The Maldives Media and Broadcasting Commission said today that work is underway to finalize the distribution of state budget funds to private media outlets before the end of this year.

Media Commission Vice President Zammath Ahmed Waheed told some media outlets that work is progressing in collaboration with the Youth Ministry to disburse funds to media outlets before year-end. However, he did not provide details on the progress of the work or further information.

The Youth Ministry announced on October 29 that a total of 28 million rufiyaa would be disbursed to 18 media outlets. The largest amount on that list would go to Sangu TV, in which Youth Minister Ibrahim Waheed (Aswad) has an interest. Accordingly, it was decided to disburse 3.8 million rufiyaa to Sangu TV and 1.3 million rufiyaa to Sangu Online.

Following public criticism from some media outlets and citizens after the media list was made public, the Youth Ministry canceled that decision the next day. The criticism of the fund distribution was aimed at the fact that the list was compiled without proper examination within a short period, and without considering the number of employees working in media outlets and the work they do. Subsequently, that work was handed over to the newly established Media Commission under this government.