Most of the Indians are addicted to newspapers, some feel restless, others depressed, some constipated and some furious if they do not get their morning newspaper.
Actually newspaper addiction in India is a peculiar phenomenon. Before going to office or market, they must read a newspaper. I have some relatives who become very restless without morning TV news or a newspaper in hand. One can say newspapers are the lifeline of the Indians. Most of the office hours in Government offices are spent discussing on different newspapers.
Recently, the sale of different Odia newspapers went up due to matriculation question papers tuition. The new generation is least interested in news as such because they have the smart phone or IPod in hand. Every local newspaper projects their newspaper as No-1 in the State. A time was there when students used to go to railway platforms to have a glimpse of a small bikini clad lady’s photograph in Blitz newspaper, of course, later, the vendor clipped it with stapler. No one can watch a full page colored photographs of bikini clad lady in most of the newspapers, time has changed. We became broad and open minded.
A newspaper's circulation is the number of copies it distributes on an average day. Circulation is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates. Circulation is not always the same as copies sold, often called paid circulation, since some newspapers are distributed without cost to the reader. Readership figures are usually higher than circulation figures because of the assumption that a typical copy of the newspaper is read by more than one person.
In many developed countries, newspaper circulation is falling due to social and technological changes such as the availability of news on the internet. On the other hand, in some developing countries, circulation is increasing because of rising incomes, population, and literacy. When electronic system came to India people thought hard copy newspapers will have a premature death but on the contrary, the newspaper industry is a very powerful, profitable and works as a political weapon in India. They make and break the Government at will.
The 2010 Indian Readership Survey findings show that the largest-read local language newspapers to be Nav Gujarat (with 16.429 million readers) and Dainik Bhaskar (with 14.448 million readers), both published in Hindi. The Times of India has a readership of 4.9 million, Ananda Bazar Patrika 5.5 million, Nav Gujarat Samay 4.5 million, Hindustan Times 3.9 million, Eenadu 1.7 million, Dina Thanthi 1.6 million, Sakshi 1.45 million. The New Indian Express is read by 1.8 million. Malayala Manorama newspaper published in Malayalam from Kerala has a readership of over 9.9 million (with a circulation base of over 2 million copies) has the most circulation in other languages.
Why do some newspapers have such a small readershipIJ
It is because they present news as such without any sensation and masala. Due to this, persons who seek entertainment everywhere find it boring. These newspapers rarely publish news about celebrities. Other reason why people read certain newspapers is it has half naked pictures of female celebrities almost every day. Although India has a large number of English speakers, vocabulary of these people is very limited.
Many students read those newspapers just to improve their vocabulary. If you have read any other newspapers in past you will find it extremely difficult to read given by style of writing and language. But once you have acquired the taste, you will not find it difficult to adjust.
Good newspapers like The Pioneer, The Hindu and The Statesman have fewer readerships because they do not believe in sensational news; it’s unfortunate. Certain students who prepare for competitive examinations read the editorial pages of these elite news papers.
Editorial pages of certain news papers are worth reading; they give an unbiased opinion and comments on the subject. The Pioneer editorials are worth reading. But most of the readers do not go through the editorial page, a majority concentrates on sports and gossip pages.
Unfortunately, we do not have a national newspaper where one can get to read the same news in the Delhi edition or in the Bhubaneswar edition. Regionalism news is dividing the country.
(The writer is a former Joint Director, SAIl)
