Port Blair, June 24: A meeting of the A&N Media Federation was held under the chairmanship of its President, Mr. K Ganeshan at the media room of Directorate of IP&T on Saturday. Among various other agenda points, the meeting also discussed the issue of stopping of government advertisements by the administration to private local media units operating in these Islands from 12.06.2018 onwards. The members of the Media Federation expressed their sincere gratitude to the Member of Parliament, Mr. B P Ray for taking up the issue with the Lt Governor, Admiral DK Joshi (Retd). Immediately after the announcement of halting of advertisements to the local media, the members of the media federation met the Member of Parliament and apprised him about the issue. They informed the MP about the difficulties the local media units had to face, if the government advertisements to local media is stopped. Government advertisements released by the administration is a one of the major sources of revenue for the local media. The members of the media apprised the MP that over 600 unemployed youth associated with the media/newspapers in the Islands will be rendered jobless, if government advisements to local media units are stopped by the Administration.
On the request of the Member of Parliament, the Lt Governor immediately directed the IP&T authority to resolve the issue and accordingly, the IP Division has restarted releasing government advertisements to the local media from 22.06.2018. The A&N Media Fraternity is grateful to the Lt Governor and Member of Parliament for understanding the problem of the local media and ensuring that local media survive in the Islands. The meeting also discussed the issue of reshuffle of office bearers of the A&N Media Federation. The election for the various posts of office bearers of the A&N Media Federation will be held on 27.06.2018.
