The night after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a complete lockdown for 21 days in view of COVID 19 pandemic across the country, Manish of Greater Kailash woke up to find no newspapers delivered to his home.
“I have subscribed to three leading dailies, of which two are in English and one is in Hindi. I prefer a hard copy of all three newspapers along with morning cup of tea for my day’s start. But I did not receive any of them on 25 March. I felt restless,” he says.
Even though media has been listed as an essential service and exempted from the lockdown, Manish and many others like him in Jammu are finding it difficult to receive any newspapers. Thus, it is no denying that coronavirus and the prolonged lockdown have started to trouble Jammu’s print media.
Kashmir Times, one of the leading English dailies of Jammu and Kashmir, has already announced the suspension of its print editions for the time being.
“In the last over six decades including the extremely difficult years of conflict, we have tried to keep our publication going so that our readers could be kept abreast of information that they need from time to time. However, in view of the Coronavirus outbreak and the fact that newspapers which pass through a chain of people from the production to the doorsteps of the people can carry contagion, Kashmir Times has suspended the publication of its print edition, both in Jammu and Srinagar, with effect from March 23. It will continue its online edition to maintain the tradition of keeping its readers informed,” Editor, Kashmir Times wrote.
Malu Sharma of State Times says, “Media has an essential role to play for information dissemination, and hence, taking the risk to work on the frontline. Organizations in Jammu are taking all possible precautions. They have curtailed the staff, started allowing alternate working days, provided masks and hand sanitizers to the staff.”
Another Jammu-based Print Journalist says, “Work from home culture can be successful here in Jammu and Kashmir if the internet works at high speed.”
In the meanwhile, some newspapers, still trying to remain alive, have evidently reduced their number of pages, and some newspapers have cut down on their circulation. One, they are working with lesser staff. Two, the uncertainty of circulation – people will buy it or not, hawker will distribute or not, etc. Three, the regular supply of newsprint is doubtful. Four, government and private advertisements have also come down, and subsequently the newspaper revenues.
“While we remain cocooned in our homes for the next three weeks, I had thought newspapers will be my go-to thing. I’ll pass a few hours reading them,” Manish remarks while looking at the lesser number of pages of a newspaper he managed to find today.
“Jammu and Kashmir has over 650 newspapers, including both approved and un-approved for government advertisements. We were already suffering due to restrictions imposed in view of the abrogation of Article 370, and now the coronavirus pandemic. While leading dailies and media organizations might be able to pull through, the same cannot be said about hundreds of newspapers with bare minimum circulation – be it dailies, weeklies, or fortnightlies. They will be pushed to starvation,” he adds.
The J&K edition of The Tribune publishes from the printing press of Dainik Jagran in Bari Brahmana. What readers are getting these days is its national edition. Dainik Jagran Jammu itself is publishing a lesser number of pages, but it has launched a ‘WhatsApp Edition’ for its consumers.
On the other hand, Asha of Nanak Nagar has asked the hawker to stop giving her newspapers, fearing that it might be a carrier of coronavirus. However, the spread of infection through newspapers has not yet been declared by the Union Government or health experts.
“Information is vital for us, especially in these testing times. We’ll use the internet and social media for that. We don’t want the contagious virus to enter our home through the newspaper which passes through a chain of people,” Asha mentions. A similar thought is pervading across her neighborhood.
This has led to hawkers wonder if they should risk their lives and distribute newspapers to other parts of the city! Nevertheless, some are continuing with their duty for the sake of two meals they can earn from it.
Also: Read my article at THE NEWS NOW
Coronavirus shadows Jammu’s print media
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