Srinagar,January 21-CNS:-An extraordinary ordinary and emergency of Jammu Kashmir Newspapers Coordination Committee (JKNCC) took place at Press Club Srinagar under supervision of Chairman Rasheed Rahi.
The session started by paying the tribute to the fellow journalists who passed away during the last year especially to the G.Nabi Shaida, Mudasir Ali, Tanveer Ahmad and others. On the occasion special and rich tributes were paid to the G.N Shaida for his fearless, honest and objective journalsim
The meeting was attended by 7 member publications and it took place in view of the latest announcements made by the Department of Information about the advertisement support in which notices were issued to several newspapers informing them about advertise curtailment of Newspapers & de-empanellment by the information department.
During the meeting the participants showed the strong resentment over the unfortunate decision of the department of information, the participants unanimously declared the unilateral decision of the department as unacceptable to them as it is meant to break the financial backbone of the Media publications.
On the occasion Chairman of Committee Rasheed Rahi clarified that the owners of the publications have improved their publications and filled all the lacunas in their standard, which the department had cited as cause of the action.
On the occasion, they forwarded a representation to Joint Director Information Kashmir to resume advertisement in their favour with immediate effect as the media publications have bore the brunt of worst situations since last two years.
They added Newspapers organizations have always suffered physical and economical losses due to the hostile situations and political turmoil.
“Despite these, we haven’t left our role in acting as bridge between the state and the common people” clarified Rasheed Rahi, head of the organization.
He added that such attempts will acts as thwart the objectivity of the press and deeply impact the free and fair duties of media in its Ethical Framework.
He feared that such policies will lead to the job losses to the people who are associated with these publications from last decade as it is the sole source of income for them.
Taking cognizance of these facts, JKNCC appealed LG administration for immediate reversal of decisions taken by the Empanelment Committee.
All the members in one voice said that at a time when Newspaper Coordination Committee is proposing the government to implement the policy of uplifting medium & small call publications, the administration has stopped it to genuine publications.
It is pertinent to mention that the government’s Empanelment Committee, constituted on 15 May 2020 and comprising senior officials of the Finance Department and Directorate of Information and Public Relations, took the decision of De-empanellment of 34 newspapers and suspension of Advertisements to 13 publications.