The seriousness of Coronavirus spread across the country has had its impact on the media as well.
Especially, the print media is bearing the brunt of the virus impact, because of the large manpower involved and majority of them are not in a position to come to the offices.
They were forced to work from home and that has a severe impact on the production of a newspaper.
Secondly, newspaper is a physical product and has to change several hands – right from people working in printing section to the packers; then to vehicle drivers, to distributors to hawkers and then to the delivery boys.
Even if one person has any symptoms of Coronavirus, there is a possibility that the virus might spread from one person to another and finally to thousands of people.
There is no such issue with electronic media, which can only telecast the information, but there is no physical touch with the consumers.
Moreover, the newspaper hawkers’ association has also announced that they would not be able to distribute newspapers door to door because of the restrictions by the police and also the colony associations who are stopping them from delivery of newspapers.
That is precisely why several major print media organisations have reduced their production in big cities like Delhi and Mumbai, while medium and small newspapers have shut their editions till March 31.
Papers like Times of India, Hindustan Times and The Hindu have cut down their print production.
Popular daily Deccan Chronicle announced closure of editions till March 31. Other newspapers, too, are likely to follow suit.
However, these dailies will continue to produce their e-papers and online editions to be in touch with their readers with latest information.
