CHENNAI: Leaders of political parties from the State have unanimously appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take urgent measures to save the print media. This follows a series of meetings between leaders and publishers of leading newspapers. The delegation of publishers pointed out that the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) had already urged the PM to remove customs duty on newsprint, settle outstanding advertisement bills immediately and increase advertisement rates by 100%.
The delegation comprising Manoj Kumar Sonthalia (The New Indian Express), N Ram (The Hindu), L Adimoolam (Dinamalar), S Balasubramanian Adityan (Daily Thanthi) and RMR Ramesh (Dinakaran) submitted a representation to Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Monday stating that the industry had incurred losses to the tune of around Rs 5,000 crore in the past two months alone and it was becoming increasingly difficult to sustain operations. The chief minister assured the publishers that he would take it up with the Prime Minister to help find a solution at the earliest. Deputy CM O Panneerselvam was also present in the briefing.
The delegation also met DMK president MK Stalin, MDMK general secretary Vaiko, PMK Anbumani Ramadoss, Congress state president KS Alagiri, VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan, CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan and president of TMC GK Vaasan. All the leaders acknowledged the threat to newspaper industry and offered to do urge the Centre to act fast. BJP state president L Murugan told the delegates that the PM was already apprised of the situation and the State unit would urge the Centre to help.