SRINAGAR: Fears of contracting coronavirus has made a good chunk of populace to say goodbye to newspapers, a move that has begun to disrupt the print runs, and affect the livelihood of circulation and distribution staff in the valley.
Most of the newspapers have reduced their circulation, while many of them have decided not to print their newspapers as people have told hawkers not to deliver the papers to their home.
Mudasir Rather, the main distributor of newspapers Aftaab and Tamel-e-Irshad, told Kashmir Reader that circulation of newspapers is down by 90 percent for a week now.
“I have some 100 hawkers who distribute newspapers in Srinagar. They have refused to work now. Only 10 hawkers come now to take the copies, and they, too, take fewer copies,” he said.
People believe that newspapers which pass through many hands may bring the coronavirus home. An avid newspaper reader in Srinagar said he called his hawker to tell him not to deliver the newspaper until the virus spread is under control.
“I don’t want to take the risk. I get my supply of news through internet, which is slow but manageable,” he said.
The entire locality has decided not to get newspapers, he said. It is for the first time that people have voluntarily decided not to get newspapers, he said. He used to get two Indian national newspapers, three local newspapers, and some magazines.
Some newspaper owners have decided to suspend their publications fully. Some are publishing fewer copies. Hawkers have been left without work.
“I have been supplying almost all the newspapers to around 2,000 houses for thirty years. It is the mainstay of my income. Curfews in the past did not led to suspending of publication for a long time. This time it is crazy. I may have to shift to something else, though the options are not many,” hawker Nazir Ahmad said.
Media houses have started to give more attention to their online edition. Reporters and editors have been asked to work from home. Only a few staff associated with design and print departments is attending the offices. Many newspapers have already partially called off their print editions as well and are putting all the content generated by reporters online.
“We have called off the print, and are working for only online edition. We try to put on the website as much new content as possible. There is huge online traffic on the web, double than what we used to get under normal circumstances,” the editor of the online edition of a daily newspaper said.
Shams Irfan, associate editor of the weekly Kashmir Life, said that there are high chances that the printing of the magazine may be suspended.
“To some extent the editorial team can contribute from home, but newspapers and magazines need manpower for printing and circulation. The other point is that people are not ready to buy a newspaper,” he said.
The challenge is how to generate revenue when business is shut. An editor of a well-known daily said that the government may make some arrangements for giving advertisements that can sustain newspapers.

Reader correspondent