PM assures govt support for media industry uplift, protection of media workers’ rights

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday assured that the incumbent government would make all-out efforts to uplift the media industry and resolve the issues confronting it.

The prime minister, in his message on World Press Freedom Day, also reiterated the resolve for the government’s maximum cooperation to protect the rights of media industry as well as the media workers.

He paid tribute to the journalists, media workers, writers and cameramen and lauded their fight for truth, the official news agency reported.

He said male and female journalists who sacrificed their lives during coverage in Gaza were the heroes of humanity.

The prime minister said that fighting oppression and digging out the truth was the message of World Press Freedom Day as well as a lesson from history.

PM Shehbaz said the freedom of press and expression were the foundation of democracy and protection of civil rights as well as the voice of truth in the society.

The prime minister urged the collective role of media and other stakeholders to create a conducive atmosphere to ensure smooth media functioning. He said the government firmly believed that freedom of media and expression provided guarantee for democratic durability.

Shehbaz Sharif said that during his precious 16-month government, Pakistan had improved by seven points in the World Press Freedom Index.

He recalled that at that time, the government had taken steps including legislation for media protection, health insurance, and payment of billions of rupees to media and insurance amount worth millions of rupees to media workers through the NIRC.