Journal of Political Studies, Vol.

18, Issue - 2,2011: 101-118

Seventh Wage Board Award: A Triangular Conflict between

Government, Media Owners and Journalists in Pakistan

Dr. Saqib Riaz ∗

Abstract

A great majority of the Pakistani Journalists are living in a

miserable condition receiving low salaries and no
facilities. The Seventh Wage Board Award was a ray of
hope for them, when it was announced. This is a hot
issue of today’s Pakistani Journalism. It was announced
in 2001 by a Wage Board constituted by the Government
of Pakistan under Newspapers’ Employees’ Act 1973.
Even after a period of ten years, it has not been
implemented by the media organization till the end of
2011. The journalists welcomed this award because a
reasonable increase in their salaries was recommended
in this award. On the other side, the newspaper owners
totally rejected this award labeling it as an unaffordable
burden on the economy of media organizations. They
filed a petition to the Supreme Court of Pakistan against
this award in June 2002 which was rejected by the
Supreme Court in April 2004. The government is favoring
the journalist community regarding implementation of this
award. In reaction to this, the newspaper owners
launched a huge advertising campaign against Seventh
Wage Board Award and strongly criticized the
government including President, Prime Minister and
Information Minister. Now the government has become a
sandwich between Media owners and working
journalists. This paper attempts to investigate the
viewpoints and arguments of journalists, media owners
and the role of government in this regard and also
suggests some solution to resolve the issue. The
Seventh Wage Board Award is an issue which has great

∗
Author is Assistant Professor of Department of Mass Communication
Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad - Pakistan

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concern for the whole society, in general and for the

government and the journalism community, in particular.
The implementation of the wage board award is still
hanging in the air even after passing a decade after its
announcement.

Key Words: Wage Board, Journalism, Salary structure, working

conditions, implementation.

Media Organizations in Pakistan

In recent years Pakistan has got tremendous development in the field

of media and a big boost can be seen in the number of media
organizations during the first decade of the twenty first century. We
can see almost half century newspapers of international standard
being published both in Urdu and English from different cities of the
country. The largest media group of Pakistan is Jang Group having
cross-media ownership. This is the biggest media Giant of the country
which publishes the largest widely circulate Urdu newspaper daily
Jang and the largest widely circulate English newspaper “The News”
from almost all of the big cities of the country. The Jang group
publishes two most popular weekly magazines of the country. These
are weekly Akhbar-e-Jehan in Urdu and weekly Mag in English. In
addition to these print media organizations, the Jang group is ruling
over the country through its television channels. These channels are
Geo News, Geo Super and Geo entertainment channel known as Aag.
One of the most important media group of the country is Naw-i-Waqt
group which owns the Urdu newspaper daily Nawa-i-waqt, English
newspaper The Nation, weekly Family magazine and children
magazine Phool. This group is having its TV channel Waqt TV. Dawn
media group is also one of the most prominent media groups having its
historic English newspaper daily Dawn and TV channel Dawn News.
These organizations are considered as elite media organizations of the
country. Another rapidly flourishing media group is Express group
which owns its Urdu newspaper daily Express, English newspaper
Express Tribune and television channel Express News. The
organizations of this media group are getting immense popularity
throughout the country. Yet, there is another media group known as
Liberty Papers which owns daily Khabrain in Urdu and The Post in
English. This group is running its television channel namely “Channel
5”. Several other small and medium size organizations are also
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running their operations in the country. Cross media ownership is also

boosting with a big speed in Pakistan (PEMRA, 2005).

Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) was

established in 2002 during General Pervaiz Musharaf regime and it
has the mandate to regulate the electronic media organizations in the
country. Till the end of 2011, there are 88 private television channels
licensed by PEMRA although some of them are still non-operational.
Ten international media companies have landing rights permission by
PEMRA to operate their broadcast in Pakistan. PEMRA has also
issued FM Radio licenses to 115 commercial companies and 28 non-
commercial institutions (PEMRA (2011). Most of the non-commercial
FM radio licenses have been issued to different Universities of the
country.

Although there are some newspapers having an international standard

and quality which are very popular among the educated people of
Pakistan. Yet here are thousands of dummy newspapers being
published from nooks and corners of the country having very low
circulation. The purpose of these newspapers is only to earn money
through advertisements, mainly through government advertisements
(Riaz, 2010:50).

Media Associations

Different media people have different organizations and associations.

All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) is the organization of
newspaper owners and proprietors and it aims to protect the interests
of the newspapers’ owners. The editors are represented in the Council
of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE). The working journalists have
their association named as Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists
(PFUJ). The All Pakistan Newspaper Employees’ Confederation
(APNEC) represents employees, journalists as well as non journalists
in newspapers’ offices. Local Press Clubs are also strong platforms for
the journalists of a number of big and small cities. However, in some
media organizations journalists are not allowed to take part in activities
of the trade unions. These media associations protect the interests of
their members and work for their welfare and upbringing.

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Miserable Condition of Journalists

A vast majority of working journalists in the developing countries are

living in a miserable condition. For example an Indian author Jagdish
Vachani elaborates the condition of Indian journalists in these words:

“The salaries of journalists are low, often paid irregularly, recruitments

and promotions are made in a haphazard manner; working hours and
leave rules, where such rules at all exist, are unsatisfactory; the
amenities provided are inadequate; retirement benefits are almost non-
existent and above all there is a feeling of insecurity of service. There
are innumerable complaints about the manner in which services of
journalists have been dispensed with, sometimes at sweet will of the
manager or the proprietors (Vachani, 1999:280). Being a neighbored
country the situation is almost same in Pakistan. Most of the journalists
are living in a miserable condition.

Starting Career in the field of Journalism

The field of media and journalism has always been easy to enter in
because there is no professional requirement to enter in the field. Even
in most of the situations a professional degree is not required to be a
journalist. This phenomenon exists all over the world. As a result a lot
of people try journalism as their first career and afterwards they leave
this profession and join some other field. According to a study low
salary is the most cited reason for leaving this profession (Weaver &
Wilhoit, 1986). Another researcher Mann found on the basis of his
survey research that journalism students prefer the field of Advertising
and Public Relations instead of working in newspapers because of low
salaries and lack of creativity (Mann, 1988:43,60-62). Having an
analysis of the journalists working in media organizations in Pakistan it
can be said that Working conditions including salary structure of the
journalists affect the media content produced by the organizations.
Media organizations like Dawn, Express and Jang group who pay
more salaries to their journalists, the standard of their content is much
better than those newspapers where journalists are less paid.

Wage Board Award

In the words of Marshal McLuhan, money is the poor man’s credit card
(McLuhan, 1996:131). Obviously, no body can survive without money.
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It might be possible to live without money in the old ages but now, this
is not possible. Like other employees and workers, journalists also
have right to get reasonable salaries in reward of their work. A Wage
Board was set up by the Government of Pakistan in 1960 who fixed
the pay scales for different categories of newspaper workers. This
ordinance is called as Working Journalists’ (Conditions of Service)
ordinance 1960.

The ordinance says:

“The Central Government may constitute a Wage Board for fixing rates
of wages in respect of working journalists in accordance with the
provision of this ordinance. The Board shall consist of an equal
number of persons nominated by the Central Government to represent
employers in relation to newspaper establishments and working
journalists, and an independent person shall be appointed by the
Central Government as the chairman, therefore. In fixing rates of
wages in respect of working journalists, the Board shall have regard to
the cost of living, the prevalent rates of wages for comparable
employments and to any other circumstances which to the Board seem
relevant. The decisions of the Board fixing rates of wages shall be
communicated as soon as practicable to the Central Government
(Jabbar & Isa,1997:269).

The first Wage Board recommended the abolition of distinction

between English and Urdu language newspapers in matters of wages
of working journalists; provision of fringe benefits to journalists such as
dearness allowance, conveyance allowance, charge allowance night
shift allowance etc; payment of apprentices, gratuity in the event of
dismissal after three years of continuous service or retirement after 25
years of service, or death, and entitlement to medical expenses. An
amendment to the ordinance makes the dependents of journalists also
eligible for medical treatment by the employers (Shamsuddin, 1996:34-
25).

The Government of Pakistan assented Newspaper Employees

(Conditions of Service) Act 1973 on August 11, 1973. Six different
wage boards were constituted by the government in different times and
these boards announced six wage board awards till 2001. Only a few
media groups including Jang group, Nawa-i-waqt group, Dawn group
and the government owned and controlled news agency, Associated
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Press of Pakistan (APP) implemented these awards partially and fixed

the salaries of a few senior journalists according to the wage board
awards and neglected a lot of other employees. The governments of
all the times did not take any step to implement these awards strictly
because they did not want to unhappy the media owners. On the other
hand, trade unions and associations of journalists were continuously
struggling for the implementation of these wage board awards. Hence
a continuous battle was going on the way between media owners and
journalists and the government was not interfering in this battle. Its role
was only to announce wage board award.

On October 11th, 2001 the government-constituted Seventh Wage

Board announced an award of Two Billion rupees to be paid in the next
five years. This was named as the Seventh Wage Board Award
(Dawn, 2001). The newspapers owners and publishers totally rejected
this award and started a huge campaign against it.

Journalists Viewpoint on Seventh Wage Board Award:

Pakistan's fourth estate which exposes injustices and atrocities is itself

a victim of the worst kind of human rights’ violations at the hands of
newspaper owners and the government.

Newspaper proprietors exploit their employees while simultaneously

getting favor from the government in different shapes. The salary
structure of journalists in Pakistan is very low. They are not even
issued appointment letters and can be dismissed by owners at any
time without reason.

Though Pakistan's Constitution protects the rights of journalists under

the Newspaper Employees (Services Condition) Act, 1973, non-
implementation of the Act by the government has left journalists in the
lurch.

Under the 1973 Act, employment on contract in newspapers is illegal,

but neither the government nor the country's courts have acted against
this violation. The low wages, job insecurity and absence of other
facilities have forced journalists to make compromises, often playing
into the hands of vested interests.

"Some newspapers encourage their staff members to resort to

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corruption and blackmail. Bureau offices are sold to the highest

bidders," claims Abdullah Jan who represented journalists in the
Seventh wage board. “The owners try to get close to the President and
Prime Minister and angle for foreign tours with dignitaries,” observes
Jan, who is also a former assistant secretary of the PFUJ (Khan,
2003).

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has been struggling for

the rights of the working journalists. The union’s point of view can be
seen in its following statement published in national newspapers on
June 19th 2004. In this statement PFUJ protested the government for
the delay of the implementation of the 7th Wage board award by the
media organizations. The Journalists’ Union demanded the
government that the advertisements of the governmental organizations
should be linked with the implementation of the wage board and only
those newspapers should be given these benefits that are willing to
implement the wage board award in their organizations. The office
bearers of the PFUJ appreciated the role of all four provincial
assemblies of the country who passed resolutions for the
implementation of the seventh wage board award. They condemned
the misleading advertisements of the media owners who argue that the
increase in salaries would be unbearable for the media organizations
(Dawn, 2004).

APNS Struggle against Implementation of the Wage Board Award

The All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) strongly demanded the

reverse of the Wage Board Award in its emergent meeting held on
October 25th, 2001 in Karachi. Their viewpoint was published in the
next day newspapers in these words:

KARACHI, Oct 25: An urgent meeting of the All Pakistan Newspapers

Society has appealed to the President of Pakistan to reverse a
"disastrous pay award" announced by the chairman of the 7th
Newspapers' Employees Wage Board and to repeal the Newspapers'
Employees Conditions of Service Act, 1973, which provide the legal
basis for such an award, says a press release.
It said the estimated Two billion Rupees pay increase spread over a
five-year period has been described by the APNS as "the single
largest pay award in terms of volume" in the history of Pakistan, at a

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time when the industry is "already reeling from the financial impact of
the war in neighboring Afghanistan" (News, 2001).

The APNS has strongly cautioned the president with respect to "a new
war brewing on the home front", due to the creation of a "theatre of
triangular conflict and confrontation" that is expected to ensue between
government, publishers and the employees as a consequence of this
award".

The APNS has also committed itself to paying "far higher an amount ...
(than) a decent living wage" for newspaper journalists, but has
declared itself to be irrevocably opposed to the creation of a super
class of several thousand non-journalist employees who are all
"guaranteed three times the wages of their private sector counterparts”
(Dawn, 2001).

On June 20th 2002, the All Pakistan Newspapers society (APNS) filed
a case in the Supreme Court of Pakistan against the implementation of
the seventh wage board award. The APNS argued in its appeal that
the Newspapers Employees’ act 1973 was a violation of the basic
rights of the media owners. The APNS further requested in its appeal
that this act was a violation of the articles 8, 9, 14, 18,19, 23 and 25 of
the act of Pakistan that ensure freedom of expression and safety and
protection of the media organizations in the country. The petition was
signed by 24 members of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society and it
was submitted to the apex court of Pakistan through advocate Abdul
Hafeez Pirzada. The petitioners stated that there was no justification at
all for giving big salaries to the non-media workers of the media
organizations. They requested the apex court that the seventh wage
board award may be declared as illegal. The media owners further
stated in their application that the article 19 of the Ac of Pakistan
assures freedom of press in the country while the Newspaper
Employees act was against the spirit of the freedom of press. It was
also stated by the petitioners that the Chairman of the Wage Board
has been given excessive powers and giving such excessive powers
to an individual I highly unjustified and against the spirit of the act of
press freedom given by the act of Pakistan.

The members of the APNS further stated in their petition that the
suggested wage board award was an unbearable financial burden on
the media industry of Pakistan and there is a danger of the closure of
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several media industries of the country if they would be forced to

implement the wage award (Dawn, 2002). The news of the petition in
the Supreme Court of Pakistan was greatly highlighted in the next
day’s newspapers.

On April, 8th 2004, The Supreme Court dismissed the petition filed by
APNS with the remarks that it did not satisfy the requirements
specified in article 184(3) for the maintainability of a petition there
under (The News, 2004).

Government’s Viewpoint:

For the first time in the history of Pakistan, the Government of Pakistan
took keen interest in the issue and supported journalists regarding
implementation of the Seventh Wage Board Award. The reason might
be to threaten media owners and to pressurize them to give better
coverage to the government and stop criticism on the government.
However, the government fully supported the journalists on this
dispute.

On June 11th, 2004, The National Assembly of Pakistan unanimously

adopted a resolution linking the government advertisements with the
implementation of Wage Board Award by the newspapers. A leader of
MQM Dr. Farooq Sattar presented the resolution which was admitted
by the house. The hen minister for information and broadcasting
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed stated that government would not oppose the
resolution as this matter was pertaining to journalist community (The
Nation, 2004).

On July 12th 2004, the federal cabinet discussed the issue of the
implementation of the Seventh Wage Board Award in detail and the
cabinet set up a five member committee, headed by the then
information minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, and comprising the then
Minister for Finance and afterwards Prime Minister of Pakistan Mr.
Shaukat Aziz, Minister for religious affairs Mr. Ijaz ul Haq, Minister for
Petroleum Mr. Nauraiz Shakoor, and Minister for Housing and Works
Safwanullah to discuss the issue of implementation of 7th Wage Board
Award with all the stakeholders. The minister for information said in a
news conference that this was the last attempt on the part of the
government to settle the controversy on the subject and if the APNS
and journalists did not come up with mutually acceptable solution, the
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matter would again be taken up at cabinet level, which would make the
final decision. The minister said that the Cabinet Committee had been
entrusted with the task to narrow down the differences among the
stakeholders and ensure that the justice would be done to all. He said
that the cabinet had expressed its firm commitment to the freedom of
press (The Nation, 2004).

Advertising Campaign against 7th Wage Board Award Launched

by APNS

All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) launched a huge advertising

campaign against government to withdraw the Seventh Wage Board
Award and cancel the Newspapers Employees Act 1973. All the
member organizations of the APNS published these advertisements on
the front page of their publications. This advertising campaign was
started on June 18th and ended on 27th June 2004, after one day of the
governmental change in Pakistan. All of these advertisements were
addressed to the President of Pakistan. These advertisements
contained the demand of the APNS in bold capital letters at the end of
each and every advertisement in these words:

THE GOVERNMENT MUST STOP SUPPORTING THE WAGE

BOARD. IT SHOULD SUPPORT A FREE PRESS INSTEAD REPEAL
THE NEWSPAPERS EMPLOYEES ACT, 1973 (APNS, 2004:1).

The first advertisement appeared on front page of all the member

publications of APNS on June 18th 2004. It was titled as:

“Seriously, Mr. President…Can any believer in a free press actually

believe your Information Minister?”

The main thrust of this advertisement was to criticize the then

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed who was very active in
implementation of the Wage Board Award. The attractive part of the ad
was the cartoon of Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. The minister was criticized
in these words: “Why the Federal Information Minister taking such an
unholy interest in this matter?---- Why is Sheikh Rashid Ahmed so
bothered about the Wage Board’s implementation?” (Dawn, 2004).

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On June 19th 2004, the second advertisement of this campaign

appeared on the front pages of the member publications of APNS
under this title:

Isn’t it odd, Mr. President---- at precisely the time when the free world
sees us as part of the International Coalition against Terrorism, your
Government has decided to terrorize the free press? (APNS (2004:1).

The ad was containing a cartoon in which APNS was sinking in water

putting its hand towards an army man to bring it out of water. The army
man was a symbol of the President General Pervaiz Musharraf. The
gist of this ad was showing the condition of newspaper industry as very
miserable saying that 63 newspapers have been closed down in past
eight years due to the financial burden imposed on the press. It was
argued that the 7th Wage Board Award would prove to be the death
knell for the remaining newspapers that were struggling to survive. The
ad was ended with a question and its self-replied answer in these
words:

“The question is will there any newspaper to read? Not if the 7th Wage
Board is implemented. Not if the free press is simply not allowed to
survive.” (Dawn, 2004).

The third advertisement appeared on June 20th 2004 on the front

pages of all of the newspapers members of APNS under the title,
“Excuse me Mr. President! Does your Government want to murder the
Journalists with sweet knife?” (APNS, 2004:1)

Again an interesting cartoon was there, showing the newspaper

industry as a patient admitted in hospital and an army man was going
away taking his oxygen cylinder with him. The theme of this ad was
that apparently the 7th Wage Board Award was looking beautiful to the
journalist community but actually this was an attempt to murder them
with sweet knife. The APNS argued that when no newspaper will
remain, then who will pay the handsome salaries to journalists? (News
Karachi, 2004).

On 22nd June 2004, two ads were simultaneously appeared on the

newspapers, one on the front page and the other on the inner pages of
the newspapers. The front page ad was titled as under.

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Frankly Mr. President! Hasn’t even one of the government’s spin

doctors confessed to you that there is something seriously wrong with
the Newspapers Employees Act, 1973? (APNS, 2004:1)

The ad was containing the following table of salaries and a question

followed by the table.

Employee Status Salary in Private Take home package

Sector under the Wage
Board.
Sweeper RS.2500 Rs.16995
Peon Rs.2500 Rs.16995
Driver Rs.3500 Rs.17765
Clerk Rs.4000 Rs.18540

Why are sweepers, drivers, peons and clerks, covered by an act

aimed at protecting the interests of journalists, when they can easily
work for an organization in the private sector?

The inner page advertisement was having an attractive cartoon in

which the President Musharraf was shown as taking oath from the then
Prime Minister Mr. Jamali, the then Finance Minister Mr. Shoukat Aziz
and the Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. The ad was titled
as:

“Off the record, Mr. President--- Will there be a state farewell when the
Government finally hammers the last nail in the coffin of a free press?”

The advertisement’s content was summarized at its end in these

words:

The 7th Wage Board Award is designed to permanently destroy the

newspaper industry. Who would have thought, Mr. President, that it
would be a government under your leadership that administers the last
rites to the free press of Pakistan? (The News Islamabad, 2004).

On 23rd June 2004, The APNS advertisement appeared under the

following title:

But Why, Mr. President ---- do you refer to repeat the tactics of our
former rulers, when it comes to a free press? (APNS, 2004:1).
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The ad mentioned that all of the former rulers used The Wage Board
as a means of controlling the press by using the formula of crippling
the press financially. The APNS argued in this ad that the present
government was repeating the practice of the former rulers regarding
press.

The member newspapers of APNS were having the next

advertisement of the campaign on the front pages of their publications
on 24th June, 2004 under the following title:

“Do you really think, Mr. President--- that your government will be
getting a medal for forcing newspapers to close down?” (APNS,
2004:1).

The ad was containing a cartoon in which some army man was fixing a
medal on the chest of the President General Pervaiz Musharraf. The
ad’s content can be summarized in these words.

This award will almost certainly kill the newspaper industry. Within
days of its implementation, newspapers will begin to close down;
hundreds of journalists will lose their jobs. Is this what your
government intends? Can press freedom survive without a press?

On 25th June 2004, the newspapers published a full page

advertisement with comprehensive arguments against Seventh Wage
Board Award. In the end of the ad, the APNS appealed to the
president in a humble way to preside over a meeting at which the
ministers concerned and the APNS should be present. The ad was
ended with the words addressing to the president, “You can help us by
virtue of your office. The time to act is now.” (APNS, 2004:1).

On 26th June 2004, the member newspapers of APNS published two

advertisements in their publications, one on the front page and the
other on the inner pages. The front page ad was against the
parliament of the country that passed a resolution for the
implementation of the Wage Board Award and for linking government
advertisements with the implementation of the Wage Board Award, on
June 11, 2004. The ad was titled in these words:

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“Isn’t it sad, Mr. President----- when your parliamentarians end up

giving parliament a bad name?” (APNS, 2004:1)

The parliamentarians of the ruling party as well as the opposition were

strongly criticized in this advertisement. The ad was ended with the
remarks: “Are our parliamentarians more interested in playing to the
gallery and appeasing journalists, rather than in protecting the rights of
a free press?” (The News, 2004).

The inner page ad was about the salaries of non-journalist employees

of newspapers. The APNS demanded the deletion of 87 categories of
non journalist employees of newspapers from the 7th Wage Board
Award. The ad was ended with the following punch line:

“Mr. President, if you were an employer in the private sector, would

you accept such gross injustices?”

On the same day, (June 26th 2004) the then Prime Minister of Pakistan
Mir Zafar Ullah Khan Jamali dismissed his cabinet and he himself
resigned from the office of the Prime Minister. This was a big event in
the history of the country.

The last advertisement of the APNS campaign appeared in the

newspapers of 27th June 2004. It was having a cartoon in which the
then President General Pervaiz Musharraf was shown as surrounded
by journalists with microphones and video cameras, asking him some
questions. The heading was, “Mr. President, We want to ask a few
very easy questions.” The ad was containing a question answer format
in a pinching style. The ad was ended in these words:

Q. Do you want to say that newspaper industry is the only industry on

which the Wage Board Award is going to be implemented?
A. Yes
Q. Why?
A. Next question, please. (APNS, 2004:1).

This was the last advertisement of this campaign. On the day of its
publication, the President called an un-scheduled and un-announced
meeting with a four-member delegation of APNS and threatened them
to stop their advertising campaign at once. The campaign was stopped
and a clarification was appeared in all of the national newspapers,
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issued by the President office mentioning that the President has

nothing to do with the 7th Wage Board Award and the dispute was only
between the journalists and the newspapers’ owners. The presidential
spokesman stated that the President had a strong belief on the
freedom of Press and his policies are evident in this regard.

Counter Balance of the APNS Advertising Campaign by Pakistan

Television (PTV)

The Government launched a counter-balance campaign against the

newspaper owners and in favor of the journalists on its self-owned and
controlled Television, Pakistan Television (PTV). During the ten days
of the APNS advertising campaign, PTV telecasted a number of news
stories in favor of the Pakistani journalists in its news bulletins. It
portrayed journalists as miserable community of society and
newspaper owners as billionaires. PTV gave full coverage to the rallies
and demonstrations of the journalists demanding implementation of the
Seventh Wage Board Award. The Information Minister’s interview was
a compulsory part of all of the news bulletins in favor of the Wage
Board Award. Hence these ten days were showing a picture of battle
between PTV and newspapers. When the ads were stopped by the
APNS, the PTV campaign was at once stopped.

Recommendations and Suggestions:

The triangular conflict between media owners, journalists and the

government is still prevailing even after passing a decade. The dust
has been temporarily settled but it can explode again any time. No one
of the conflict parties is willing to sacrifice. The most surprising part of
the story is that the Government is fully committed to implement the
Seventh Wage Board Award, supporting the journalist community for
the first time. No such commitment was seen in the implementation of
the earlier six Wage Board Awards. Why it is so? Some people say
that the Government is just using the name of journalists to pressurize
media owners to favor the government; otherwise it has no sympathy
with journalists. The journalists are fighting the battle for a reasonable
rise in their salaries, which is justified. On the other hand, media
owners’ plea about a drastic increase in the salaries of the non-
journalist staff is also quite genuine. The recommended salaries for
sweepers, peons, drivers and clerks in the Wage Board Award are
even more than the salaries of the government officers having Masters
Degree with a lot of experience. Following are a few recommendations
that can be helpful in resolving the issue in a better way.

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• The joint meetings of the media owners, journalists’

representatives and the relevant government officials should be
arranged to discuss the issue in detail and find out some way to
resolve the issue.
• The APNS plea regarding drastic increase in the salaries of
non-journalist staff is quite genuine. The Wage Board
Chairman may be appealed to revise the recommended pay
structure for the non-Journalist staff and these may be fixed as
equal to those of employees of other private sector
organizations. Non-journalist staff can do job any where while
the journalists can do job only in the field of Journalism. If the
87 categories of the non-journalist staff are deleted from the
Wage Board Award, as demanded by the APNS, the issue
would be resolved. Newspaper owners will be ready to
increase the salaries of the journalist staff according to the
recommendations of the Wage Board Award.
• A nominal increase in salaries may be given to the non-
journalist staff.
• After the settlement of the issue, the release of governmental
advertisements should be linked with the implementation of the
Wage Board Award. If some organization does not give
salaries to its journalists according to the recommendations of
the Seventh Wage Board Award, the release of governmental
advertisements may be stopped to it.
• Newspaper industry should be facilitated in some other way by
the government. Relaxation in the custom and excise duty in
the import of paper, inks, machinery etc. may be given to media
owners.
• The qualification may be given weightage for appointment of
journalists so that educated people can be appointed. The
Masters Degree in Mass Communication should be a
prerequisite for employment as a journalist.

No doubt, the Government-Press relationship is an adversarial

relationship, and it should be, but it should be for the betterment of
the society and not for personal benefits. This is the duty of
journalists, newspaper owners and the Government to settle the
triangular conflict for the betterment of the society. If the dispute is
not settled, uneasiness will remain there bringing a bad name for
the holy profession. Providing better working atmosphere and
better salaries to journalists will hopefully produce better results in
production of quality media content which will strengthen
democracy in society.

116
 Seventh Wage Board Award

References:

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APNS (2004, June 19). Isn’t it Odd, Mr. President! Your Govt. has
decided to terrorize the Free Press? Daily Dawn Islamabad.

APNS (2004, June 20). Excuse me Mr. President! Does the

Government want to kill the newspaper employees with sweet
knife? Daily Dawn Islamabad.

APNS (2004, June 22). Frankly Mr. President -----. Daily The Nation
Islamabad.

APNS (2004, June 23). But Why, Mr. President---. Daily The News
Islamabad.

APNS (2004, June 24). Do you really think, Mr. President---. Daily The
News Islamabad.

APNS (2004, June 25). Do you realize, Mr. President and Mr. Prime
Minister---. Daily The News Islamabad.

APNS (2004, June 26). Isn’t it sad, Mr. President---When your

Parliamentarians end up giving Parliament a bad name? Daily
The News Islamabad.

APNS (2004, June 27). We want to ask a few very easy questions, Mr.
President! Daily The News Islamabad.

Daily Dawn Islamabad, (October 12, 2001). Seventh Wage Board

Award announced.

Daily Dawn Islamabad, June 19, 2004.

Daily Dawn Islamabad, June 20, 2002.

Daily Dawn Islamabad, October 26, 2001.

Daily Dawn Karachi, June 18, 2004.

Daily The Nation, Lahore, July 13, 2004.

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 Saqib Riaz

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Daily The News Islamabad, April 9, 2004.

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