A leaked audio clip of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President (VP), Maryam Nawaz, instructing to refuse advertisements to certain TV channels during his party’s last tenure has caused concerns among the media fraternity.
In an eight-second long audio clip, Maryam can be heard saying that “no advertisement shall be given to ARY, Samaa, 29 News, and Channel 24.” Although Maryam has admitted that the audio clip is genuine, PML-N leaders are defending their VP, arguing that she was instructing not to give ads of PML-N to these TV channels.
However, data of the advertisements given to TV channels during PML-N’s tenure from 2013 to 2018 shows that most of them were indeed given to blue-eyed media groups.
Let’s have a detailed look at the government advertisements given to different media groups in each of the five years of PML-N’s tenure.
| Sr. No. | Media Group | FY 2013-14 (Rs.) | FY 2014-15 (Rs.) | FY 2015-14 (Rs.) | FY 2016-17 (Rs.) | FY 2017-18 (Rs.) | Total Amount (Rs.) |
| 1. | Jang/Geo | 316,146,569 | 568,413,798 | 712,034310 | 803,256,095 | 89,442,944 | 3,120,327,051 |
| 2. | Dunya | 61,417,890 | 128,173,413 | 277,364,412 | 406,373,985 | 237,895,674 | 1,111,225,374 |
| 3. | Express | 169,240,665 | 323,839,020 | 382,591,419 | 464,221,210 | 367,127,466 | 1,707,019,780 |
| 4. | Abb Tak | 15,641,257 | 89,300,225 | 147,385,241 | 159,307,405 | 47,272,142 | 458,906,270 |
| 5. | Capital TV | 19,565,124 | 75,075,360 | 134,761,550 | 127,833,160 | 46,320,080 | 403,555,274 |
| 6. | Dawn | 41,408,692 | 48,856,241 | 66,371,369 | 65,890,300 | 47,463,955 | 269,990,557 |
| 7. | Roze TV | 10,605,844 | 63,756,248 | 50,087,707 | 62,421,825 | 24,304,513 | 211,176,137 |
| 8. | PTV | 6,211,236 | 13,282,089 | 72,384,006 | 78,288,506 | 44,287,833 | 214,453,670 |
| 9. | Aaj TV | 17,304,688 | 38,087,014 | 45,242,852 | 60,849,654 | 32,365,285 | 193,849,493 |
| 10. | Samaa TV | 26,423,015 | 45,404,514 | 12,975,033 | 65,436,904 | 34,370,927 | 184,610,393 |
| 11. | Waqt News | 16,234,257 | 26,879,922 | 54,268,764 | 37,437,935 | 26,346,014 | 161,166,892 |
| 12. | NewsOne | 2,422,490 | 18,601,872 | 35,365,995 | 61,675,283 | 34,347,480 | 152,413,120 |
| 13. | 92 News | 1,795,500 | 20,169,680 | 85,340,470 | 28,951,974 | 137,257,624 | |
| 14. | ATV | 11,077,718 | 7,825,243 | 36,952,275 | 52,256,174 | 12,803,420 | 120,914,830 |
| 15. | FM Radio | 6,549,820 | 39,674,842 | 63,771,572 | 10,500,482 | 120,496,716 | |
| 16. | Neo News | 730,800 | 5,902,400 | 46,384,582 | 51,545,760 | 12,240,725 | 116,804,267 |
| 17. | Khyber News | 4,910,222 | 20,493,412 | 42,828,165 | 33,831,980 | 13,353,340 | 115,417,119 |
| 18. | KTN News | 11,038,812 | 16,632,856 | 32,611,770 | 28,183,330 | 13,134,555 | 101,601,323 |
| 19. | ARY News | 26,854,675 | 13,000,155 | 38,059,805 | 761,338 | 6,381,392 | 85,057,365 |
| 20. | Channel 24 | 1,218,000 | 6,249,251 | 40,080,640 | 27,216,724 | 1,536,032 | 76,300,647 |
Via: Naveid Siddiqui
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