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  • HT Media hopeful of a resurgence in the mid to long term

    HT Media hopeful of a resurgence in the mid to long term

    Mumbai: In a message to shareholders to announce its first quarter results, HT Media, Hindustan Media Ventures chairperson and editorial director Shobhana Bhartia said that in the near term, the company expects market sentiment and growth to remain a bit subdued but is hopeful of a resurgence in the mid to long term. “Despite external macro headwinds, we remain committed to our journalism and to serving all our customers and stakeholders.”

    She noted that the first quarter of FY 2022–23 began on a positive note with a strong performance in the previous fiscal year, with overall business performance and the larger economic and business environment seeing considerable improvement, especially in the latter half of the fiscal. 

    “But it also began amidst indications of headwinds in terms of escalating material input costs owing to geopolitical tensions and protracted global conflicts. Our print business saw significant pricing pressure as material prices continued to remain at elevated levels even as a rise in general inflation impacted the overall cost of doing business. Advertising revenue across print, radio, and circulation revenues remained healthy.”

    HT Media posted its consolidated net losses, narrowed to Rs 41.80 crore for the quarter ended 30 June. Revenue from operations rose 72.5 per cent to Rs 420.09 crore during the same period against Rs 243.53 in the corresponding period of the previous year.

    Total expenses recorded during the quarter stood at Rs 496.78 crore compared to Rs 371.69 crore. 

    HT Media’s revenue from printing & publishing of newspapers and periodicals surged 71.51 per cent YoY to Rs 347.65 crore in Q1 FY2022-23.

    Its revenue from radio broadcast and entertainment rose two-fold to Rs 33.36 crore and digital was at Rs 38.76 crore, up 33.47 per cent.

    On the outlook, Bhartia said, “In the near term, we expect market sentiment and growth to remain a bit subdued, but are hopeful of a resurgence in the mid to long term. Despite external macro headwinds, we remain committed to our journalism and to serving all our customers and stakeholders.”

  • PRCAI’s Deeptie Sethi emphasises PR industry’s need to upskill

    PRCAI’s Deeptie Sethi emphasises PR industry’s need to upskill

    NEW DELHI: The PR and communications industry is doing very well thank you. That’s the view of The Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI) CEO Deeptie Sethi. The former Ford India communications boss who was brought into lead the professional organisation after stints in the US expects the spin doctoring business to grow at a healthy 12 percent year on year and she estimates it to cross Rs 2,000 crore in the not too distant future.

    “It has been growing  rapidly and is almost back to pre-pandemic levels,”  she says with a big smile.

    Sethi has brought in a new drive into the PRCAI, organising workshops, training masterclasses, keeping in mind the demands that clients are dishing out in a complex world consisting  of newspapers, whatsapp, digital media print and video outlets, TV channels, social media influencers, bloggers, fake news, podcasters, paid media, earned media, short video platforms  and what have you. 

    “There was a time when all you had to do was draw up the right communications strategy and reach out to ensure print and TV channel journos got the right brand message through the dissemination of releases,” she explains. “But today you have several options and the responsibility of a communication professional has multiplied manifold. There is a high level of penetration of mobiles, and you know, millennials, the way they are absorbing content. Today, we are overloaded with information. Upskilling and sharpening existing skillsets are the order of the day. We listen, we learn, we educate, and we practise.”

    Towards this end, the PRCAI  has conducted a three month programme called ‘Writing Pen Upskilling’ which helps professionals to learn new techniques of writing and helps them visualize a story from the journalist’s and writer’s perspective.   “We had a batch of 41 PR people. Practitioners from 10 consultancies came forward and nominated their people, ” she reveals, adding that another upskilling programme is on the anvil.

    According to her, the manner in which communications messages are being delivered has transformed with digitisation. Currently, the audience consumes messages according to their taste and requirements. And it is quick to voice its opinion and ire against brands to their followers on social media. Hence, crafting the right communications strategy targeting the right audience and tracking its impact is becoming even more challenging.  

    “Performance marketing and influencer marketing are about having the right skills but public relations and communications is all about that trust and authenticity. We have that higher responsibility to make sure we are communicating the right story,” she highlights.

    Sethi cautions that  brands cannot be built in one day. “It is a consistent effort to put the message across to the audience and build credibility in the market. Defining a clear objective is imperative to achieve the right result. The problem is that people are unable to set a clear objective and what they would like to achieve from promotion or marketing.” she explains.

    The industry is focusing on bringing in research-oriented communication expertise and specialisation, which help to identify different trends and customise effective communication strategies.

    “Today, a lot of research is happening in our communication industry, from using data accurately, to learning and improving skills,” Sethi says. “Artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation are all the rage. It is something that agencies, consultancies and  brands are looking to adopt. It is important to figure out where the gaps are and how we can work together and overcome them. Through this the industry is also solving customer’s problems – a skill that is much-needed at this hour.”

    Sethi is optimistic about the growth of the PR and communication industry in 2022. However, she is concerned about the macro challenges that the country is facing currently, with rising inflationary pressures, a weak rupee, and economic uncertainty.

    “If economic slowdown and recession come, budgets will be impacted, thereby, various other things will be affected. We can also be impacted, so we need to be cautious in our approach,” she predicts.

    Wise words from a seasoned veteran.

     

  • #Retrace2021: A look back at print ad campaigns that stood out in 2021

    #Retrace2021: A look back at print ad campaigns that stood out in 2021

    Mumbai: Reeling under the aftermath of the pandemic, the Indian print industry began its road to recovery in 2021. According to the latest Magna Global Forecasting Report released in December, overall, the print industry grew +12 per cent from a low base (2020: -40 per cent), despite the slowdown in business in 2021. Maximum growth came from Retail, Durables, Finance, Real Estate, and Government spending.

    After witnessing a tumultuous period of plummeting circulation, and advertising revenue, the industry also began pivoting fast to strengthen its digital presence. The projections paint a heathier picture, with 2022 growth expected to be broad-based, with most categories increasing spends and elections in a few large states helping to drive an increase of +14 per cent. However, a rise in cases of the new Covid variant could prove to be dampener.

    Nonetheless, Print remains one of the most trusted mediums to influence brand perceptions on critical factors like quality, price, and trust. This explains why 2021 saw the return of traditional, as well as newer brands, and advertisers to print to create some stand-out campaigns. As we begin 2022, we take a look back at some of these campaigns …

    TRUECALLER

    While the businesses were beginning to reopen, the Truecaller print ad in January 2021 set the tone for the rest of the year. The in-your-face, unmissable ad carried by the app on the front pages of leading national dailies, talked about the issue of phone harassment women face. It mentioned how women could block these numbers on the app and should step forward and report these callers. The campaign #ItsNotOk has been running for four years now. But it caught everyone’s attention, courtesy of the latest print ads. Thinkstr, the Gurgaon-based independent agency for the campaign said they were “a little jittery about spending money on print” because they “knew the circulation was down”. But the print ads outdid itself “more than any other medium we’ve advertised on.” 

    NESTLE

    When in doubt, choosing ‘Print’ seems to be the mantra of marketers. Whenever there was a need to emphasise a brand’s credibility or build trust it was the go-to medium. Nestlé India’s print campaign launched in June 2021 did just that- reinforce the brand’s assurance of offering quality products, while talking about its long-standing legacy of 100 years and ‘family-like’ trust. The FMCG conglomerate switched to the damage control mode, coming out with the print ad campaign to rebuild consumers’ faith in the brand, only days after news reports questioning the ‘healthiness’ of the company’s products surfaced.

    FORTUNE

    A similar approach was followed by the Adani Wilmar Group’s Fortune oil brand. The brand’s claims of ‘a healthy oil for a healthy heart’ suffered a beating after Sourav Ganguly, the brand’s endorser, suffered a heart attack. Prior to this, he was seen in an ad for the brand’s Rice Bran oil which promotes the oil’s heart health benefits. Fortune faced severe trolling on social media as netizens chose to highlight the irony of the situation. To salvage the situation, the brand came out with front-page ads across leading publications with the caption ‘Today seems to be a good day to talk about the heart’, which had a fit-looking Ganguly dismissing the talk about his ill-health and tackling the subject of heart health head-on. The long format copy presented as a signed letter from the former cricketer himself, pushed heart health conversation to the fore, was the brand’s comeback after the stretch of online trolling.

    INDIAN OIL

    Nothing beats the traditional medium when you want to create an impactful awareness about a social cause. Indian Oil wanted to create awareness around the ill effects of excessive honking ahead of World Environment Day 2021 (5 June). It came out with a creative print campaign, conceptualised and executed by Mumbai-based agency, Grey Group that showed the life-threatening impact honking had on other living creatures. The artwork by Vaibhav Bhilare replaced the body parts of various animals with sound waves to depict the hazardous effect the loud noise had on them.

    MANFORCE

    That Print media allows a brand to tell its brand story effectively with no excessive drama is a known fact. To simply and effectively convey its message of protected sex and to educate people to use condoms as against ‘messy’ scenarios related to the consequences of indulging in unprotected sex, the Condom brand come up with a campaign, #DontMessAround. The series of tongue-in-cheek ads which appeared in leading newspapers creatively nudged people not to engage in unprotected intercourse as it can come with bigger problems such as STDs and unwanted pregnancy, even as it drove its brand message through.

    SEBAMED

    After the famed Cola ad wars, this year saw the battle of the soaps, with major soap brands taking on one another, directly targeting their rival brands in their ads. Sebamed kickstarted the creative sledge-fest at the outset of 2021, going after other popular brands like Lux, Santoor, and Dove, by comparing them to a detergent bar. The German skincare brand made quite a splash launching a series of print ads in leading dailies, with shocking claims alleging that each of these leading soaps had pH factors (ranging from 7 to 10) that rivaled that of the detergent soap Rin, to highlight the harshness of these skincare products, as against its own which it claimed stood at ‘an ideal 5.5’.

    The brand has launched another campaign ‘Conditions apply’ with print ads taking on other anti-hair loss shampoos. The campaign sought to discredit the ubiquitous disclaimer ‘Conditions apply’ used by these products while making tall claims. It has, however, refrained from naming any brand this time.

    DOVE

    The HUL brand of skincare, Dove chose to respond to Sebamed’s ‘pH’ allegations with a print campaign that reiterated its gentleness, falling back upon its familiar messaging –that the soap is mild and comprised of one fourth ‘moisturising milk’. The print ad seen in major newspapers Dove responded to the jabs that Sebamed’s ads have taken at it, coming hot on the heels of the Sebamed campaign. The ad copy in a prominent font stresses that ‘Dermatologists have put something strong in Dove’s bar – their trust’.

    The beauty soap launched another print campaign titled ‘Stop The Beauty Test’ that attempts to call out the stereotypes associated with Indian matchmaking and goes against unrealistic stereotypes of beauty in our society. Conceptualised by Ogilvy India, the campaign urges one to look at the beautiful aspects of a person’s personality and not their shortcomings. “Khoobiyan dekho, khaamiyan nahin” says the ad released across print and other media. The print ad, written in a long format, tackles in-depth how a girl is subjected to these beauty stereotypes and biases right from childhood, only getting worse as she becomes of marriageable age.

    And it is not just traditional categories that see the profit in the printed word. Newer advertiser categories like the edtech, crypto, and several digital-first brands are also opting for the mass medium, even going full-throttle with full pager, front-page displays in major dailies. For newer categories like crypto exchanges who are in their next phase of growth in India, it becomes even more crucial to target beyond the early adopters of this digital world by associating with traditional mediums like television and print, the study noted. Thus, making print a viable medium to build credibility and trust.

    COINSWITCH KUBER

    One such platform, which has been investing heavily in print is CoinSwitch Kuber. Building trust is key to the category as a lot of uncertainty and risk have been associated with cryptos in the past. The crypto brand came out with full front-page ads in leading newspapers in the last few days. “While digital media enables us to target a certain set of audiences, print has the accessibility to the most basic audience group which finds credibility in the print news,” said CoinSwitch Kuber chief business officer Sharan Nair explaining the brand’s decision to go aggressive on print advertising.

    UpGRAD

    With eye-catching full-page ads in leading dailies, edtech brand, upGrad launched the campaign for its online MBA programs to ‘fast-forward your career’ because ‘CAT is so yesterday’. The two-page managed to grab eyeballs for the brand with its effective use of empty spaces and an attention-grabbing caption.

    TINDER INDIA

    In another resounding endorsement, a millennial and Gen Z brand like Tinder released a series of print ads, acknowledging that print still carries ‘trust and maturity’ which digital is yet to achieve. The new age dating app’s ad is indicative of how serious it is about educating its existing and potential users about consent, serving as a lesson on how many times we misinterpret our partner’s words to consider it a ‘Yes’. Tinder India’s front page Bombay Times ad is a primer on consent and what all doesn’t equate to a ‘Yes’. This ad is the latest installment from the dating app’s ongoing campaign around consent, emphasising that only a ‘Yes’ means a ‘Yes’. Nothing more, nothing less.

  • Why new age-media is the focal point for content publishers?

    Why new age-media is the focal point for content publishers?

    Mumbai: Let’s start with some simple math: Newspapers used to have an average engagement of one hour in the 1990s. This has fallen to two to three minutes today, which is 1/20th or 1/30th of what it used to be. Even if we imagine ad density has remained the same (it has actually increased as papers have become thinner), then ad CPMs for newspapers today are 20-30 times of what they used to be.

    TV and radio stats tell a similar story. Additionally, due to the non-targeted nature of newspaper, TV and radio ad outcomes are poor. That is why advertisers have been shifting dollars to the new age/digital. Obviously, as ad revenue largely drives the media industry, there is a large amount of focus and interest in digital. For that part of traditional media that is trying to shift away from its reliance on advertising, the path forward is still through digital subscription revenues.

    The important question is not why new age media needs to be a focal point for content publishers, but how to execute it successfully. Let’s take a brief look at how the content publishing landscape has evolved.

    Newspapers have existed since the 17th century, radio since the early 20th century, and TV since the mid-20th century. With the introductions of each of these forms of media, the richness of media evolved, from text to audio to video. But the fundamental delivery of media did not change – it remained one too many.

    Early internet and digital media mimicked non-digital media in this aspect – websites continued to be static, one to many deliveries of content to all audiences. Editorial teams within traditional media companies doing digital still manage static line-ups on pages delivered to their audiences manually. They try to cram as much information as they can on their home page because of the low hit rate on what they provide vis-a-vis their audiences and interests. This constrains the usability of digital websites run by traditional media organisations.

    Additionally, traditional media companies tend to be insular, and do not create a conducive work environment for critical skillsets for building great digital consumer products – engineers, designers, product managers, and social/digital marketers. This causes traditional media-created end consumer websites and apps to be several steps behind other digital consumer products.

    This has continued to remain true even as the rest of the internet itself has evolved across phases of consumption – from desktops using static bulletin boards and directory services; to a combination of desktops and laptops in search-driven interfaces; and finally to what we see today – mobile consumption driven by discovery and personalisation. As a result of this evolution, audiences today expect their content to be provided to them in a personalised, easy to consume fashion and delivered via a functionally and emotionally satisfying product.

    This difference in what traditional media organisations provide vs consumer expectation is why there is a massive gap in the user engagement (as measured by the number of visits and on the length of sessions within those visits) on traditional media- run digital websites vs other digital content providers such as social media. Traditional media companies urgently need to transform in order to bridge this gap.

    As a media CEO, I’m not going to sugarcoat how tough the journey is that lies ahead. This journey is hard, both in its initiation and in its sustenance. I have seen this personally in leading the transformation at one of India’s largest media brands as its digital CEO and the group and chief digital officer. In my role as CEO, I had to build a strong, growing, profitable digital business to form the future core of the company. In my role as the CDO, I had to help the rest of the group transform and become digital-first. This portfolio included India’s largest network of radio stations, some of the biggest and well-known newspapers in the country, and a sprawling education portfolio.

    We overcame resistance to change and other challenges to build one of only two profitable digital media businesses in the country. We put the larger group on a solid transformational path, divesting from non-core areas with a poor organisational fit and investing into areas of growth, particularly in digital. A lot of talent entered the company in areas such as technology, digital content leadership, product and user experience design. This team ended up creating one of the world’s fastest-growing traditional media websites.

    Today, the digital business is the media house’s crown jewel. But much of the talent that needed to spearhead its growth has scattered and overall transformation has stalled. The journey was well begun but has been hard to sustain.

    (Rajiv Bansal is the founder and CEO of OPOYI.com. The views expressed in the column are personal and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them)

  • Govt ad spend on print falls by 54 % in last 3 years

    Govt ad spend on print falls by 54 % in last 3 years

    New Delhi: The government’s expenditure on print advertisements has dropped by almost 54 per cent in the last three years.

    According to the latest data presented in the Parliament, the government had spent Rs 429.55 cr in print advertisements in 2018-19, which decreased to Rs 295.05 cr in 2019-20, and further plummeted down to Rs 197.49 cr during the pandemic in 2020-21. The data was shared by the union minister for information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur during the ongoing monsoon session of the Parliament.

    The ad-expenditure on electronic and digital media has also also recorded a significant drop over the last three years, said Thakur in a written response to a question raised by BJD MP Sasmit Patra. According to Thakur, the Centre spent Rs 514.29 crore on TV ads in 2018-19. In 2019-20, the allocation for ad expenditure on electronic media platforms was slashed to Rs 316.99 crore, which further came down to Rs 167.98 crore in 2020-21.

    All these expenditures refer to expenses incurred by the Bureau of Outreach and Communications (BOC), which acts as an advisory body to the government on its media strategy, and undertakes information, education, and communication (IEC) campaigns of the government through its empanelled media platforms as per the policy guidelines.

    The plummeting ad spends by the government come at a time when the print industry is struggling to survive the pandemic’s severe blow. The print media thrives on advertisement expenditure of industries including e-commerce, automobiles, and finance, which were also impacted by the lockdown. Many businesses ended up pulling out advertisements, as part of budget cuts and also due to a drastic fall in the circulation of newspapers and magazines. The prolonged lockdown restrictions forced several publications to limit the number of pages, shut their editions and resort to layoffs.

    Last year, the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) had also raised concerns over the rising newsprint and logistics costs and increasing preference for online content. It had also demanded a 50 per cent increase in government advertisement rates and a 200 per cent increase in the Centre’s spend on print media advertising and an immediate settlement of advertisement bills outstanding to both central and state governments.

  • India Today suspends print publication Mail Today; turns digital

    India Today suspends print publication Mail Today; turns digital

    NEW DELHI: Most newspapers in India are facing an uphill task to maintain their readership amidst the pandemic. India Today too faced the burn. The group announced that its English language tabloid Mail Today will suspend its print publication with effect from 10 August 2020. The reason stated is that the print segment has been hit due to the pandemic but the content shall continue to be published in the digital format.

    The BSE filing read that the newspaper Mail Today comprises an insignificant portion of the business of the company. Mail Today newspaper in its physical mode contributed less than two per cent to the total revenues of the company during the quarter ended 30 June 2020, therefore, the said the suspension shall not have any material impact on overall business of the company.

    Last year, India Today’s opinion website DailyO got shut and it was reported that many employees lost their jobs. 

  • India Today taps Taboola to drive engagement, rev & audience development

    MUMBAI: Taboola, one of the world’s leading discovery platforms, has announced an exclusive, three-year renewal agreement with India Today. Under the agreement, India Today will be integrating Taboola’s personalised content recommendations, full page personalisation, newsroom and audience exchange with the goal of driving user engagement, audience development and revenue.

    India Today Group is India’s leading and most diversified media conglomerate with magazines, newspapers, books, radio, television, print and internet. India Today first partnered with Taboola in January 2014 with the initial goal of introducing high quality native advertising to consumers, whereby in the new agreement Taboola will work hand in hand with India Today to integrate its full Discovery platform across desktop and mobile devices.

    The partnership will leverage Taboola’s suite of platform capabilities. In addition to continuing to serve sponsored content recommendations, India Today will launch Taboola’s Personalization in an effort to increase onsite user engagement. India Today’s properties will also utilize Taboola’s “audience exchange” architecture, which empowers publisher teams to strategically manage and optimize the flow of traffic across the India Today network, driving users to relevant off-site content and high-value video pages.

    “We want to double down on serving content that is tailored to users interests and behaviors, so our readers remain engaged and excited about what they are reading,” said India Today Group Editorial Director (Broadcast & New Media) Kalli Purie. “Taboola has already helped us achieve success, we look forward to working towards our goal of driving increased user engagement and audience development.”

    “India continues to be one of our fastest growing markets with content consumption and mobile growth on a steady rise. We are humbled to be working with the India Today team in years to come on integrating Taboola’s Discovery platform, and go ‘beyond the widget’ to find meaningful growth around engagement, audience and revenue,” said Taboola founder and CEO Adam Singolda. “Especially in light of massive mobile growth in the Indian market, we’re even more excited to work together on connecting people with content they may like and never knew existed.”

    Taboola acts as a search engine in reverse. Instead of expecting people to search for information, Taboola helps information find people at the right time in the form of recommended content. Its predictive engine analyzes hundreds of real-time signals (including location, device type, referral source, social media trends and more) to match users with content they are most likely to be interested in consuming next.

    Media consumption in India is on a steady rise and the country has remained a key priority for Taboola, which has established partnerships with several Indian publishers including Times of India, NDTV, Jagran, Bhaskar, Aajtak, Amarujala, Rediff and Deccan Chronicle. The announcement of India Today follows several recent wins by Taboola with leading publishers globally including Entrepreneur.com, El Universal, and Blasting News.

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  • Some newspaper groups content with IRS 2013 findings

    Some newspaper groups content with IRS 2013 findings

    NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The findings of the Indian Readership Survey 2013 may ultimately not be rejected outright. A substantial number of publishers of newspapers and magazines may not have found the readership findings worth rubbishing.

     

    A group of 18 publication groups including The Times of India and The Hindu are very vocal in their complete rejection of IRS 2013 findings and have got to the extent of withdrawing from the IRS.

     

    But the group’s attempts at having the IRS 2013 annulled could face resistance.

     

    According to industry sources publication groups like The Hindustan Times, Rajasthan Patrika, Haribhoomi and Daily Thanthi have expressed satisfaction at the results of IRS 2013 and have accepted them.

     

    These publication groups may decide not to follow an advisory issued by the Indian Newspaper Society on Tuesday for boycott of the IRS 2013 findings or not to use them for advertising sales.

     

    The advisory was issued after the Media Research Users Council on Tuesday said it cannot decide on the ultimatum given by the INS for withdrawal of the IRS 2013 findings.

     

    The advisory by INS suggested its members convey in writing to MRUC that they are withdrawing from any association with the IRS and urge MRUC, Readership Survey Council of India and Nielsen India, the conductors of the readership survey, to immediately cease and desist from using for the purpose of the survey the mastheads of their publications.

     

    MRUC has said a meeting would be held with RSCI on 19 February to take a final view on INS demand.

     

    MRUC has said all aspects of the study will be placed before the RSCI for helping the broader community of stakeholders convince themselves about the robustness and integrity of the IRS 2013 findings.

     

    Meanwhile, INS expressed hope that the advisory issued by it would be acceptable to all its member publishers.

     

    A senior INS office-bearer, who did not want to be named, denied that the INS advisory had been issued at the behest of the Times of India Group or was being followed only by that group.

     

    INS sources told indiantelevision.com that the issue of whether the newspaper body or individual newspapers will take legal recourse against MRUC over the IRS 2013 findings was still not decided.

     

    Responding to the INS advisory and notices in newspapers belonging to the group of 18 publishers, IRS Technical Committee chairman Paritosh Joshi said MRUC has already asked individual publishers to send in their complaints to MRUC directly and the council will individually respond to each of them. “So far, we have sent out six explanations and clarifications to the complaints sent to us by publishers individually. And will continue to welcome more (queries).”

     

    The 18 publishing groups, in a joint statement, said, “The survey is riddled with shocking anomalies, which defy logic and commonsense. They also grossly contradict audited circulation figures (ABC) of longstanding.”

     

    The 18 publishers are Jagran, Bhaskar, India Today, Ananda Bazar Patrika, Lokmat, Outlook, Daily News and Analysis (DNA), Sakshi, The Hindu, The Times of India, Amar Ujala, The Tribune, Bartaman Patrika, Aaj Samaj, The Statesman, Mid Day, Nai Duniya and Dinakaran.

  • Delhi Lokayukta wants DAVP panel to certify circulation figures before giving govt. ads

    Delhi Lokayukta wants DAVP panel to certify circulation figures before giving govt. ads

    NEW DELHI: Delhi Lokayukta Justice Manmohan Sarin has favoured setting up of a panel of Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity for empanelment as well as granting of government advertisements.

     

    The order by the Lokayukta came following a complaint that a local newspaper misrepresented facts about circulation figure in getting advertisement from government agencies and departments in Delhi.

     

    In his order, Justice Sarin particularly sought a thorough verification of circulation figures of newspapers, journals and magazines owned, edited and published by “public functionaries”.

     

    “Whenever a public functionary is the owner, editor, printer or publisher or otherwise has a substantial interest in the newspaper, journal, magazine, then the verification of circulation be made compulsory,” he said.

     

    “A committee of officers of DAVP be constituted for grant of empanelment subject to verification of circulation by Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI),” the Lokayukta said in the order.

     

    The complainant had alleged that a local newspaper has printed a few copies with a view to obtain advertisements from government departments.

  • Other newspapers cannot be forced to give names of rival newspapers or channels

    Other newspapers cannot be forced to give names of rival newspapers or channels

    NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry is of the view that Print and Electronic Media cannot be forced to take specific names of other newspapers and news channels they refer to in their news.

    This has been stated by the Ministry in a letter to social activist Nutan Thakur who had made certain representations in this regard in the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court.

    The Ministry said that Chairman of the Press Council is of the view that as per section 7 of the Press and Registration of Books Act 1867, the editor is the sole authority to decide the contents. Hence, it does not deem fit to lay rules making it mandatory to state the names of other newspapers being referred to and this decision shall be left to the Editor.
    As regards need to keep record of their newspapers for a definite period, the Ministry said under section 25(1) of the proposed Press and Registration of Books and Publications Bill, there is a provision to deliver a copy of the newspaper as and when demanded by the Press Registrar General.