Price war among newspapers is major challenge: M G Vaidya

Bhopal, Dec 27 (UNI) Senior journalist Madhav Govind Vaidya today said that the ongoing price war among newspapers constituted a formidable challenge to Indian journalism.

''The Centre should draft a 'Price Page Schedule' policy. Such efforts were initiated during the then prime minister Indira Gandhi's tenure,'' he said here while inaugurating a national seminar on 'Challenges of Indian Journalism' under the aegis of the 'Swadesh' newspaper and the Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism.

The event marked the first death anniversary of veteran RSS pracharak and former 'Swadesh' editor Manikchand Vajpayee.

Urging journalists to expose lacunae in media for enhancing social awareness, Mr Vaidya added, ''the sharp decline in the number of people who read editorial comments is a cause for concern.

Newspapers should have an objective. Media has a better understanding of the public psyche than even the government.'' Maintaining that commercialisation of newspapers was proper in view of the competitive and changing times, he said that a policy should be drafted for maintaining their credibility.

Among those who spoke were the varsity's former director-general Radheshyam Sharma and journalist Devendra Swaroop. The event was presided over by the university's Vice-Chancellor Achyutanand Mishra. Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister Raghavji was present.

UNI AG-AC 1716