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Newspapers In India
Asia's oldest active newspaper, 'Mumbai Samachar', which published reports on the first war of Indian independence in 1857, the death of legendary Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi and the birth of Congress, is turning a new page in its illustrious history by digitising its rich legacy. Established in 1822 by Fardunji Marzban, a Parsi scholar, the newspaper's management has launched a new project to digitise and document the rich legacy of the Gujarati daily. Located in a colonial-era building in Mumbai's prominent Horniman Circle area, the newspaper has weathered many storms during its 203-year-old history, including a drop in subscription and readership after the advent of the internet, news apps and social media expansion, but continues its journey. 'We are in talks with different agencies to restore the old files in our archives, which is a national legacy. Similarly, we want to create a website whose content will be about 10,000 stories published in the newspaper in the last 200 years,'
The Indian Newspaper Society has urged the government to scrap the five per cent Customs duty on newsprint to allow publishers to manage their operational costs more effectively. In a statement, the INS said a combination of factors affecting the price and availability of newsprint -- geopolitical uncertainties, logistics, rupee depreciation and Customs duty -- have created a formidable burden for publishers in the country. The escalations in the conflict in West Asia, as well as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, have significantly affected the global supply chain, including for newsprint, the organisation said in its statement issued here on Monday. The Indian Newspaper Society (INS) urgently appealed to the government to reconsider the imposition of five per cent Customs duty on newsprint. "This measure, if withdrawn, would provide much-needed relief to the print media industry, allowing publishers to manage their operational costs more effectively and ensure the continued
Editors Guild Manipur (EGM) has appealed to everyone not to share newspaper content "illegally" on social media without approval from the authorities concerned. In a statement, it said that sharing e-paper, PDF or photos of newspaper content on social media is illegal and a violation of the Copyright Act, 1957 and the Information Technology Act, 2000. The guild, however, said that links to news stories can be shared. The body said legal action would be taken against those found sharing news content illegally.
Parliament on Thursday passed a bill to replace a British-era law governing publishing industry and simplify the process of registration of periodicals. Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said the Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2023, which was passed by voice vote in the Lok Sabha, will make the registration of periodicals a one-step process as against the eight-step process in the archaic law. The bill replaces the Press and Registration of Books (PRB) Act, 1867. "This bill is simple, smart and has a simultaneous process for registration of newspapers and periodicals. Earlier newspapers or magazines had to pass through an eight-step registration process. This can now be done at the click of a button," he said. The Rajya Sabha had passed the bill on August 3.
The government on Tuesday said it had spent Rs 967.46 crore through the Central Bureau of Communication for publicity of its schemes in the print media from 2019-20 to 2023-24. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said the Central Bureau of Communication (CBC) releases awareness/publicity campaigns through print media in accordance with the Print Media Advertisement Policy, 2020. "The details of expenditure incurred by CBC, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, on awareness/publicity campaigns about schemes and programmes of the government of India through print media from 2019-20 to 2023-24 (till 12.12.2023) is Rs 967.46 crore," Thakur said. The minister said as of March 31, 2019, 1,19,995 periodicals, including newspapers, were registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI). The number was 1,43,423 in 2020, 1,44,520 in 2021, 1,46,045 in 2022 and 1,48,363 in 2023.