KABUL (Pajhwok): Representatives of a number of media outlets say their economic problems have increased following a decline in commercial advertisements, while the Ministry of Information and Culture says it is working on a plan to help media in electricity expenses.
Ehsan Arab, sales director at 1TV, in an interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, said that after political changes in the country, the media lost most of its revenue sources, particularly mmercial advertisements.
"Based on publications list, we used to have 25 to 30 advertisements a month, but now we have four or five advertisements a week," he said.
He said the rates for advertisements were higher before but now they had declined by 80 percent. Arab said that most of their employees had left their jobs due to financial problems.
He called on the government, the international community and the institutions supporting journalists to provide financial assistance to media outlets.
BasirAbid, director of Arezoo TV, also said that they had previously received advertisements offers from domestic organizations, which covered all of their expenses.
However, he said, "We lost 80 percent of advertisements and we are currently faced with economic woes.”
Abid also said that he had lost 50 percent of his workers due to economic issues.
In response to a question, he said that the ongoing situation in the country, limited publications and limited presence of physical money in the market were the reasons behind declined advertisements in media outlets.
Monica Temori, marketing manager at Tolo TV, said, "Moby Group used to receive 70 percent of its budget from advertisements, but advertisements have recently declined by a high level.”
She said the rules enforced for broadcasting of television programs and commercials had a greater impact on advertisements.
On the other hand, Abdul HaqHammad, in charge of media observation at the Ministry of Information and Culture, confirmed economic problems of media outlets, but said that all businesses were faced with the same issues.
He said that the government was trying to support media outlets based on its available resources.
A plan is currently under development to cooperate with the media in terms of electricity expenses for a certain period of time, he said.
mds/ma
ا
