Local talents also don't find a forum for recognition of their work
Ravi Ranjan Sinha / The regional press in India has been fighting for survival since media houses with funds generated from multiple interests in their bid to capture a bigger market brought out editions of their newspapers not only from metro cities but also from other important regional centers. Many newspapers which represented regional aspirations had to fold up because they could not compete with big houses in procurement of technology and credible editorial teams.
This trend started with the advent of satellites and computers and dailies like the Searchlight, the Indian ation, Aryavrata and Pradeep of Patna,the Leader and Swatantra Bharat of Allahabad ,the National Herald of Lucknow had to yield place to newspapers published by big media houses. All these papers had a glorious past but that was not enough for them to remain the choice of readers who were being offered bulky editions and attractive supplements. Even newspapers with some resources catering to regional readership like the Deccan Herald and Free Press Journal have fallen way behind newspapers of bigger chains.
This apart in the name of decentralization editions brought out by bigger house from district or divisional hedquarters have virually local bulletins. This has results in readers remaining unaware of happenings in not only other states but also in other parts of the state. This virtually isolates readers from the rest of the country. This is a sure enough impediment to integration at the national level. The worse part of the story is that local talents like. writers, artists etc do not find a forum for recognition of their work.
It is , therefore time, a serious thought is given to this by entrepreneurship at the regional level. If regional channels can do a thriving business why can regional papers not ?
