Radio licence fee

National Assembly's Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting has recommended levying two percent broadcast cess on all cellphone users and a one-time Rs 4000 fee on new car purchases. The measure, said the committee, would make Radio Pakistan self-sufficient. Commenting on the move, Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan also claimed that the government would utilise all its available resources to turn Radio into a self-sufficient and profitable organisation. The Standing Committee proposal is hardly an ingenious scheme for profitability. Ordinary people, teetering under the burden of ever-rising price indices, are to pay more to prop up a government-owned organisation, which is running into loss. PTV is already collecting TV licence fees through electricity bills. The report has generated considerable criticism. There are two key contrary arguments. One that PTV and Pakistan Radio have a number of commercial competitors; if they can manage their affairs why can't these organisations. Second, that this government has been using public sector entities, including these two, as employment centres for its political supporters and sympathisers, and thus overburdening their resources. Both arguments are valid. However, there are other examples, such as that of the BBC in Britain, where licence fees are charged. But then they have a sound rationale. They do programmes that may not be commercially viable but are deemed necessary to educate and inform, promote cultural pluralism, and protect and preserve cultural heritage, etc. And equally important, they function as independent entities. In this country, both Radio and PTV basically serve as tools of government propaganda. Hence, there seems to be little justification for it to collect licence fees for them as they aim to advance their own policies and programmes rather than the public interest. The present proposals have been forwarded to the Ministry of Finance which might approve one or both. A careful review is in order. Charging Rs 4000 on each car purchase seems rather excessive considering that in the absence of an efficient public transport system in any of our big or small cities, a car is a necessity rather than a luxury. It would be a better idea to levy this kind of a fee on luxury brands only. Secondly, in order to justify the measure, the government must consider giving financial and programming autonomy to both Radio Pakistan and PTV. Otherwise there would no justification whatsoever for it to slap a licence fee on cellphone and car owners. Copyright Business Recorder, 2012