Green vs black

For media, at the best of times, existence is a struggle. The challenges to journalism come not only from malicious forces but also financial constraints, the overall economy, and currently for the print medium, even technology. But adding to these concerns is a peculiar observation by the National Green Tribunal, Bhopal, that the use of newsprint (the paper used for newspapers) for publishing full-page advertisements is an “irresponsible act”. It has sought the views of the stakeholders, including the Ministries of Environment and Forests and Information and Broadcasting.

The tribunal may be planning to take a view on the matter out of concern for environment, but what it has touched upon is a matter of survival for the print media, which continues to be relatively the more trusted form of mass communication. Advertising revenue, which is the biggest source of income for newspapers, has not been growing at the same rate as the circulation. That translates to increasing production costs and a dipping bottom line. Subscription income is only a fraction of the total revenue. In a lacklustre economy, commercial advertisements are hard to come by, leaving newspapers at the mercy of government advertisements. For obvious reasons, that is not a very happy situation for the freedom of the Press. Any idea, thus, that may curtail newspapers’ freedom to accept and publish advertisements, or a limitation on the number of pages they may print, must be junked at the earliest stage.

Newsprint to a large extent is made from wood, which comes from trees. A significant part of the wood-based newsprint in India is imported from Europe, which had reached an equilibrium in its tree cover long ago. In fact, they grow more trees than they cut. As for environmental awareness, educating the masses is important. And there is no medium more effective than newspapers towards that end (English circulation is only 15 per cent of the total). All stakeholders would do society a service by doing everything in their power to ensure survival of the printed word.