Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Who Says Print Media is Losing its Strength in Pakistan?‏


The advent of digital media in our lives has revolutionized everything around us and so is our way to access the news in the last decade. Facebook, WhatsApp, texting, and email provide a never ending streams of news from our family and friends as well as from the mainstream media.

According to a Pew Research Survey one the defining traits of the modern news consumer, published in July 2016, twenty years ago, only 12% of U.S. adults got news online. Today, that number stands at 81%. One interesting conclusion of the study is that news still remains an important part of public life and Television still commands the largest portion of the population.

Nevertheless printing Industry still flourishing as a popular industry worldwide. No doubt, realizing the power of online advertising  many print publications successfully powered their platforms with online websites. Yet, none have totally switched to online. Almost all have maintained their print presence.  Recently some online magazine and outlets have migrated to print. For instance, last September a popular Jewish online magazine, Tablet announced its print outlet. And the Tablet is no exception. There are news channels who are launching their print counterparts.

In Pakistan, fresh electronic as well as print media outlets are constantly emerging and flourishing. We witness that the big giants in the news industry i.e. Dawn Group, Jang Group, Dunya Group, Nawa-i-Waqt Group, Express Group & Khabrain Daily simultaneously maintain their print, electronic and online presence. Some of the newspapers has taken the mix of print & digital to the next level especially Jang Group has become the leader in launching new creative ideas in launching innovative ideas i.e. e-paper, Mobile App for Media planners, SMS to editorial etc etc . Dunya newspaper was launched in a saturated print market but got a humungous success in a very small period of time and they have spread their wings across Pakistan in a very short span of time. And now a very successful electronic news media group 92 News is launching Urdu and English dailies soon.

The 92 News media group is already running Pakistan's first HD channel since February 2015. According to a post on JournalismPakistan.com, the group has already installed a printing press in the basement of the channel’s office at Zero Point.
The expanding newsgroup has also announced vacancies for candidates who can manage the newsroom, press and production, sales, marketing and accounts for Lahore, Islamabad, and Karachi.

Things have changed but print media still has a potential for obvious reasons. While the world is migrating towards the web, Television and print still hold advantages for news consumers as well as advertisers.

Media Bites Editorial - Tazeen Hasan
September 17, 2016

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