Papers strive on novel corona virus menace

• Not just the virus, but also rumours

Newspapers in Assam face an uphill task to maintain their readership index as India goes for a complete lockdown till the middle of April because of the covid-19 outbreak. A shutdown that

prevents the vendors from delivering newspapers at the doorsteps of buyers and the rumour that the paper itself can carry the novel coronavirus have forced the publishers to drastically reduce their circulations.

As the deadly virus spread from China and started smashing almost all the countries on the planet resulting in infecting so far over two million people and killing over 170,000, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to front to lead the fight against the deadly virus. Modi, in a televised address to the billion-plus nation on 24 March, declared a total shutdown to break the chain of infection so that the spreading of covid-19 could be prevented.

As the pandemic infected over 600 Indians (by now nearly 19,000) with nearly 15 casualties (by now nearly 600), its immediate impact was observed over the circulation of newspapers in Mumbai as the vendors ceased to work because of the covid-19 outbreak. Brihanmumbai Vruttapatra Vikreta Sangh had a formal meeting with the managements of all print media houses and finally they resolved to suspend publications. The decision resulted in no-newspaper day for the residents of Mumbai as well as Navi Mumbai and Thane. However, thr managements of The Times of India, The Indian Express, The

Hindu, Hindustan Times, Mid-Day among others made it clear that even though no

physical editions would hit the stands on account of the new-found restrictions their newspapers would be thoroughly available on the internet. Acclaimed news magazine Outlook also suspended its print edition, making the digital edition available to meet the need of

readers.

After Mumbai, it was the turn of a hundred thousand residents of Guwahati, Imphal, Agartala, and Aizawl in northeast India to miss their favourite morning newspapers as the local distributors decided to suspend their works because of the virus outbreak. The Guwahati newspaper-hawkers’ association, the Manipur hawkers’ association, the Tripura and Mizoram-based newspaper vendors separately came out with the resolution that they would not distribute the newspapers fearing the virus infection.

The region witnesses the publication of over 50 morning dailies in different languages including English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Boro, Meitei, Karbi, Khasi, Mizo, Nagamese, Nepali, etc. A recent message that went viral on the social media indicating the newspapers as a potential carrier of the coronavirus created panic among the newspaper agents and hawkers along with other media employees.

But countering it, many social media users put a dramatic question to those media houses if at all they could assure their valued readers of authenticated, credible and balanced news items! Covid-19 is a time-bound disaster and the world would probably return to normalcy after some months, but whether the traditional media houses would ever get its dedicated readers back in the post-corona era, is a difficult question to be answered at this moment

The World Health Organization (WHO) has however asserted that newspapers are still safe to touch by anybody even though the coronavirus can live on some surfaces for several days. The papers used in print media outlets are produced in highly automated mills and the process hardly needs human hands. Moreover, the likelihood of an infected person

contaminating commercial goods is low and the risk of catching the virus that causes COVID-19 from a package that has been moved, travelled, and exposed to different conditions and temperature is also low, it added.

But reports relating to suspended publication of physical editions because of covid-19 started pouring from different parts of the globe. From Sylhet (Bangladesh) to Colombo (Sri Lanka), Rabat (Morocco) to Rome (Italy), Vatican City to Jordan, Oman, Yemen capitals along with

American cities like Pittsburgh, Seattle, Missouri, West Virginia, Lewisburg and so on witness the temporary suspension of newspaper production. Those media outlets have already committed for entering into the digital platforms completely.

The largest democracy in the world today supports over 82,000 registered newspapers with a cumulative daily circulation of 110 million, estimated to be a Rs 320 billiob ($5 billion) industry. As India has been improving its literacy rate up to 75 percent, more citizens are now developing the capacity and resources to access newspapers and digital forums. More middle-class Indian families have now started using the Internet for various activities for the first time in their lives.

Prior to declaring the 21-day nationwide lockdown to fight against covid-19, Modi interacted with some selected media barons and received suggestions from them over the issue. It is quite

amazing that Modi did not organize such interactions with news media owners prior to the shocking announcement of demonetisation (2016), abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu & Kashmir (2019) and paving ways for the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019.

Understanding the heat of changing social engineering, various print media houses opted for boosting their presences in the digital media. As millions of Indians now start using smart phones with Internet connectivity, the media owners come to the realization that they would now prefer to get all necessary and almost free news contents from the digital platforms rather than paying for newspapers or even news channels. So the advertisers have also substantially shifted their focus to the digital media space.

It needs not to be reminded that a newspaper in India is sold in the

market at a lower price than its actual cost. The deficit (or profit) is managed by the advertisers. They want a newspaper to reach more people (with a price or even without it) so that their products get necessary visibility. Minus circulation, the advertisers would

not support the newspapers anymore. So no distribution of newspapers (even it is duly published) simply means nil advertisement (read financial support) for the print media outlets.

The situation can become alarming for regional newspapers like those in Guwahati, Imphal, Agartala, Aizawl and so on, as the owners may not be able to sustain their media houses for a longer period. It would directly impact the employees including thousands of scribes in the

region. A number of media bodies came out with statements against the rumour that newspapers can carry the coronavirus. They also appealed to the governments to support the media houses in this time of crisis.

Lately, a host of Guwahati-based media houses including Asomiya Pratidin, The Assam Tribune, Dainik Janambhumi, Niyomiya Barta, Dainik

Asom, Amar Asom, Purbanchal Prahari, Sadin, The North East Times, The Meghalaya Guardian, among others, made a collective statement that there is no scientific proof for newspapers carrying the coronavirus to the readers. The managements also asserted that a section of electronic and social media outlets spread the unauthenticated news.

But countering it, many social media users put a dramatic question to those media houses if at all they could assure their valued readers of authenticated, credible and balanced news items! Covid-19 is a time-bound disaster and the world would probably return to normalcy after some months, but whether the traditional media houses would ever get its dedicated readers back in the post-corona era, is a difficult question to be answered at this moment.