“He has only exposed his own ignorance about the matter and also how ill-informed his ministry is.”
The media bodies also demanded the minister to withdraw his tweet at the earliest.