PM's aide launches draft advertisement policy.

Byline: Kalbe Ali

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said the media and democracy had a close relationship and both were complementary to each other. - DawnNewsTv/File

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Thursday launched the draft advertisement policy and announced bringing reforms to the Press Information Department (PID) to tackle corruption and mismanagement in the grant of government advertisements.

Addressing a ceremony, she said: 'The reforms in the PID and the draft advertisement policy will eventually help media workers who were facing financial hardship due to non-payment by media houses.'

Dr Awan said: 'When the bills are cleared in time, the managements too will be compelled to clear the salaries of their workers.'

She added that the reforms in the PID included automation and digitisation of the system to reduce human interaction and contain the misuse of power by the officials in the grant of advertisements. The reforms would also help in issuing merit-based advertisements to regional media.

She said the reforms would be in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, which would be helpful in improving the governance system as well. 'Ensuring transparency is the foremost priority of the incumbent government,' the special assistant said.

She said that the draft of the new advertisement policy had been disseminated to the stakeholders, including the Pakistan Federal Union of...