CROWD SOURCING: The cost of paper and printing has gone up so steeply that independent media can only survive if readers are willing to subscribe and advertise in publications which are fighting for constitutional rights.

By Rajan Narayan

The covid lockdown and the hostile BJP government has killed independent print and electronic media in the country. It has reduced the stalwarts of Indian media ranging from Rajdeep Sardesai to Rajan Narayan to stop printing and go online.

BEFORE the covid-19 lockdowns the skill sets that I had were very highly valued. The primary skill set was the ability to write lucidly and knowledgably on a wide range of subjects. Indeed, the perception was that I was among the best writers in the English language in Goa. With my editorials and features I could provoke people as I did during the language agitation.
I could force politicians accused of molestation to resign from their post as I did in the case of Dayanand Narvekar. I could contribute towards the scrapping of the Regional Plan 11 drawn up by Atanasio Babush Monserrate to convert the whole of Goa into a concrete jungle. I used the power of the pen to get the Special Economic Zone which was a fraud cancelled and the allotment of land to builders suspended. There were many other aspects of public interest which I was able to project very strongly. I was seen as an agent of change, a catalyst if you like.
BUT this was only as long as the ruling government did not turn hostile towards the Goan Observer. More specifically, not so much the ruling party, the BJP, but the politicians in power who turned hostile. This was unusual because during the previous BJP regime between 2000 and 2007 when Manohar Parrikar was the chief minister, we had no problems with the government. Only when the BJP simultaneously came to power both at the center and state that our problems intensified. There was a total ban on any government advertising or projects being allotted to theGoan Observer.’ The previous Congress government had commissioned us to write the history of the last phase of the Liberation struggle from the defiance by Ram Manohar Lohia to the Liberation of Goa. Simultaneously, the pressure of the double-engine bulldozer comprising of BJP government at the center and the state, made sure that independent media was systematically butchered.
All the senior and the most reputed journalists ranging from Rajdeep Sardesai to Shekar Gupta to Barkha Dutt to more recently, Faye D Souza, have been forced to move out from leading major organizations to run their own mini- newspapers and video channels which are more in the form of blogs on the Internet. Printing is no long affordable with the GST of 12% on paper and additional 12% on publisher and 5% on advertisements. To this you have to add 25% to 30% commission to agents who have to be paid for distribution. So, if you do not have the support of the government and are not willing to play the role of the godi media, you could not survive or survive with great difficulty.
BEFORE covid-19 lockdowns print media ruled like king. However, consequent to the lockdowns, there there was a total transition to the digital world. This was partly provoked by covid-19 protocol which stipulated the number of people who could work from an office. The ostensible objective is to prevent infection. So much so the staff of several leading newspapers were asked to work from home whenever possible.
Never mind that this also saved the major newspapers the rental cost of their offices. The Times of India’ for instance in Goa is saving more than Rs10 lakh rent because most of its editorial employees are working from home. An unexpected consequence was that people switched from print editions of newspapers to online editions. This is also partly because newspapers, which depended on subscriptions and home delivery, were affected by co-operative societies and many householders not permitted newspaper delivery boys to enter the society premises or gave up reading newspapers altogether for fear of covid infection. There was an absurd rumor spread that printed paper is an agent of transmission of the covid-19 virus. Since everything had gone digital including education even at the primary level, not to mention work, whether it was in a mega IT firm or in smaller offices, print media virtually came to a standstill or died out altogether. Print media is virtually dead. Though ironically, there are many who do not trust what comes out on the digital media! Like the print media this too was taken over by Modi & Company. It was only the online newspapers supporting the BJP government which got adequate social media advertising to be viable. Independent online papers likeThe Wire’ and the Goan Observer’ which could only continue to be a weekly even online, were doubly damned. They neither got online advertising nor for the print editions. Talking of skill sets those of us like me who mourned my amritmahotsav 75 birthday on July 4, 2022 found it doubly difficult. This is because being from the print media we were digitally challenged. For instance, having had a secretary from the time I became editor of my first magazine in 1975 in Bombay, I have never used a typewriter and later on computer. We had no computers for a long time. Similarly, in all the other publications that I edited before coming to Goa, I didn’t have to learn how to use a computer and learn its hardware and software programs. During my 20 years as editor of theHerald’ in Goa from 1983 to 2003 I had a full time secretary. Forget about using a computer, I didn’t even know how to use a smartphone.
Consequently, the skill sets that I had which were appreciated and for which I got paid are no longer relevant. Unlike many of my younger colleague who have started online editions to be read over their smart phone screen, I do not know how to bring out an online Goan Observer digitally without specialized staff.
The entire media seen has changed dramatically not only in Goa and India but worldwide. The leading papers in the world like the Wall Street Journal’ are all online. Not just the media industry but the film industry has been hit by the switch to the digital world. Why go to the theater, particularly the multiplex, and pay Rs300 for a ticket and Rs200 for popcorn, when you can see whatever you want to see on OTT platform like Netflix on your smartphone. At 75, while my skills sets which are primarily writing, have become irrelevant, I am inclined to get out of the news business, what I would like to do and for which there is a need, is to get into desktop publishing. There are many English, Konkani and Marathi writers who are looking for publishers. There are many aspiring authors who are looking for publishers. Recently, we commemorated my 75th amrutmahatsov by bringing out a book of poems titledLetter to God & Othr Poems.’
On the occasion of my 75th amrutmohotsav I would like to thank all my secretaries who worked for me from 1975 to 2022, who very patiently and very sincerely translated my dictation into print, first tap tapping on typewriters and then on the computer. Secretaries who have been with me for long periods of time and have been virtually my deputy editors as they took care of most of my responsibilities as the boss.
From Mariola, who was my secretary through three publications — The Onlooker, The Mirror and the Imprint, to the joys of Melanie who used to be my secretary at the Herald.’ To other secretaries for the first ten years of theGoan Observer’ and finally to Heena with me for the last seven years, enabling me to put my skills sets for writing to affective use. We hope that all our readers and Goenkars will help us now as we transit from news to desktop publishing!