shri vinod sharma - Rajya Sabha

to media. The speakers, before me, have talked about space being sold in
newspapers. What does it mean It means that journalists are not carrying out
their basic duty of being purveyors of facts and their basic duty of empowering
public opinion because only an empowered public opinion can strengthen and
sustain democracy. So, we have sold our basic privilege in order to gain some
profits, and that is where journalism today is, largely, with a few honourable
exceptions, a commercial venture, and what we are doing by way of selling space
or news packages or editorials or whatever, is no different than Members of
Parliament selling their basic privilege of asking questions to make Government
accountable. Are we any better off than those Members of Parliament I am
deliberately raising this question in order to shock you all because without realising
the gravity of it, we cannot really look for solutions. To start with, editors, today,
are owners. They are proprietors. We have one sitting on this dais though he is
different. He is a trained journalist and he runs a newspaper, which is, perhaps,
much better in terms of credibility than most of its contemporaries.
But, then, there are newspapers and newspapers which are led, essentially, by
businessmen who acquire the role of editors or editorial persons under different
nomenclatures. So, where do we go from here One may argue with at cost is
the press freedom if newspapers are not economically viable. Of course, a
newspaper has to be economically viable in order to continue publication. But, then,
what is the point if a newspaper's economy is totally mortgaged to the big business
This all began in the early 90s when we engaged in circulation wars and
refused to raise cover prices of our products. We are spending about ten to twelve
rupees, or, may be, fifteen rupees in producing the newspapers that we do and that
we deliver at the doorsteps of the people. And we are selling it for two or three
rupees. On every single copy that you sell, you are making a loss of ten to twelve
rupees. So, the economy is effectively mortgaged to the big business; and who