If you feel that the good old newspapers are on their way out, you are mistaken. Inspite of the introduction of high speed internet and hundreds of 24X 7 TV news channels, people rely on news papers, according to M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting. “Newspapers are still the medium for deep reach and credibility as people often turn to them to validate news, facts and analysis they collected from other media like TV channels and internet,” said Naidu here on Thursday while inaugurating the two-day Regional Editors Conference organised under the auspices of Press Information Bureau .
Naidu said regional newspapers have gained immense popularity and sawa tremendous rise in circulation due to the localised content which enables the readers to connect with them. “The growth in the regional media space came from Tier II and III cities with regional language editions outperforming the national editions and English dailies. Many newspapers are launching hyper-local editions targeting particular areas, communities and sections of societies to increase their reach in regional markets,” said Naidu who is also in charge of the Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation ministry.
He reminded the editors that the media serves an important purpose of being a conduit between the Government and the citizens. “Media in India has been transforming people’s lives by setting up progressive agendas, shaping up public opinion, maintaining social cohesion and building a well-informed citizenry,” said the union minister.
Naidu said his Ministry was in the process of formulating a national policy on communication for the government. “There is need for Government communicators to adopt innovative ways to reach out to each and every individual in the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann Ki Baat is an ideal example of this innovative communication,” said Naidu.
Even as Naidu was addressing the regional Editors about PM’s Man Ki Baath, the delegates from Kerala said that Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister of the state has taken to the radio in the style of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to connect with the people.
later in the day, Ravi Shankar Prasad, union minister for telecommunication and information technology, told the delegates that since going digital the government had saved Rs 36,500 crore which otherwise would have gone to the middlemen. Prasad explained about various Apps launched by the Narendra Modi-led government and said each App has emerged as a transformation and revolution.
Referring to the sale of Ganga water through the department of posts which comes under his ministry, Prasad said the initiative has been a tremendous success. “There is more demand for it in Tamil Nadu. We have revamped the 175-year-old postal department. The introduction of e-commerce by the department of posts has filled the void of lifestyle between the urban and rural population. Nearly 50 national and international consortiums have shown keen interest to partner with the postal department,” said the IT minister.