Islamabad   -  Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has said Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed all the relevant departments to immediately clear all pending dues accruing to media houses.

In a video statement on Monday, he said the premier chaired a meeting on media affairs, in which provincial ministers were also in attendance.

Chaudhry went on to say that the decision would have positive impact on the media industry and help stop sacking of employees in the media sector.

“In the past few weeks, the government has observed that people are being sacked from various media houses. The PTI government is committed to providing livelihood to people and this decision will serve as an instant relief measure,” Chaudhry said.

The minister said the federal and the provincial governments have been directed to start the process of reimbursing media houses with immediate effect.

He alleged that previous governments had used media advertisements as a political tool but they had no intention to do so.

Chaudhry insisted the negative media policy adopted by the last Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had a detrimental effect on the industry, and PTI dispensation was against issuance of advertisements for political gains.

The policy of media control through advertisements had affected business and created chaos in the industry, he held.

The information minister claimed the PTI-led government will “bring a rationality and balance” in the industry through its decisions.

“Similar to how the incumbent government has abolished censorship in state-run media, it is taking measures to limit and eventually end government control over media advertisements,” he said.

Chaudhry said that it had been decided that a transparent advertisement policy will be chalked out to deal with advertising contracts purely on a merit basis.

PM has ordered clearance of media houses’ dues: Fawad