Fate of Print Media during Covid and Its rise 

India has a scrumptious tradition of print media since pre-independence and post- independence times. Indian print media had a glorious role in the freedom struggle of the country. After independence, diverse forms of media have made and contributed to expostulate democratic values to the people of India. Print media earned credibility by accurate, unbiased, factual, and objective reporting. For the last 5 decades, readers are most trusted in print media comparatively electronic or web media. Last few months with the spread of the Covid-19 virus country's print media has faced many challenges from economically to distribution. 

Now print media inconclusive on news and information gathering, advertising, distribution, and economy generation. Many journalists of our country have been tested positive from the deadly Covid-19 virus. Media houses and groups have slashed production costs and showed exit doors to their employees due to a lack of revenue sources. Print media is facing huge financial trouble due to a shortage of income which comes from advertising. 

The worst effects of Covid-19 on Indian print media and their employees are studied in the present research paper. Key Words Impact of Covid-19 on Print Media Industries, Financial Crisis on Print Media, Cost Cutting in Print Media Employees, Indian Print Media 

Newspapers in India started in the British era. The Bengal Gazette was the first Indian newspaper which started by James Augustus Hickey in the year 1780. Hickey had constantly fought for the freedom of expression in that time and convicted by British rulers. After Hickey's banishment, many newspapers published and also carried on the struggle for independence. Indian readers have strong allegiance and faith in the print media. There were uncountable crises in the print media but it continued to expand in a whole nation. Many newspapers, periodicals, and magazines are regularly published on national and regional levels in the country. Regional newspaper's existence and growth raised the issues of local sustainable development and focused on local incidents reporting. Regional or local level published newspapers encouraged India's development from rural to civilization. In the decades of the 1960s and 1990s, the political integration of India shifted from the center to the states which were accelerated on local issues, and such wise Indian print media transformed into a huge economic and social structure. 

After the 1990s in the process of globalization in India, the print media changed forever because the Indian media world opened for foreign media organizations. Recorded a major revolution with new innovative technology from content to visualization. Now newspapers changed their aim and became a commodity. That emerged the management of print media more commercial by ownership. As per the RNI data India, there are 82,000 registered newspapers with a cumulative daily circulation of 11 crores and turnover near about Rs. 32,000 crore. As today with advance and immense technology develop the resources and capacity of the citizens to access newspapers in a digital forum or platforms. The country's print media industry has been hit by several crises like global recession and inflation but through all of these print, media industries preserved. The current Covid-19 has broken the backbone of print media industries and newspapers organization

DISRUPTION OF NEWSPAPERS DUE TO LOCKDOWN 

According to the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, Indian publishers are fighting for revenues and drowning their publication houses. Direct ad sales have been affected because of social and physical distancing. A lot of rumors and misinformation related to the Novel Coronavirus were spread on social media due to newsprint industries that suffered a lot in distribution to circulation. Newspaper delivery boys or hawkers refusing to step out due to fear of the local authority stopped on roads. According to the tweet of Saching Kalbag (2020) was saying there is no physical edition of the daily Hindustan Times in Mumbai because of tough restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of the contagious Coronavirus and that made it difficult for newspapers deliver along with their distribution partners. The Lockdown of transportation of newspapers was a huge reason for slow circulation in the lockdown period. As a result, the print media across the whole country was disrupted. Regional newspapers & publication houses were fully shutdowns on that time because many registered newspaper editors have not efficient printing press and they published their newspapers by private printing press owners. Although readers were getting information those available on digital platforms through electronic and web editions. 

NEWSPAPERS SLOW CIRCULATION DUE TO FEAR OF COVID-19 

While the central government of India has declared and included print newspapers as an essential services category which was suffering due to the suspension of traffic. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has laid out steps to ensure the operational continuity of print and electronic media during the overall Covid- 19 outbreak. 

CHALLENGES FACING BY NEWSPAPER COMPANIES

 Newspaper industries were already troubling with high production costs before the pandemic Covid-19. Small and medium newspapers suffering to publish newspapers physical copy due to lack of income revenue generate. The print was the second-largest advertising medium in the country but presently huge shares of profit likely to be overtaken by digital forums in 2020. Today's younger generation or millennial loves to read news and information on their digital gadgets like cell phones, laptops, and tablets, etc. The challenge for India's newsprint industry is to keep retains its readers for physical newspaper editions along with digital news web portals. According to the Yash Porwal (2020), Indian newsprint industries are struggling with high-cost production and the central government's new customs duty which all add immense pressure. According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) those under 35 years, 56 percent identified as online readers compare to just 16 percent of the print medium. Regional and local publishers of the newsprint industry don't have enough facilities to publish news and incidents online through news portals and subscriptions. Most of the peoples of rural areas don't like to subscribe to regional or local newspaper portals. News portals of regional media firms have not able to get advertisements which are the backbone of income source of any media firm. 

FINANCIAL CRISIS DUE TO SHORTAGE OF ADVERTISEMENT 

During the Covid-19 pandemic all public events, cultural events, and various sports competitions were either suspended or postponed. Pandemic made a standstill situation of the economic cycle which includes real estate, political events, special tournaments had stopped and the newsprint industry faced a huge and unimaginable financial crisis. According to the recent statistics which was released by the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) that newsprint industries have to bear the brunt loss of Rs. 4,5000 crore, in the beginning, two months country's lockdown of March and April 2020. INS also indicated that further losses may up to Rs. 15,000 crore in the upcoming six to seven months. The prolonged economic slowdown will be decline advertisements revenue and ruin the business model of the newsprint industry. ABP news channel chief executive D.D Purkayastha said that newsprint advertisement revenue which shares 80 percent to 85 percent of total revenue is almost zero after post lockdown. Therefore Indian Newspaper Society (INS) has written a letter requesting the central government of India to waive the taxation which currently has a 5 percent customs duty and give government advertisements to all newspapers including small and medium newsprint industry. According to the Shemin Joy

NEWSPRINT INDUSTRIES SET AGGRESSIVE COST-CUTTING TARGETS 

According to INS newspapers have given employment to almost 9-10 lakh people directly and 18-20 lakh indirectly. After a decline in advertisement revenue the newsprint companies of India working on how to minimize production costs and gain control over spending. The management authorities of the newspaper company decided to do pay cut-offs and minimum manpower to avoid unnecessary expenses. Many newspapers have suspended special editions and reduced the number of pages to compensate for the costs. 'The Hindu' group in India has suspended the print edition of 'Sportstar' which was the fortnightly magazine published since 1978. As tweeted by Hindustan Times journalist Abhishek Baxi on March, 20 (2020) that HT has put its weekend edition into its main publication. "HT is suspending the print edition for 2-3 weeks because the staff is working from home." According to Amrita Nayak Dutta (2020), The Delhi edition of Hindustan Times now consists only of 14 pages, down from over 20 pages. The Indian Express put its e-paper behind a paywall and has made it temporarily free of cost. Magazines also affected due to the Coronavirus. Outlook magazine has temporarily suspended its print edition and only the weekly magazine's e-version is available to readers on its official website. A source in a Delhi newspaper office said that media houses are facing losses of Rs. 5 crores to Rs. 10 crores per day. Mostly National and Regional newspapers instructed their employees to work from home but thousands of journalists of print and electronic media have to work on the field. They have taken risks of their lives while reporting on Coronavirus infection from visiting containment zones to hospitals. There is no insurance policy has given by the government of India for journalists. 

 The Launch of SAATH-telemedicine project

AXA launches a toll-free helpline with NGO partner Sewa International in Delhi NCR, Haryana, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan to provide telemedicine services for medical ailments and information on the availability of critically needed healthcare supplies in response to the COVID-19 crisis in India. The helpline, Supportive Action Across Telemedicine and Healthcare (SAATH), is a joint corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative between AXA entities with local operations including AXA France Vie Reinsurance branch1, AXA GO Business Operations2 and AXA XL3 in India.

SAATH will connect people to doctors including general practitioners, ayurvedic doctors, nutritionists and Sewa International volunteers. In addition to telemedicine services, it will provide information on: availability of hospital beds and oxygen cylinders; ambulance assistance; home Intensive Care Unit setup information; food supplies for COVID-19 patients; access to psychologists; and more. Using the wide range of services, SAATH aims to increase acceptability, affordability and accessibility to telemedicine and virtual care.

This initiative further demonstrates AXA's commitment to enable access to healthcare for the most vulnerable and to support the Government of India's virtual care initiatives including the National Digital Health Mission. Since 2017, AXA France Vie India Reinsurance branch has been a leading provider of reinsurance to the social sector and has positively impacted more than 200 million lives.

Clemence Gastaldi, CEO of AXA Life & Health International Solutions, AXA France, commented: "I'm very proud of the joint CSR initiative led by our Indian entities, including AXA France Vie Reinsurance branch, to fight the COVID-19 outbreak in India. With our SAATH helpline, we are providing real-time hospital information, and teleconsultation for hospitalization to the public at a single toll-free number. We will continue to use our assets and know-how to support Indian families."

Ankur Nijhawan, CEO of AXA France Vie - Indian Reinsurance Branch shared: "The COVID-19 pandemic has made us revisit how best to make healthcare accessible. Virtual care is safer than self-medication and it is our objective is to make telemedicine acceptable, affordable, and accessible. Our continuous efforts in India and our drive to innovate has led to the creation of a very special initiative  - SAATH, named for the word togetherness in Hindi - a telemedicine helpline offered free of cost to users. Looking towards a better future, we aim to create trust and an approach to medicine better adapted to the needs of individuals and their loved ones. This is also a conscious step we are taking to support the Government of India for making quality healthcare available to all."

Sebastien Legrand, India Head - AXA GO Business Operations, shared his thoughts: "We are very pleased to be associated with Project SAATH that enables us to connect with the community in multiple ways to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in India. We have always been at the forefront of taking care of our communities since our inception in India and, this initiative further strengthens our commitment to Health and Disease Prevention a key pillar of our Corporate Responsibility strategy. SAATH is the next milestone in this journey. India has seen some torrid times in the last few months, and SAATH is our preparatory step to help the local authorities with adequate health-related support for a better penetration in the states of its operations. I'm confident that the real-time information access will go a long way in combating the far-reaching consequences of COVID-19."

Derek Nazareth, Head of Global Operations for AXA XL, Country Head India said: "AXA XL in India has continued to demonstrate its commitment to helping local communities through its CSR activities. By acting as ONE AXA to create SAATH, we're able to support those families most affected by the COVID-19 crisis, ensuring the most vulnerable get access to the healthcare they require."

 SAATH - TELEMEDICINE SERVICE

An initiative by Sewa International

Sewa International is a not-for-profit organization that began in 1993 by members of our diasporic community in the U.K. as a movement to reach out to victims of the Latur earthquake. By 1997, a base had been set up in New Delhi to be in the front lines in times of disasters, calamities, and other emergencies.

Sewa International has now spread its wings in 20+ states in India and 25+ countries. We strive to be the first responders in case of any emergencies in the remotest regions of India.

We have successful projects up and running in the fields of education, sanitization, and hygiene, rehabilitation, healthcare, etc.

BACKGROUND

The initiative is hinged on three key pillars:

Access: Ensure access to an inclusive telemedicine solution across different sections of society. with a free telemedicine solution.

Awareness: Build awareness on telemedicine as a rapidly growing public health solution.

Acceptance: Accelerate the acceptance of telemedicine with a high-end technology interface and empathic medical consultations.

About our Partners: AXA

As one of the largest global insurers, AXA’s purpose is to act for human progress by protecting what matters. Protection has always been at the core of their business, helping individuals, businesses and societies to thrive. AXA has always been a leader, an innovator, an entrepreneurial company, fostering progress in all its dimensions. To transform AXA’s value proposition “from payer to partner”, they will deliver new services complementing the traditional insurance coverage and build new business models to increase the protection of their customers.

Objective

With SAATH we aim to solve non-critical medical issues for a vast amount of people throughout the geography of India. There is a lack of Public Health Centres and other medical facilities in most of the remote areas. Even in the urban parts, visiting the doctor for minute health problems can be highly time taking and expensive. Consuming medicines without a prescription or without consulting a doctor can prove to be harmful to the patients. SAATH will help to eliminate these problems by making instant medical services available to patients at the tip of their fingers with certified doctors and nutritionists which will be completely free of cost.

Program Features-

Video and Audio Consultations: Get access to trained medical professionals.

Free Service: The entire SAATH experience is free for the patient.

Robust Technology: The robust technology back-end allows a smooth interaction of the patient with the telemedicine service.

Digital Prescriptions: We send digital prescriptions to the patient via WhatsApp/ Email/ SMS for all consultations for medical record keeping.

Follow-up: Feel free to call our free helpline number anytime for following-up on your health situation, and get expert help.

 SEWA INTERNATIONAL

Sewa International began as a movement  in 1993 to engage the Indian Diaspora(NRI) worldwide. It encouraged these people to remain connected with Indian roots through contribution to humanitarian causes locally and in India, especially in times of natural calamities like floods, earthquakes, cyclones, tsunamis, pandemics etc, which cause large scale distress, and needs huge resources for recovery. The movement has spread its wings worldwide to more than 25 countries now.

In India, Sewa International was established in 1997 as a registered non-profit trust, based on the Indian ethos of ‘Service before Self’ and “World is One Family”. Since its inception, Sewa International is relentlessly serving humanity in distress irrespective of caste, creed, color, religion, race or region.

Over the past decade, the transition has happened from providing support to short term disaster relief & rescue activities, towards more effective long-term rehabilitation and development projects in the underserved areas. The organization is driven by the need to provide more permanent solutions to the underlying socio-economic issues. Sewa International is presently working in the domains of health, education, livelihood generation, environment protection, skilling, community/rural development, women empowerment, water conservation across 20 states in India, with direct interventions as well as with the help of committed grassroot organizations.

 prosperity for the people and the planet.

Main aim of Sewa International is to serve the humanity in distress, either directly or through empowered local partners especially in times of disaster, who despite lack of resources work extremely hard to provide help to affected people. Most of these local NGOs lack basic setups(timely reporting, monitoring, language issues, low capacity etc), which results in the majority aid going to all big players, leaving the actual working organizations struggling for money. So, Sewa International tries to empower these referred local organizations, so that the aid actually reaches the end beneficiary.

   

In case, where we find that there is lack of such local partners, who can implement the program effectively, then depending on the available resources (financial, HR) and development needs for the region, it considers the viability of setting up its own operations to implement and manage the project. This has also been very effective as seen in our Sewa Uttarakhand project, where we developed the team and program from ground up with 3800+ women members as part of the 360+ SHGs/Federations leading a socio-economically empowered life in Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts.