Mr.Minga Sherpa, who recently assumed the position of Director Information, has urged all wings of the department to collaborate and work together to spread awareness about the policies and programs of the Jammu and Kashmir government. In a meeting held, he emphasized the importance of coordinated efforts to effectively disseminate information. He also assured the department’s officials that measures would be taken to enhance professionalism within the units, enabling them to confidently tackle professional challenges. He realizes very well in today’s time, media plays a crucial role in shaping public opinion and influencing societal changes. Media serves as a powerful tool for information dissemination, promoting transparency, accountability, and democratic values. The role of the media in informing, educating, and entertaining the public cannot be overstated. It is through the media that people get to know what is happening around them, whether it is political, social, or economic. It is, therefore, important for the media to work closely with the government to disseminate information about its policies and programs. The new Director of Information after its first meeting has called for synergized efforts to ensure that government policies and programs are effectively disseminated to the public. This call is timely, and it is important for all stakeholders to work together to ensure that the media plays its role effectively in a politically sensitive J&K UT.
In 2020, the J&K government came up with a media policy aimed at regulating the media industry. The policy seeks to ensure that the media operates in a professional and ethical manner. It also seeks to promote the diversity of views, opinions, and ideas in the media. The implementation of this policy is crucial in ensuring that the media works towards achieving the common goal of informing, educating, and entertaining the public. This is particularly important in a country like ours, especially in Jammu and Kashmir, where a significant portion of the population relies on the media for information. The media has the power to shape public opinion, and this can have a significant impact on how government policies and programs are received by the public. It is, therefore, important for the media to work closely with the government to ensure that its policies and programs are effectively disseminated to the public. The government should make it a priority to provide the media with accurate and timely information about its policies and programs. This will enable the media to provide the public with accurate, prompt, and reliable information. The government should also work towards improving the capacity of the media to effectively disseminate information. This can be achieved through training and capacity-building programs. Another challenge that the media faces in disseminating government policies and programs is the lack of resources. The media industry is facing financial challenges, which makes it difficult for small media houses to effectively disseminate information. The government should consider providing financial support to the media industry to ensure that it has the necessary resources to effectively disseminate information about its policies and programs with a special focus on small players. It is not out of place to mention that traditional media, especially printed newspapers, has been suffering from declining readership and advertising revenue due to the shift toward digital media. The COVID-19 pandemic only aggravated the situation as circulation was partially halted or reduced, and advertisers became more selective to save money. The distribution of advertisements has had become more difficult due to increased transportation, newsprint, and other raw materials costs. Moreover, the empanelment meetings of fresh newspapers that have completed more than three years and have all the formalities completed and submitted as per the guidelines issued by Jammu and Kashmir should have been conducted for their approvals at regular intervals, in order to help them survive through government advertisement and further getting approvals from other advertisement providers such as DAVP, Railways, etc.
The current trend of silence and indifference needs to be replaced by empathy and a collective effort to keep the existing newspapers in J&K UT afloat, particularly the fresh small newspapers. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct the empanelment meeting at the earliest possible time, in order to give a much-needed boost to the struggling fresh newspaper industry involving young entrepreneurs. This would provide an opportunity for fresh newspapers to access government advertising and generate revenue, which could help them to sustain their operations and continue to serve the public with quality journalism. By doing so, it will enable these newspapers to receive government advertisements and have access to other opportunities that will help them remain financially viable. The timely and necessary action will not only save these small newspapers but also help preserve the diverse voices of journalism in the region. Without a collective effort to support the industry, it is unlikely that newspapers in Jammu and Kashmir will regain their footing in the face of a bottomless revenue crisis.