'New media policy to transform journalism into powerful institution'

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting, Firdous Ashiq Awan, has said the federal government is bringing a new media policy which will transform the journalism into a powerful institution, ARY News reported on Thursday.

Firdous Ashiq Awan, while addressing a press conference in Islamabad today, said journalism is now shaped into an institution that will have to empower other institutions of the country. She announced to bring a new media policy that will not be restricted to advertisements only.

She elaborated that the National Media Policy will secure the rights of the journalists and other media workers, whereas, the state will act as an information ministry to empower the journalism institution.

“Nations face a different kind of challenges but now the journey towards improvement has commenced. We are now envisaging a roadmap to balancing the rights and duties of the journalists. It is the government’s responsibility to secure journalists’ rights as they perform duties for the betterment of our society.”

Earlier on December 20, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan had urged media to play its role in strengthening national institutions in the best interest of the country.

Addressing a ceremony in Islamabad on, Dr Firdous said media and democracy have a close relationship and both are complementary to each other. She said a road-map of new media and advertisement policy is also being prepared. The special assistant said that ensuring transparency is the foremost priority of the incumbent government.