shri vinod sharma - Rajya Sabha

SHRI VIJAY NAIK: Thank you, Mrinalji, for emphasising the importance of the
language Press. All the time when we talk of the national Press, only five or six
newspapers in Delhi are considered national Press, and others, -- of course, they
are not anti-national -- are considered as Papers from local languages. And, you
have said about the importance of Hindi as well as other languages, the newspapers
of which are increasing in circulation phenomenally because, as you said, literacy
rate is growing, and most of the newspapers have reached the remotest parts of the
country. That is why you find that they have crossed the circulation of English
language dailies. Secondly, I think, you have put a finger on a very important thing,
that is, about coverage packages of newspapers, especially during elections. I have
known some of the correspondents who were directed by the management, and they
were given targets of, say, 5 lakhs or 10 lakhs. They were told, "You have to take
this particular package. You have to go to the candidates and find out what their
requirements are." And then, one can give publicity in favour of, or, against. That
kind of a thing has happened, and the Elections in 2004 as well as the recent
elections in three States are examples. And, we have also talked about Mr.
Sainath's reporting.
The other point, which you have mentioned is very important, and it is that
the editor and owner line is disappearing. That is a very important thing. Most of
the owners have become either Managing Directors or Managing Editors thereby
reducing the importance of an independent Editor. And that has got a reflection not
only on the organisation but also on the reporting, on the Pressmen. It is a kind of
pressure which is put on the correspondents, as to how he should report and what
line he should take. I do not know how to solve this particular problem because
there is going to be more and more newspapers that the Managing Directors,
Managing Editors and the Management are taking over the work of the Editors, and
the Editors are left to fend for themselves. Then, you mentioned about training for