‘Do not blame digital media for decline in newspaper readers’

Mysore/Mysuru: “I hear people saying that nobody seems to be interested in reading paper printed news anymore because of digital media. I do not think so. I would say, newspapers are not publishing people-friendly topics, so they are facing decrease in circulation,” opined journalist Rishikesh Bahadur Desai.

He was speaking at a National Seminar organised as part of the ongoing Bahuroopi Festival at Mini Theatre premises yesterday.

“During his 78 years of life, Gandhi had worked as journalist for 45 long years. It is almost twice the number of years that we work as a journalist. Journalism was not a profession for him. Gandhi used newspapers to give voice to the underprivileged section of the society. He just wanted to convey his message to them and imbibe fighting spirit among the people. But today, newspapers are not doing this and hence are declining,” he said.

“For communication, all we need is a simple and smooth language. But media is using hard and tricky language. Scientists are of the opinion that if a person is not able to communicate and make a six-year-old child understand it, then that person is not at all aware of the subject he is talking. In UK, there had been a movement to promote plain and intelligible English. And as a result, Government has implemented a law there so that everyone would have access to clear and concise information,” he said. 

This post was published on February 18, 2020 6:25 pm