EDITORIAL: To know what happened is an instinctive curiosity to humans. They get the reply through personal communications or mass media. In ancient times, before the paper was invented they got it from the word-edged stones planted at public places or on highways. But these stones were replaced by newspapers as the Chinese developed printable paper, and that led to evolution of print media.

For about five hundred years the paper printed newspaper dominated the information milieu, as one-page newspaper enlarged to be multi-paged newspapers and acquired the inescapable communication channel between the people themselves and between them and the rulers.

But as time passed there emerged rival sources of information, that presently exist in the form of electronic and digital media. Their birth and rapid growth is now a challenge to the newspaper, both on paper and on line – not because they are more credible but because they reach the audience rather quickly.

And in that race for time the latter media channels tend to breed disinformation and misinformation, now called by experts as “infostorm”. This has negatively affected the print media circulation and encouraged growth of fake news. Reasserting its position that newspapers are the most authentic sources of information the All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS) has declared ‘National Newspaper Readership Day’, to promote reading habit in the country. This day marks the launch in the US of world’s ‘first’ daily, “Public Occurrences”, in 1689.

The newspaper as it exists today has the edge over the electronic and digital media in many ways, needed to be recalled in order to caution the public, particularly of Pakistan, that the raging “infostorm” is greatly hurting the cause of truth and promoting falsehood at the cost of socio-political and cultural values of society.

Over other information sources the newspaper showcases credibility, gives details of reported news and is of archival service. Instead of “Breaking News” the newspaper report must meet the condition of 4Ws and 1H that stand for who, where, what, when and how. Then there is inescapable cross-checking by the sub-editing section of a newspaper.

But that is not the case with electronic and digital media reporting. Rightly then the APNS declared the National Newspaper Readership Day with a message to fight off fake news. In its campaign it has given messages such as “Don’t spread rumours.

Spread verifiable news”, “We don’t cover up the fact. We uncover them”, “Fight the fake news”, Pick a copy of a newspaper today everyday”, “Encourage your child to read. Start with newspaper”. Moreover, it has underscored the need for inculcating reading habits among children in particular.

In their messages of facilitations to the APNS on this move the high officials of the country sound positive about the need to defend the cause of newspaper both for survival and popularity.

How will they go about it? Unfortunately, however, this question has no easy answer, but we do find that they stand by the print media in its fight against the fake-news producing mediums.

While President Arif Alvi has expressed hope that this APNS initiative would go a long way in promoting the habit of reading among people Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is of the view that “the newspapers continued to convey the voice of the oppressed and the echo of the sorrows of the subjugated to policymakers sitting in the houses of power”. But what is on the ground as support by the government to help newspaper industry there is not much to look for.

Newspaper publishing is not a money-making proposition; it is a loss-making concern, especially over the last decade or so. According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the number of newspapers and periodicals in the country stood at 530 in 2016, down from 1,820 in 2007.

And if 9 out of 10 Pakistanis feel that misinformation is a problem and 70 percent of the public believes social media platforms are used most often to spread misinformation in the country, then there is the work on the slate to be tackled by the relevant government authorities.

Ideally, the government may set up a commission which should go into the problems besetting the newspaper industry and come up with recommendations which should help save this flame of truth survive the onslaught of strong winds of falsehood that are presently blowing across the length and breadth of Pakistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022