मीडियामोरचा

Ravi Ranjan Sinha / If a  20-page daily newspaper carries as much as 12 pages of advertisement  should it be  considered fair? Why should readers who buy a newspaper pay for  so much of advertisements, both direct and indirect? Why should a newspaper devote a full page to visit of a film star when he or she is on a commercial trip to promote a film? These  are questions  which bother a  reader who expects that the  newspaper he buys brings him news  from the  region he inhabits ,the events from the rest of the world which affects his surroundings and an enlightened  analysis of those events. Of course some news  which he can use  as well as advertisements which keep him informed  about products  and services available to him in the  market  too are welcome. But depriving a newspaper reader of news  at the  expense of advertisements is being less than fair.

About half-a-century ago the Hindu used to carry classified advertisements on the front page .But inside there used to be  very discreet balance of news and advertisements. The classified advertisements  were mostly of the type  which required a  prompt response  from the reading  public  and were issued mostly by government agencies.The practice was done away with  to fall in line   with other  newspapers which were experimenting  with layout and designs  of their pages.But other newspapers too refrained  from lending  their front pages to advertisements. A former advertisement manager of the  National Herald  had recalled  in an article some years ago that he had yielded  to the rquest of  some advertisers and  accomdated two advertisements on the front  page of the  newspaper

Which had to carry the Diwali supplement too.But  the editor,the late Chaalapati Rao struck  off one  and returned  the dummy duly  signed’’The Advertisement Manager  was so scared  that he went on leave for a couple of days to avoid coming face to face with the editor.But now with editors’authority heavily curtailed and the marketing manager deciding  about the” ingredients of the media product” the reader has been relegated to the background and The advertiser  with  a  fat purse calls the shots.

Does this situation not call for a serious  debate to fix a norm about news advertisements ratio?Newspaper establishments which offer other “ meda products”  apart from dailies appear least bothered  about  the readership but they would do well to remember that the credibility of the printed word  is still respected and the newspapers would  be commercial success  only if they have the trust of the readers.In fact,journalistic propriety and the economc interest of a newspaper should not be in conflct with each other.Both can go together with a fair  strategy of balancing  readers’ as well as marketing man’s interest.