The impact of Covid-19 on the country’s economy has already been humongous. Some mediums of the media have benefited because of the lockdown while some haven’t. Due to the lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 the circulation of newspapers was stopped, which now has resumed.
Medianews4u spoke to Girish Agarwal – Director – Dainik Bhaskar Group about the impact of Covid-19 on the print industry and other things.
Read on.
How did DB keep up with its readers while circulation was shut down post lockdown?
Our newspaper printing and circulation continued throughout, however, due to distribution breakdown, around 15-20% copies could not be delivered to readers, however, we have witnessed, an improvement for the last few days and expect to reach the pre-lockdown stage sooner than later, in the next 10-15 days time.
With E-Papers now the order of the day what will be your strategy to get readers back to a physical copy?
In all our markets, the reader needs of the morning are physical newspaper as a newspaper has become a way of life for the reader. The same is further supplemented through our websites and mobile apps 24 hours updates, after 10 AM; in case a reader still wants to keep self updated with Indian and global happenings.
What will be the impact of COVID 19 on the print industry?
We need to ensure how fast COVID-19, goes from the country and the economy starts functioning normally. After lockdown is over and recently announced financial stimulus and future expected reforms should add value to economic performance.
What are the safety measures adopted by Bhaskar while printing and distributing stage?
Dainik Bhaskar is the largest Multi-Edition Daily of India and Globally the 3rd largest newspaper, while the number 1 & 2 ranked newspapers are from Japan. We have already shared images pictures and videos of measures taken while producing and distributing newspapers, like, spraying of sanitizer at the production stage, distribution of masks, latex gloves and sanitizers to distributors/hawkers
Reports suggest that People trust Traditional Media more than digital for reliable News during a crisis situation – Your Comment?
This is time and again proved and accepted by masses as they look forward to a trustworthy and reliable news source, which can be provided by newspaper only. This is again getting proved during COVID-19 outbreak, with social media as well as other media throwing non-reliable/ fake breaking news, which is withdrawn subsequently.
