Daily Times

Journalists in Pakistan are facing a widespread crisis of unpaid salaries, causing financial instability, trauma and stress-related deaths in the industry.

In a recent development, Sindh government has clearly refused to pay the dues of media houses. Notably, the government had been benefiting from the facility of newspaper advertisements, but it had failed to pay outstanding dues of the newspapers for the last several years.

The media houses have expressed their anger over the long pending dues owed to newspapers by the Sindh government and its affiliated advertisement agencies.

Earlier, Sindh government assured the media houses that the authorities will take measures to clear their dues against government departments within a month as the media houses are facing difficulties in paying salaries to their workers owing to non-payment of these dues against advertisements published for government departments.

In, February, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah announced that the government would pay all the dues of the media houses provided they pay salaries to journalists’.

Talking to media persons, Murad Ali Shah said while the federal government is not taking interest in the issues confronting the journalists, the Sindh government is not only seriously concerned about the journalists’ issues but also taking practical steps for them.

Moreover, Sindh Minister for Information Nasir Hussain Shah has said that the issues and the problems being faced by the Journalists community were in the knowledge of the Sindh government and that all those problems were being resolved on priority basis.

The minister said this while addressing a convention on “Problems faced by Print Media Industry, especially small and medium sized publications”, organized by All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) at APNS House, Karachi on Saturday.

The unrest amongst the media workers is forcing them to go on leave or compelled the media houses to cut their staff strength ultimately damaging their own performance.