Govt to rationalise advertisements to newspapers, channels on circulation, reach basis: CM Omar

Jammu, Feb 19: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday assured that his government would “rationalise the process of distribution of advertisements for the newspapers and channels on the basis of their circulation, readership and reach.”

He asserted that in a transparent manner, a solution would be found, after holding consultations with the media fraternity to ensure advertisements to deserving newspapers.

The Chief Minister was replying to the debate on demands for grants of the departments under his charge in the Legislative Assembly.

“While referring to the functioning of the Information department, MLAs raised the issue (of advertisement distribution). I believe that the press is a very crucial component of democracy. But currently, we are witnessing a weird situation. On what basis the advertisements are being issued, I, myself, still could not figure out that formula. I’m trying to comprehend it. But there is a lack of transparency in it,” CM Omar said.

Referring to the statement of NC MLA Tanvir Sadiq, the Chief Minister remarked that the names of newspapers (getting advertisements) quoted by him (Sadiq) amazed him too.

“I wonder – where are these newspapers? Where do they get printed? Many newspapers are sent to my residence by the (Information) department. But I’ve never seen those (quoted by Sadiq) newspapers. Who reads them? And why do they get advertisements? Who decides it (distribution)? Anyway, it does happen. But our endeavour will be to rationalise this process (of distribution of advertisements) on the basis of circulation, readership and reach. Ditto will be done for channels also,” he assured the House.

In the same breath, CM Omar clarified that he was not in favour of media censorship. “I’ve never tried to censor the media. I never called any channel or newspaper to question why it spoke or wrote against me. I’ve always maintained – let them do what they want and the issue, if any, can be looked into later on,” he said.

The Chief Minister asserted that he was not among those who would use advertisements as a pressure point.

“I know that here advertisements are only used as a pressure tactic to get one’s stories published. I;m not among those people. I’ve never used advertising or such tactics to further my cause and will not do so, even in future. But I assure the House that in a transparent manner, we will find a solution to this problem, after holding consultations with the members of the press fraternity so that the genuine and deserving newspapers can get advertisements,” he said.

However, the CM remained non-committal about the issue of pension or remuneration for senior accredited journalists after their retirement.

He was reminded of the demand by the CPI-M MLA Muhammad Yusuf Tarigami.

“Right now, I cannot say anything about it. I’m not aware about its financial implications, the number (of such journalists). Moreover, what is the responsibility of those companies which they (journalists) work for? They (companies), too, have a responsibility. As the government takes care of its employees, they (companies) too should look into their (journalists’) welfare. Still, I’ll sit with the members of the (journalist) fraternity and my officers to explore the possibility of group insurance where a small portion is to be contributed by us (government) and rest by others. But we will have to examine it. We’ll look into it,” the CM said.

Earlier during the day, while participating in the debate on demands for grants of departments under the charge of the Chief Minister, CPI-M MLA M Y Tarigami and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MLA Waheed-ur-Rehman Para had forcefully raised the issue of irrational distribution of advertisements to newspapers and channels. On Wednesday, February 18, 2026, National Conference MLA Tanvir Sadiq too had flagged similar concerns.

Tarigami, while endorsing the points raised by Tanvir Sadiq on this account, a day earlier, stated that the leading papers like Greater Kashmir, Daily Excelsior were totally ignored in the distribution of advertisements.

“That is why I maintain that the business rules should be cleared at the earliest. For the past one-and-a-half years, there have been no business rules. How can the government then implement its policies? Not just big newspapers, even the small newspapers, being published for decades, are suffering on this account (of irrational distribution of advertisements). The government should look into it,” CPI-M MLA demanded.

He also shared his apprehensions about privatisation of power corporations (DISCOMs). Tarigami also raised the issue of delay in release of GP Funds.

Later, Para too flagged the same issue of denying advertisements to prominent newspapers which have the highest circulation like Greater Kashmir. In this context, he also mentioned Kashmir Life – news magazine and Gulistan channel and asked the government to look into it.

All these MLAs had demanded the rationalisation of distribution of advertisements.