Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz is all set to welcome their leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif today after four years.

All the party workers are excited as they gear up for a major political gathering at the Minar-e-Pakistan and welcoming their leader.

An English newspaper The News also seems to join the excitement as it carried a full-page special advertisement from PMLN in connection with the arrival of Nawaz Sharif.

There is no main page headline in today’s paper except the whole page advertisement, that says in Urdu, ‘Aao Phir se Sambhalo, Yeh Mulk Bachalo Nawaz Sharif’ (Come, take charge again, save this country, Nawaz Sharif).

The ad has banished all the journalism from the front page. There is not a single news item.

With the current economy and transition to digital media, subscriptions in print media are in freefall, the only real source of revenue left behind is advertising for Pakistani newspapers and the major chunk of that comes from government advertising.

Accepting full-page advertisements on the home page indicates the dire need for revenue.

Similar ads were carried by other newspapers as well but most of them managed to put out one or two stories on the home page.