Print media generally refers to newspapers.

Newspapers collect, edit andprint new

sreports and
articles. There are newspapers published in the eveningalso. They are called eve
ningers.Why do
people read newspapers? They read newspapers for a variety ofreasons. Let us con
sider a few
examples.Yesterday while going to the city you might have seen an accident. Twob
uses had
collided and by the mere sight you could make out that manypassengers must have
been killed or
injured. You were busy with your dailyengagements and forgot about the accident.
Only today
morning you recalledthat incident. You were curious to know more about it. You w
anted to
knowhow many passengers were killed or injured.Where will you look for these det
ails?In a
newspaper, of course so you would pick up a newspaper and read allabout the acci
dent.
InIndia there are two
primary institutions which maintain a record of circulation andreadership of new
spapers. Let us list
them. 1. The Registrar of News Papers forIndia (RNI). 2. The Audit Bureau of Cir
culation (ABC).
The Registrar of Newspapers of India (RNI): The government of Indiaestablished the
RNI in
1956 on the recommendation of the first PressCommission .The RNI oversees the ac
tivities of the
press in India. They annuallypublish Press in India reports which give an idea o
f circulation as well
asreadership figures. As per the advertisement policy of the government of India
for the release of
government advertisements, a newspaper should have aminimum circulation of 2000
copies. RNI
has a website http//rni.nic.in fromWhere all details are easily accessible.
The Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC): It is not a government organization. It was
established in
1948 by the association of publishers and advertisers.The Audit Bureau of Circul
ation has
established the National ReadershipStudies Council (NRSC) which is constituted b
y the
Advertising Associationof India, ABC and Indian News Paper Society. They conduct
readershipsurveys of newspapers and weeklies in India every six months.
ABC has a website www.auditbureau.org.
National Readership Studies Council (NRSC) also has a website www.nrsc.inActivity
8.1
Go through the websites of RNI, ABC and NRSC and find out theten largest circula
ted newspapers
in the country. You may also findout ten newspapers with the largest readership
as well as the ten
largestcirculated weeklies in the country.
History of Journalism 79
Some unhealthy Trends
Though growth of language newspapers is a welcome sign there are also someareas
of concern.
This is because intense and fierce competition often results inunhealthy practic
es. One such
practice is predatory price wars. One Newspaperreduces the price resulting in an
increase of its
circulation. But this will soon beretaliated by further price cut by rival paper
s. One good outcome
about this pricewar is that readers benefit by reduced prices, but small and med
ium
newspaperssuffer because they cannot afford to have price cuts to increase circu
lation.Excessive
dependence on advertisement revenue is also not good for newspapers.
Government advertisements account for more than 50 per cent of all advertisement
sin Indian
papers. This monetary incentive makes newspapers to limit criticism ofthe govern
ment policies.
Cut-throat competition is also a threat to journalisticnorms and values. There a
re instances of media
excesses and media trials, fakesting operations, criminal tresspassing of privac
y, glamourization of
criminals and mafia dons, promotion of hatred among communities and inflaming of
raw
emotions.Media houses also resort to mud slinging through advertisements to show
thattheir
publication is superior and the products of rivals are inferior.Media houses som
etimes try to woo
more subscribers by offering gifts andconcession coupons.