The Hindu : 'Newspapers suffering due to Govt. policies'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 05, 2003

National

National

'Newspapers suffering due to Govt. policies'

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR JAN. 4. The president of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS), Abhay Chaglani, today said there was a crisis in the newspaper industry and charged the Government with doing nothing to make things easier for the print media.

Newspapers were suffering due to the policies of the Government on the one side and competition among themselves and from the television channels on the other, he said.

Delivering the annual Pandit Jhabarmal Memorial Lecture jointly organised by the Rajasthan Patrika and the Makhanlal Chaturvedi National Journalism University Institute, Bhopal, Mr. Chaglani, Editor of the Indore-based Nai Duniyar, said the continuation of the wage board for the employees of newspapers was a major area of discrimination against the employers.

``In all other fields they have discarded the wage board. It seems that the newspaper industry has been chosen for a selective treatment,'' he said in the presence of the Labour Minister, Sahib Singh Verma, who presided over the function. He pointed out that only about 20 per cent of the newspapers anyway complied with the wage board recommendations.

Mr. Chaglani felt that publications providing sensational, negative and non-serious contents were wedging out the quality newspapers. "The mission period is over for Indian newspapers.''

Gulab Kothari, Editor, Rajasthan Patrika, shared Mr. Chaglani's viewpoint. " The Centre's attitude is anti-media and anti-newspaper,'' he said.

"The print media is fighting both the Government and the television. The newspapers are trying to imitate TV channels providing more entertainment content.'' He said that even when the people had high expectations from newspapers, they wanted to buy them cheap.

``Why do they want newspapers so cheap? This is the only commodity which is sold at a price less than the cost of production,'' he pointed out.

``The traditional rapport between the reader and the newspaper is missing now. No one refers to any newspaper as "my newspaper'', Mr. Chaglani said pointing out that it was not a good sign for both the nation and the society.

Mr. Chaglani regretted that the competition among newspapers reminded one of the tussles among industrial houses to sell their wares.

The INS president said that the newspapers too had declined in quality and content. "In the past one decade, we compromised everything,'' he said. Only good newspapers could provide a direction to the nation.

Mr. Verma promised to look into the problems of the industry. As for the wage board and its poor implementation, he confessed that the matter was not confined to his Ministry alone.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National