THE Information Ministry is reported to have almost completed the preparations to constitute the 9th Wage Board at a time when the Finance Minister was opposed to it and had a fierce clash with journalists denying the need for new Wage Board last week.
The point is that such a wage board is not independent. Wage Board for journalists has to be independent for free press. The present structure of the Wage Board gives full control over the award given by Wage Board to the government.
Moreover, from the perspectives of financial affordability, running newspapers is not necessarily a cash cow or a profit oriented business venture for private entrepreneurs. The discrepancy here is that, in the face of financial crunch for state-run news agencies the government can provide money to meet Wage Board award, but owners of private papers can’t. Also the yearly expenditure expansion of various Government Ministries does not conform to the yearly revenue expansion of newspapers run by the owners.
However, we notice a clear discrimination when it comes to decision-making process for Wage Board of journalists. The BSS — a government news agency has an independent representation. The Wage Board is most helpful for the BSS because the government has to fully implement the award. The owners in the Board are minority and their problems are easily ignored. The truth is no newspaper can claim to have fully implemented the award. Unhealthy pressure being created and corruption is resorted not to say the inability to implement.
Another problem is that most of the journalists are openly party activists. So the free press is nearly impossible.
The government control on the Wage Board is against the interest of the free press. The journalists have trade unions for bargaining wages
The point is that such a wage board is not independent. Wage Board for journalists has to be independent for free press. The present structure of the Wage Board gives full control over the award given by Wage Board to the government.
Moreover, from the perspectives of financial affordability, running newspapers is not necessarily a cash cow or a profit oriented business venture for private entrepreneurs. The discrepancy here is that, in the face of financial crunch for state-run news agencies the government can provide money to meet Wage Board award, but owners of private papers can’t. Also the yearly expenditure expansion of various Government Ministries does not conform to the yearly revenue expansion of newspapers run by the owners.
However, we notice a clear discrimination when it comes to decision-making process for Wage Board of journalists. The BSS — a government news agency has an independent representation. The Wage Board is most helpful for the BSS because the government has to fully implement the award. The owners in the Board are minority and their problems are easily ignored. The truth is no newspaper can claim to have fully implemented the award. Unhealthy pressure being created and corruption is resorted not to say the inability to implement.
Another problem is that most of the journalists are openly party activists. So the free press is nearly impossible.
The government control on the Wage Board is against the interest of the free press. The journalists have trade unions for bargaining wages
