• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

Sawant upbeat aboutprint media growth

Our Bureau

HYDERABAD, July 10

THE Press Council Chairman, Mr. Justice P.B. Sawant, today dispelled doubts about the future of the print media in the wake of stiff competition from the electronic media.

``On the contrary, its future is bright with readership and circulation of newspapers in India growing at 5.6 per cent per year,'' he said, inaugurating a seminar on the ``Future of print media'' organised here by the Press Council and the Press Academy of Andhra Pradesh.

Mr. Justice Sawant said that statistics from across the globe indicated that the print media was growing in spite of competition from television channels and Internet news portals.

There is vast potential for the expansion of readership of the print media with almost 70 per cent of the population not fully exposed to the electronic media, he said.

According to him, of late, issues concerning the media had assumed such importance that there was a need to set up a third press commission. But as there was ``no hope that the Centre will constitute the third press commission'', the Press Council had de cided to take the ``initiative'' to explore ways to strengthen the print media on healthy lines.

``We should ponder over whether the print media should be run as a business venture or a social mission, whether it should be market-oriented or mass-oriented,'' Mr. Justice Sawant said, referring to a lengthy questionnaire prepared by the Press Council on the future of the print media.

Mr. Justice Lakshman Rao, former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, said it was necessary to secure for the people the right to information and the print media had not measured up to the need.

He felt that factual presentation of matter being tried in courts without giving any twist through interpretation need not be construed as violation of court rules.

Prof. P.L. Vishweshwer Rao of Osmania University said the credibility of newspapers had become questionable ``as a lot of propaganda had taken root'' in newspapers. There was need to redefine news. While poverty was a major issue in the country, it was n ot getting enough attention in newspapers, he said.