Govt. Dailies Should Reach Self-Sufficiency through Advertisements, CE

Thursday, January 16, 2020
Kabul (BNA) Chief Executive Dr. Abdullah Abdullah in the 17th meeting of the Executive Committee of Culture and Art Development of Afghanistan heard problems of government media outlets and cultural figures on Wednesday.
In the meeting, cultural figures from different governmental institutions and representatives from the UNESCO & ISESCO National Commission as well as French Institute shared their visions with Chief Executive Dr. Abdullah.
Deputy Minister of Information and Culture on Publication Affairs, Fazel Sancharaki who was managing the agenda at the meeting, pointed to the importance of culture and art in the country and said: “Fighting extremism is a must and this should be changed into the culture of humanitarianism as the culture of extremism would create the storm of fundamentalism in the society.”
Representative of education centers also shared the 5-year cultural policy including education, art, cultural and social media. Likewise, heads of government dailies, Afghan Films, Faculty of Fine Arts, Public Library, Historical Monuments, Bakhtar News Agency and the Kabul Municipality shared what they had done relating to their responsibilities. Deputy Minister Fazel Sancharaki said that the ministry of information and culture has multiple times offered its plan to the country’s president for the improvement the publication affairs, but nothing had so far been made in this regard.
“We hope the country’s chief executive pay attention in this field. About the Jam Minaret and the programs on its restoration in the current fiscal year, he said measures had been adopted to restore it in the country’s western Ghor province.
Farid Farhang head of government dailies also spoke regarding the agenda and said the dailies including The Kabul Times, Anis, Hiwad and Islah newspapers should be paid attention by the government.
He suggested that all four state-owned newspapers should be printed in color-form, with their circulation level made higher and provided with own printing machines, and experienced youths to help them compete with other papers.
Chief Executive, meanwhile ordered the holding of a two-day seminar for the government-owned newspapers and that he would cooperate with the ministry of information and culture in allocation of enough budget.
The Chief Executive also noted that the papers should become self-sufficient through commercial advertisements.
The CE said the spirit of the state-owned dailies should be national not governmental and their self-sufficiency creates attractiveness.
Shukria Kohistani