SHILLONG: Meghalaya Editors and Publishers Association (MEPA) has petitioned the Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on the pending demands.
After meeting the chief minister, MEPA submitted a memorandum to him on Monday and said the pending advertisement bills will have to be cleared by different state government departments.
Another demand of MEPA was to categorise newspaper houses as industries.
MEPA has also urged the state government to frame a proper advertisement policy for equal distribution of government advertisements to all local media houses.
MEPA also opposed the empanelment of Assam newspapers by MIPR and allotment of government advertisements of local interests like tenders, vacancies and others to Guwahati based newspapers.
“We understand that the state government has set up a Media Society which will function as a single window agency for release of advertisements, payment of advertisement bills and others”, MEPA said, adding that the state government should make the Media Society operational at the earliest.
It also wanted all the government departments to release the advertisements, while it urged the state government to direct all central government offices and corporate houses based in Meghalaya to support the local newspapers by giving them preferences while advertising.
Regarding the Journalists’ Welfare Fund, MEPA said the fund should be increased to Rs 2 lakh or on a case to case basis and it should not be a one-time assistance.
Senior journalists who have been in the job for 20 years should avail pension and housing scheme. The previous government had proposed pension and housing schemes for senior journalists, MEPA said.
It also urged the government to provide a space in the DIPR office which is under construction.
According to MEPA, Shillong journalists are not accredited to the Press Information Bureau (PIB) and they are not entitled for any centrally sponsored schemes like welfare funds and others besides they are not selected for foreign tours of the Prime Minister and union ministers.
Hence, MEPA urged the government to take up the matter with the Centre for accreditation of senior journalists to PIB.
MEPA also wanted the state government to support the language newspapers through MIPR and Arts and Culture departments.
