Jammu, August 7: The coalition government headed by Mufti Mohamed Sayeed has reiterated its plan to remodel the existing advertisement policy for media by formulating a fresh policy to broaden the scope of the government advertisements for newspapers.
It is a welcome step as far as the policy is implemented for the welfare of the newspaper industry in the state but has been getting delayed even after announcement in this regard was made immediately after taking over as the new Chief Minister by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
The government must come out with whatever it has visualized for the fresh advertisement policy as the delay is only testing the patience of the newspapers who have been feeling the heat either due to non-empanelment or due to pending backlog of the bills.
The new advertisement policy however should serve all the purposes that actually are expected from the new mechanism viz benefiting the government, the newspaper industry and the people for whom the advertisements are targeted so that the new policy offers something really new rather than continuing the old customs in new packaging.
The Chief Minister at the same time must also issue directions that positive journalism is patronized as it is usually this section that gets discriminated against by various government policies thus discouraging those journalists who want to highlight the positive aspect of the society rather than churning out run of the mill substance.
There are quite small numbers of such newspapers which actually believe that their primary job is to inform the people about the events as they happen rather than twisting them to suit their ideology and also offer some innovative ideas that entertain and enhance the intellectual capacity of the readers at the same time.
The government that believes in positive development must also ensure that such newspapers with a positive attitude are patronized and special category carved for them so that they don’t have to compromise their unbiased reporting for the commercial reasons.
The scene this time however seems encouraging as the Chief Minister has indicated that he wants to involve the professionals in the Information Department and it is hoped that real professionalism is imbibed and an unbiased policy is adopted to benefit those newspapers that deserve on the basis of their content and developmental journalism.
The only suggestion for the Chief Minister is to speed up the process of rejuvenating the department and adopt a professional attitude in advertisement policy so that the state witnesses a positive journalism at a time when chaos is again threatening to engulf the state due to escalating terrorism.
The developmental journalism and the news that one can use is the need of the hour instead of acting as oxygen for the anti-national and anti-social elements which can only be ensured by patronization the right kind of journalism and newspapers that want to contribute their bit for the development of the state.
It is also a welcome step by the government to assure vernacular press of suitable accommodation and one would like to get similar assurance for the positive journalism irrespective of their circulation reach or region.