NC’s Tanvir Sadiq Accuses Govt of Suppressing Media by Denying Ads to Prominent Newspapers
Alleging bias in advertisement allocation, Tanvir Sadiq calls for transparency, questioning the exclusion of leading dailies and demanding a fair media policy.
“I wonder what criteria are being used for allocating government advertisements to newspapers.”
Jammu, March 18: National Conference MLA from Zadibal, Tanvir Sadiq, on Tuesday raised serious concerns over what he described as the arbitrary and biased distribution of government advertisements to newspapers. He alleged that leading and widely read newspapers, including Greater Kashmir, Kashmir Reader, and Kashmir Times, had been deliberately excluded from receiving advertisements for the past few years.
Speaking during the discussion on the demand for grants for departments under the charge of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Sadiq indirectly suggested that such actions amounted to using financial pressure as a tool to suppress the media.
“These newspapers serve as the people’s voice, yet they have been deprived of government advertisements. I am compelled to ask—what is the criterion for allocating advertisements to newspapers? Is it their circulation, credibility, or merely their alignment with certain narratives?” Sadiq questioned.
Emphasizing the need for transparency and fairness, he urged the Chief Minister to introduce a rationalized and unbiased system for the allocation of government advertisements to newspapers, ensuring that media outlets are not unfairly targeted or discriminated against.
Supporting Sadiq’s concerns, MLA Tangmarg Farooq Ahmed Shah also called for a more equitable and structured approach to the distribution of government advertisements, stressing that all newspapers—regardless of their editorial stance—deserve fair treatment.
