In an interesting development recently, five print and electronic media groups of Pakistan sat together and formed an association which aims to protect the rights of digital publishers.
Without taking any digital publisher, blogger or internet portal on-board, print and electronic media tycoons have selected an executive committee for this association (that mainly represents print media) – and incorrectly claim to have representation for the digital-sphere.
Bloggers, internet portals, advertisers and digital agencies, aren’t happy. Everyone has expressed variety of concerns over this cartelization which apparently is an effort to achieve monopoly on digital front.
Bloggers, some of which were recently sent Rs. 1 Billion legal notices by Jang Group, fear that print and electronic media will sabotage the rights and privileges of bloggers, who are already struggling in terms of doing business and are usually not influenced by advertiser and foreign funding – unlike print and electronic media.
A digital agency based out of Karachi, while speaking with ProPakistani, expressed its reservations by saying that current design of digital association will favor only those having presence in print and electronic media.
Head of another digital agency said that association doesn’t address the core-problems of the industry, as of now at least.
It merits mentioning here that formation of association was declared without announcing its bylaws, policies, rules and regulations.
Digital media in Pakistan is undergoing tremendous growth. However, other than few major publishers, bloggers and portals of the country struggle with their businesses.
Getting business/advertisement for online portals and blogs is considered extremely hard. ProPakistani knows bloggers and portals with over 5 million impressions per month are still struggling to get their first advertisement. Those who get advertisements are not paid on time. There are instances when bloggers/portal are not paid for years.
This whole scenario requires a serious effort, with consensus throughout all quarters of digital media, to get working conditions more favorable for digital publishers.
To hell with them, we do not accept their association.
I suppose they have recognized the threat what social media is posing to them.
I support You AAmir Atta their should be an association for us (Bloggers) Please take a step please.
Blogger’s Association of Pakistan
Nice Article
Yeah Khula tazaad nahi hay to or kia hay :/
Already told ya, BAP is the best solution. :)
don’t worry guys we are going to form our very own organization.
It seems to be for Traditional Media only because they have ignored the pure online brands like Hamariweb.com, ProPakistani, Pakwheels, NewTribe & lots of other Websites & Blogs. They don’t even bothered to ask us before working on that… Sorry to say but it seems to be like “Another monopoly control authority”..!
Rozee.pk, a pure online brand, is a founding member. Therefore this is not only for traditional media. Bloggers and all online brands are free to join.
I totally agree Mr. Shaukat but the ratio is almost 1:10.. so we can see who is dominant… I know everyone is free to join after selecting an executive committee for this association.. after finalizing all the rules and regulations.. everyone is now free to follow them as an associate member… lolzzz
these channels are paid $$$$$$ by the americans and evryone’s know it,, zardari also spent millions of PKR on them to make himslef safe
Because they fear to loose main stream advertisers who get good response while advertising on internet rather than advertising on Television/Print Media.
I don’t think it’s a threat to any “media” firm, one which understands and regulates itself and make it feasible too. Online media businesses operate largely on self regulated style and take freedom for granted, whereas print and electronic have fought on the streets for their freedom.
I myself fond of online media, consider it’s a wake up call for online brands in PK to establish their business-legal-rules-market demand-advertiser side more obvious and visible in real world not in terms of huge office buildings but in terms of departmental teams that address these ignored sections, otherwise just putting a website that keeps churning content is a hobbyist work not that of a professional business firm.
This article is intentionally misleading. It leaves out ROZEE.PK which is a founding member and is not a media group. It also leaves out that any website owner or blogger can join the group with equal rights. It is a completely open association with no additional benefits for the early members who it calls a “cartel”. Leaves one to wonder why ProPakistani would deliberately misreport this? Any guesses?
Let’s see how long the small fish survives in the swamp of big crocodiles….
I think We have to join the DPAP because most of the agencies are not performing well and if dpap really works for our rights so we will get some benefits.
I wonder the traffic of Business Recorder and Samaa would not match that of Hamaari web or Pakwheels, then what the heck are they doing as the founding member of this association while the later have not even been consulted or invited for joining the association. In other words, if this is the Publisher’s Association, then someone has written: “It also leaves out that any website owner or blogger can join the group with equal rights.” My question is would the website owner/blogger will be able to compete with big media giants? Or in other words, would any of them be part of the Executive Committee????
Blogger’s Association of Pakistan. Zindabad
BAP is the best solution, United we stand.