After the pioneering and successful initiative of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) to highlight the problems of Small and Medium newspapers and publications on Monday in Delhi, INS is planning to take this initiative to other regions of the country.
INS is planning to take the initiative of creating a forum to articulate issues that impact Small and Medium newspapers and publications initially to Southern India in Chennai and Cochin, Western India including Maharashtra -- and then to the north-eastern region. INS has set a time frame of 6-8 weeks to organise the next initiative.
Talking to exchange4media, Sunil Dang, Chairman, Committee on Small and Medium Newspapers, and the driving force behind this pioneering initiative, said, "The response to the inaugural forum in Delhi from the industry and participants has been overwhelming and beyond our expectations."
Dang said that INS members have benefited from this initiative. "This is the start of a process and now we need to take this to other regions of the country. Many INS members have come forward to support this initiative in their regions."
The INS seminar and forum in Delhi saw close to 200 participants from the industry and more than 60 small and medium newspaper owners who articulated, brainstormed and presented their issues and problems. The open house with DAVP head Swagat Ghosh was also welcomed though members felt that this dialogue needed to be an ongoing one.
Through such initiatives INS members are keen to raise issues like single-window dealing for small and medium newspapers in terms of DAVP advertisements instead of dealing with multiple agencies like DAVP, RNI and other government institutions separately.
The members are also looking at the government to address the issue of distribution and delivery of their publications through the postal system which they say is "cumbersome and crumbling in smaller towns".
The industry is keenly watching how much difference such initiatives will make to them collectively. The INS members hope that these forums will be a catalyst to corrective action within the industry and "not just chest beating and wishful thinking".
