P Kharel

Are the advances in information and communication technology driving printed copies of newspapers out of circulation? The old declines and enters the new in the media landscape. Thanks to the new technology and ever expanding social networks, alternative avenues are created for obtaining information and entertainment.

Changing communication landscape affects journalism, especially of the news variety. Individual news outlets find it a struggling battle for retaining -- let alone expanding -- the size of their audiences. Used to traditional newspapers in print, the elder generation might retain their taste for the printed copies. Some of them simply stay loyal to this variety of news media. Not so the younger generation brought up with the computer in their rooms, classrooms, laps, smart phones and TV sets -- in effect, various screens.

When this scribe donned the cap of editor-in-chief at The Rising Nepal in the mid-1990s, the four-year-old Kathmandu Post was the only other broadsheet daily, though there were at least two other regular dailies of tabloid size. The Commoner, founded in 1956, was the country’s first English daily and the Motherland arrived two years later. Indeed, TRN commanded a copy circulation figure of 10,500. It was the highest among the English publications. In fact, it easily sold more copies than any other Nepali daily with the exception of its sister publication, the Gorkhapatra.
A few years later, however, the number of newspapers exploded. Periodicals, too, soared in number just as all-colour magazines did. The Himal Khabar Patrika pioneered as a regular fortnightly all-colour magazine. Others followed soon after. Nepal and Samaya, for instance. A number of monthlies and weekly papers, too, joined the colour world.

Conditions change
Four years ago, during the book launch function of a book written by veteran journalist Kishore Nepal, I came face to face with the head of a large media group. In the course of our chat on the media, I bluntly told him that though his paper’s circulation figures would begin to fall in significantly within five years. Stung, he said, “Let us meet tomorrow or the day after and have a chat?” I told him that I would not wish to be seen as trying to create a role for myself. I informed him that I would, therefore, not meet in the next few days but would be glad to meet him any time after a month.
The media tycoon never bothered to remember offer nor did I care to call him. However, his paper’s circulation dropped alarmingly while that of his closest rival increased markedly. The revenue loss was at a disturbing rate. A large section in the new generation finds the printed copies cumbersome. Within the next two generations, even the developing nations might find the news media landscape well beyond recognition compared to its present stage.

Are newspapers a vanishing entity not compatible with the changed times of advanced technology and multiple media outlets of non-newsprint variety? Are they facing extinction? Consternation is being expressed, considering the fact that newspapers are discussing and speculating whether it is a losing battle to maintain its dominating status witnessed since so many centuries. Some are thinking aloud whether the death of traditional newspapers will arrive within the next three decades.

Printed copies cannot do without readers willing to subscribe or purchase them at the newsstand regularly. Investment is heavier and information dissemination part highly competitive against the new popular standards set by the new technologies. Large-scale multiple outlets are easily accessible on various media, often without the need for paid subscription. Availability of large scale free content online competes against the traditional newspapers.

The situation calls for searching for niche audiences. Quality is the antidote to the trend of shrinking size of audiences to multiple media genres and media outlets. Specialised journalism or topic specific contents is an effective alternative to cope with the new challenges for audiences and revenue. The news providing sector is dynamic and flexible, capable of adapting to changes and plunging into new opportunities. A particular incarnation might become obsolete but without creating a vacuum. An alternative fills the absence even as the older form of channel is on the brink of extinction.

When an industry declines, a new one is likely to emerge with timely sophistication. In the latest case, traditional newspapers are fast losing ground and making way for a myriad of online opportunities for digital news. A swift and sharp decline in hard-copy newspaper sales does not necessarily represent the death of an entire sector. After all, modern newspapers have a long history. Looking into the roots of their antecedents, the French city of Strasbourg is credited with the first newsbook newspaper published in 1605. Although no hard copy of the publication, printed in book format, is available, there are specific references about it. As far as their hard copies are concerned, a stack of newsbooks was traced in that city in 1609.

Alternative avenues
Journalism has to be on constant lookout for new formats and forums, and continue to grow. Digital affordances are the latest options but with stiff competition. And competition is normal. The task is to search for niche audiences. Online portals offer frequent news updates. Very few of them carry in-depth reports regularly. If they were to increase such items on different topics, it would further erode the support base of the traditional papers. In the process, TV and radio channels, too, would appear dated and jaded, unless they ventured into new content angling and formats.

Over the ages, opinion pieces in newspapers have acquired a prized presence. Prominent pens and expert views, together with occasional eyewitness accounts, make interesting read. This is the logic behind the practice in leading local and national newspapers and magazines in most countries. Not much in Nepal, though. Although this scribe has been fortunate to have been commissioned during his scribing career to write regularly for a dozen or so dailies and weeklies at different times, including Naya Patrika, The Kathmandu Post and The Republica dailies, newspaper editors are extremely reluctant to offer such space to even scribes with proven records and representing diverse views.

The Rising Nepal has by far the best record in this regard since its early years. When yours humbly joined the daily as a sub-editor in 1973, there were several columnists, two of them freelance weekly writers—Tee Dee (Tara Dixit) contributing “Women’s World” and Greta Rana scribing “Life in Action”.

(Professor Kharel specialises in political communication.)