PROBLEMS OF SMALL NEWS PAPERS

 PROBLEMS OF SMALL NEWS PAPERS

A small newspaper is a newspaper with a circulation less than 2500. these papers cater to the needs of the people living in one particular locality. Small newspapers play a more direct role in forcing the accountability of the people's representatives and all in influencing the people. They are also a good source of local, political and commercial information, while at the same time satisfying the socio-cultural interest of the readers and providing entertainment for them.

There are several risks involved in the running of a newspaper. Currently in India, there is restricted private capital and Bank loans thus making it hard for newspaper organizations to raise capital. It is also hard to acquire a plant since it also requires the erection of a building, the import of machinery, its transportation and installation. The newspaper organization also needs to deal with import duties, credit restrictions and importing license.

Many newspapers never have enough revenue to run the paper efficiently, as they sell copies at low rates. The papers get ads to generate its revenues, but now a days due to the boom in electronic media, the number of ads a paper receives has drastically reduced. At the same time, there is dearth of well qualified, experience journalists and printers.

Problems of Small Newspapers.

A small newspaper is a written publication containing news and ads, usually printed on low costs newsprint often published on a daily and weekly basis. Small newspapers focus solely on one particular geographical area where most of the readers live.

-> FINANCIAL PROBLEMS = Since Small get few/no government advertisements and they are forced to rely on private ads. Subscriptions in small news papers generate a very meager revenue and is insufficient to run a newspaper efficiently. The lack of ads thus makes it hard for small and medium newspaper to run for a very long time

-> LACK OF ADVERTISEMENTS = The boom in Electronic media has affected the number of a newspaper gets. Since ads generate a major amount of the organization's revenue, the dearth of the ads greatly affect a small newspaper's finance.

-> ADMINISTRATION = With a limited revenue, small newspapers cannot maintain a large staff. So, they depend on a few people to do all of the work. The administration is also unable to pay their few staff members their monthly salaries. The administration also finds it hard to pay for the basic utilities like phone and electricity for its employees.

-> PRINTING COSTS = Small newspapers with their restricted finances, cannot afford to print on high quality newsprints. They also use low cost printing which is of much lower quality, giving the newspaper a very cheap look. The papers use rotary print.

-> NEWSPRINT = The availability of newsprint is very less to suite the current demand. The costs are also very high. Small newspapers cannot afford to use the best newsprint available in the market and are then forced to use newsprint of lower cost which makes the paper look of very low quality.

-> LOW QUALITY = Since small newspapers use low cost print methods, and low cost newsprint, the overall presentation of the newspaper is shabby and unattractive. They rarely use color print. Printing is not clear.

-> NETWORK = Small newspaper has a very limited network because they employ very few reporters. Due to time constraints, these few reporters are often forced to work out of their offices. They do not have time to go tout and widen their networks.

-> FACILITIES = A small newspaper cannot afford to provide a lot of hi-tech facilities for its employees. They do not have or have very few computers and internet facilities. The organization often finds it hard to even pay for their basic utilities.

-> DELIVERY = Small newspapers are forced to depend on delivery boys to distribute the papers. The number of delivery boys present at any given time can suddenly increase or decrease. The paper faces a major problem in delivering newspapers when there are no delivery boys available..

-> CIRCULATION = The circulation figures of a small newspaper is very less since small newspaper are subscribed by people of only one locality. It is a major problem for the small newspaper and there is less or no scope for the expansion of the organization also.

-> COMPETITION = Due to the technological advancements in the field of print media there is a very hectic competition among the big newspapers which are engaged in price wars. Small newspaper with their limited circulation figures cannot afford to participate in this price wars.

-> OTHER PROBLEMS = Small newspapers find it very difficult to offer bonuses and fringe benefits for their employees. They also do not have the resources to organize professional workshops for their journalist and other employees to update their knowledge about technological advancements and break throughs.