SrinagarIn a significant move of far reaching consequences the State Government Tuesday constituted two separate sub-committees for Kashmir and Jammu divisions to review whether the newspapers and periodicals empanelled with the Department of Information & Public Relations meet the norms set out in the Advertisement Policy-2016 and recommend delisting of any approved newspaper violating the said Advertisement Policy.
The sub-committees shall have the powers to recommend delisting of the approved newspapers and periodicals in light of the Provision 6.1 of the Advertisement Policy-2016, if these publications violate the said advertisement policy in any respect.
There are 368 newspapers in the state which are presently getting official advertisements from the DIPR and only a dozen odd newspapers each in srinagar and Jammu actually hit the stands. Interestingly 99 fresh newspapers and periodicals were approved by the government for advertisement support earlier this month taking the total number of empanelled newspapers in the State to 467.
According to an order issued by the Secretary Information, Mr M H Malik, the newly constituted Sub-Committees for the review of newspapers will be headed by the Director Information.
On the basis of the recommendations made by these sub-committees, the Empanelment Committee headed by Administrative Secretary Information shall have the freedom and the competency to delist any approved newspaper and periodical in the interest of the professional ethics from the approved list.
The Sub-Committee for Kashmir province shall comprise Joint Director Information Kashmir, Deputy Director Information (PR) Kashmir, Representative of the Directorate of Information & Public Relations and an officer from Media Education Research Centre (MERC) Srinagar as members.
Similarly, the Sub-Committee for Jammu province shall comprise Joint Director Information Jammu, Deputy Director Information (PR) Jammu, Representative of the Directorate of Information & Public Relations and an officer from IIMC Jammu as members.
The Sub-Committees shall have the mandate to review whether the approved newspapers meet the norms set out in the Advertisement Policy-2016 and recommend delisting of any approved newspaper violating the Advertisement Policy.
The Sub-Committee shall also afresh examine the existing circulation/reach and professional standards of the approved newspapers/periodicals and recommend to the Government for placing the same under the appropriate category for release of government advertisements.
The decision to constitute the sub-committee for the review of approved newspapers in light of Advertisement Policy-2016 was taken by the Media Empanelment Committee at its meeting convened in Jammu on 27 March 2017 under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary, Mr B B Vyas, then Administrative Secretary Information.
Pertinently during the financial year 2016-17, the State Government paid Rs 32 crore to the newspapers against advertisements and past liabilities while for the current fiscal the advertisement budget is to the tune of Rs 30 crore.
Out of Rs 32 crore payment made to the newspapers last fiscal, Rs 2.53 crore were paid to the national newspapers while around Rs 14 lakh were paid as financial support to wire services including PTI and UNI, and four local news agencies by way of monthly subscription charges.
Advt Policy for Digital, Electronic Media
The Government Tuesday constituted a Technical Sub-Committee to finalize the draft Advertisement Policy for the digital and electronic media which would be then placed before the State Cabinet for approval.
As per the orders issued by Secretary Information, Mr M H Malik here, the Director Information will be the chairman of the Technical Sub-Committee. The members of the Sub-Committee include Representative of the Information Technology Department not below the rank of Deputy Secretary, Representative of the Law Department not below the rank of Deputy Secretary, Representative of the Finance Department not below the rank of Deputy Secretary, Representative of the Home Department not below the rank of Deputy Secretary, Representative of the Department of Information & Public Relations not below the rank of Deputy Director.
Pertinently, an Advertisement Policy for the print media is already in place in the State and given the growing reach and influence of the electronic and digital media, the Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) has proposed a separate advertisement policy for electronic and digital media.
DIPR has, after consultations with the wide-range of stakeholders, already submitted draft guidelines to the Government in this regard which would be placed before the Technical Sub-Committee for further improvisation.
The decision to constitute the Technical Sub-Committee for finalizing the Advertisement Policy for Digital and Electronic Media was taken by the Media Empanelment Committee at its meeting convened in Jammu on 27 March 2017 under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary, Mr B B Vyas, then Administrative Secretary Information.
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