Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely has expressed dissatisfaction with the coverage of news in media, saying the dividing line between news and opinion has weakened much amid “shrill debates” on televisions channels.
Releasing an annual report, “Press in India 2014-15” here on Tuesday, he said while the average growth of print media was pegged at about six per cent, the daily newspapers have witnessed about 8 per cent growth in the country, contrary to the trend of decline in the print media in other parts of the world.
He described the growth trends as “an opportunity” and said newspapers can maintain their pace by publishing factual news to give clarity to people who are “confused and looking for the facts” after watching “shrill debates” on television channels.
“Its time for print media to strike back because the way there has been an explosion of TV channels and often there are shrill debates (aired on them) the viewers are left searching for the actual news. Publish clear, simple and factual news for your readers.
The growth in the print media that we see as an exception (to the global trends) will remain maintained. The growth of print media is always good for democracy,” minister said.
The Information and
Broadcasting (I&B) minister, however, said that the annual report, brought out by the Registrar for Newspapers in India, indicates that periodicals in the country were facing a decline, contrary to the growth in newspapers.
“Magazine journalism has to be given a new form and life. It’s because new alternatives like digital media and social media are coming up. Since the advent of television channels and internet, perhaps it is now difficult for a news to remain alive for one week,” he said.
He said print media, to maintain its presence and sustained growth, requires to prepare itself to meet the challenges being posed by the internet and fast changing technology across the world, he added.
According to report, the print media registered a growth of 5.80 per cent over the previous year as a total of 5,817 new publications were registered during 2014-15 and 34 publications ceased to operate.
Out of the total 1,05,443 publications registered as on March 31, 2015, the largest number of newspapers and periodicals registered in any Indian language was in Hindi with a figure of 42,493 publications followed by English 13,661. As many as 14,984 publications were dailies and bi-tri weeklies while remaining 90,459 were of other periodicities.