Newspaper owned by KP minister earns millions through government advertisements

ISLAMABAD: Although Pakistani media is deep in the financial crisis, a little-known newspaper in Peshawar is doing a roaring business. Secret of success? It has received a record business of Rs57.42 million from the owner who happens to be a provincial minister.

The newspaper is among the top seven highly paid newspapers in the media list. There are 108 newspapers on the media list of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government. The provincial government has fixed a rate of Rs457.31 per centimeter for advertisements in the paper.

The newspaper, which doesn’t have a website, received Rs23.12 million for 48,000-centimeters worth of advertisement from the provincial government from August 2018 to July 2019. Similarly, the paper was awarded Rs34.30 million in advertisements from 2014 to May 2018, official documents reveal.

The minister denies that he owns the newspaper or gives it any undue favours. Official documents confirm that he has handed over the publishing rights to his brother, but still owns the printing rights.

The record also proves the paper received a lot of business during the minister's stint in the office. However, during the caretaker setup of 2018, advertisements to the newspaper declined. 

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has a law which prevents and minimizes the possibility of conflict between private interests and state duties of public office holders.

Talking to The News, the minister said he is not attached with the newspaper anymore as he has handed it over to his brother. However, the official record contradicts the minister’s claim.

As per the documents, the owner of the paper made a declaration on July 19, 2016 to cease their authority in favour of another person (the minister) to be the printer and publisher of two newspapers. 

However, the latter then issued a declaration in favour of his brother to be the publisher of the paper, who then declared himself as the publisher of the papers. 

The latter has neither withdrew his authority in favour of his brother to be the printer nor has the brother declared himself the printer of the paper. Therefore, the minister continues to be printer and legal owner.

The documents reveal that the newspaper in question received a total of 1,932 centimeters worth of advertisement in 2014-15 from the KP government. 

However, it started increasing after that. In 2015-16, the paper received total government advertisements of 15,704cm, in 2016-17 that increased further to 20,801cm, in 2017-18 it received 21,011cm, and in 2018-19 it received 11,400cm of advertisements. 

The paper was awarded 88,242cm in total advertisements by the KP government from 2014 to 2018, and the cost of one centimeter was fixed at Rs388.71. Hence, a little known paper received Rs 34,300,857 from the government.

On average, the paper received 17,648 centimeters (Rs6,860,109) advertisement from the KP government annually and 1,407.7 centimeters (Rs571,675) monthly. However, during the second tenure of PTI government, the newspaper business thrived even more, as the minister got his newspaper’s rate increased from Rs 388.71 to Rs 457.31.

After the General Elections 2018, government advertisement rates for the newspaper were enhanced from Rs 388.71 to Rs 457.31 per centimeter. The sources in the ministry informed that the minister used his influence to get the rates increased.  

Documents show that the government advertisements to the newspaper dropped during the caretaker government in 2018. The newspaper was awarded 1,336cm, 516cm and 243cm worth of advertisements in May, June and July respectively. 

However, in August when the PTI won the elections, the advertisements for the paper again increased manifold. A total of 48,000cm worth of advertisements were given to the minister’s newspaper from August 2018 to June 2019.

When multiplied this with the price per centimeter, Rs 21,950,880 were given to the newspaper in one year only. Similarly, in July, the paper got 2,564cm worth of advertisements from the provincial government. Hence, the paper received Rs23,123,423 during this period. The sources further claim that besides the classified ads, the paper is regularly getting four to five color displays every month.

It is pertinent to mention here that the paper had been receiving nominal advertisements from the provincial government before PTI came into power in KP. This reflected even in the official record, as the newspaper received only 1,932 centimetre ads from the provincial government during 2014. However, the ratio of advertisements for the paper increased manifold after the minister assumed the office.

When contacted, the minister said he had nothing to do with the paper as he handed over the newspaper to his brother after assuming the office, and he didn’t know how much business the newspaper was getting. He said the paper was getting government ads as per the government’s policy.

When asked whether he used his influence to get the newspaper’s rates enhanced, the minister categorically denied it and said the rates were fixed by the Press Information Department (PID) and he had nothing to do with this. “Fata has been merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, hence; the newspaper market has grown and this might be one of the reason behind the increased rates”, he said.

“The newspaper was one of the top newspapers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, during the ANP government it was politically victimized. The ANP government stopped paper’s advertisement because being the Chief Editor of the newspaper I was criticizing the then provincial government. Still, the current rates of the paper are not higher if you compare it with its competitors”, commented the minister.

When the minister was asked whether it was not a violation of “The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Prevention of Conflict Of Interest Act, 2016” that his paper was getting a lot of advertisement from the government, he said he was not violating the law as the newspaper didn’t belong to him now.

When the minister was told that the documents still showed him owning the printing rights, the minister got angry and said “write whatever you want to write” and then hung up the phone.