Karnataka - Bidar   

Language press facing problems, says MLC

Staff Correspondent

Over 80 per cent of the corporate advertisements go to the electronic media. Most of the remaining 20 per cent of the advertisements appear only in English media

BIDAR: The print media should reinvent itself to survive the onslaught of the electronic media. It cannot depend on Government support forever, the MLC and Editor of Bidar Ki Awaaz, Quazi Arshad Ali, has said.

Speaking at the Media Day celebrations here on Sunday, Mr. Ali called upon newspapers to find new ways to remain popular and relevant.

Content

"A newspaper's content is as important as how it looks. I think this reinvention process should go on forever," he said.

Mr. Ali regretted that newspapers, especially the language press, are facing many problems. There was a time when advertisements brought enough money to newspapers.

But now, over 80 per cent of the corporate advertisements go to the electronic media. Most of the remaining 20 per cent advertisements appear only in English media.

The Government has limited resources and cannot substitute corporate advertisement revenue, he said.

Mr. Ali agreed to provide regular assistance from his local area development fund to Gulbarga University if it offers courses in mass communication.

The absence of such courses in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region means that few journalists are produced, he said.

This is one reason why problems of the area are not adequately highlighted in the mainstream media.

`Convene meets'

He called upon the Government to hold quarterly meetings to add or delete names of newspapers from the media list. This ensures that all newspapers, which receive government advertisements, follow guidelines strictly, he said.

He called upon young journalists to do their homework before coming to press conferences.

The Superintendent of Police, Umesh Kumar, called upon newspapers to devote a column to create awareness about legal rights of the people.

He offered to provide information on the rights of women, Dalits, children and senior citizens to the media.

He also urged media associations to organise refresher courses for journalists.

Journalist Muralidhar Kulkarni; the Karnataka Union of Working Journalists district unit president, Basavaraj Kamshetty; the Deputy Commissioner, Munish Moudgil, and others spoke.

Site

The City Municipal Council president, Chandrashekar Patil, promised to grant a site for the construction of the union office.

The MLA, Bandeppa Kashempur, promised to provide funds for the project from his local area development fund.

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