Indian
print-media business is in doldrums. Recently Outlook did away with three of
its magazines and Times of India closed its weekend edition named Crest.
Grappling with huge revenue deficit due to lower cover price and exorbitant
print cost, Industry is bound to bend towards advertisers. As Sevanti Ninan,
media critic and columnist said during orientation lecture held at Indian
Institute of Mass Communication, it’s profit maximizing industrial trends of
media profession which are driving the journalism trends and subsequently
taking the sheen out of business.
Earlier
media was embraced as a service. Owners used to get more concerned about people
than profit. But with the reins being handed over to second-generation, the
things have turned for worst. The management no more sees media as a service
but business. For them minting monies is the mere motive. They can go to any
extent to win high-heeled shareholders and advertisers. This
advertisement-driven or profit-driven media model has actually given a leeway
to planted news and assassinated the real journalism.
Ms.
Ninan also threw light on how English dailies like Times of India and The Hindu
are going to launch their regional versions and also entertaining supplements
in order to earn revenues and thus boost the quality of their mother-product.
To
conclude, revenue deficit in print media organizations is what ails the
industry qualitatively and ethically. As the end-product i.e. the published
paper is exceedingly cheaper than what is spent on its produce, management will
definitely look for other sources of funds. Either the overhaul in price
structure of newspaper will take place or let’s just accept that print-media
business will soon die, perhaps within 10 years to come.
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