2005-2014

The circulation of Indian newspapers jumped 24 per cent to 142 million in 2002-03 against 115.3 million in 2001-02, according to the 47th ‘Press in India’ report brought out by the Registrar, Newspapers of India. The jump in readership is attributed to a larger number of publishers submitting their annual statements for the survey. For the first time, the survey was based on financial year and not...

Magazine publisher RR Gopal, of the Tamil-language publication Nakkheeran, was freed on bail on 20 December on the order of the Tamil Nadu High Court. Gopal, who has been held in Chennai Central prison for more than eight months, remains accused of conspiracy "to separate Tamil Nadu from the Indian State" and possession of a firearm. He was charged on 11 April 2003 under the Prevention of...

You wouldn't necessarily think that Cheré Coen, with 20 years of newspaper experience plus a stint at a magazine's Web site, would find herself writing briefs, plugs and promos most days, with maybe the future of newspapers riding on her work. Luring readers through teasers and tidbits makes up a central part of Coen's job as "readership editor" of the 70,000-circulation Bakersfield Californian...

After consolidating its position in Punjab, Dainik Jagran's focus is on Bihar and Jharkhand now. While the publication has made some editorial changes by introducing new supplements and columns, it has also chalked out aggressive marketing plans for these two states. Dainik Jagran has recently launched a new supplement, Kasauti, in Bihar and Jharkhand. "This supplement," says Sunil Gupta, director...

Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières) has voiced deep concern at a report that a journalist kidnapped five months ago by Assam separatists has since been killed by his kidnappers. Indra Mohan Hakasam, correspondent for the daily Amar Assam published in Assam province in India's extreme northeast, was kidnapped in June by the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). "If the murder...

In a letter to the Assam governor, retired lieutenant general Ajai Singh, the IFJ expressed great concern over the abduction and alleged death of journalist Indra Mohan Hakasam, a local correspondent from Goalpara, Assam, working for "Amar Asam", an Assamese daily published in the city of Guwahati. According to IFJ's information, Doleng Rava and Sanjib Rava, leaders of the United Liberation Force...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the global organisation of journalists representing over 500,000 journalists worldwide, welcomes yesterday's decision of the Supreme Court of India to stay the execution of arrest warrants for five senior journalists from The Hindu newspaper and the editor of Murasoli newspaper. "It was totally inappropriate for the Tamil Nadu Assembly to resolve...

RSF has welcomed the Indian Supreme Court's suspension of orders by the Tamil Nadu State Assembly to arrest the publisher, two senior editors and two journalists from the national daily "The Hindu". They had each been sentenced to serve 15 days in prison for "breach of privilege" after their newspaper criticised the arrest of an opposition figure and the harassment of independent media. "The...

This is more of a rule than exception these days. Celebrities of various dimensions have this tendency to adorn the cover pages of publications - be it in a general interest or special interest magazine, newspaper pullout or special section, or the hundred-odd capsules on TV every week. The reason? Quite, simply, their commercial value. However, if one were to draw on the same idea and focus on a...

With the assembly polls round the corner, the news channel genre is turning into a hotbed of competition. At a press meet in the capital yesterday two news channels were unveiled - first, the 24-hour All India Radio news channel, which goes live on April 2, 2004, and second, the 24-hour DD News channel, which goes on air on November 3, 2003. The terrestrial channel hopes to reach 43 per cent of...