Not long back, “The Journalist” was one of the most widely distributed and read weekly paper of the nation. As the government began to cut down advertisements, the paper and its owner were severely affected. The owner had to sell several assets, including land and vehicles to keep the paper alive.
There was also a time when Dzongkha news came out daily, from Kuensel. Gradually, citing loses, Dzongkha in Kuensel comes out only once a week. However, Kuensel’s former Dzongkha editor, Goembo Dorji, started Gyalchi Sarsho, a Dzongkha weekly. He knew that making money would be impossible, but he continued undaunted. In the process, he had to sell his land, make his children pay all loans and borrow from private money lenders. “Married to Dzongkha,” he does not want the national language to fizzle out.
Other private media were either in the same boat or on similar boats. Thus, a request was made to the government, who then began to give printing subsidies to private media, understanding their predicament and the importance of media pluralism in a young democracy.
During the tenure of the last government, the Media Enterprise Development Budget (MEDB) began after a proposal from private newspapers, citing dire financial situation that threatened their survival. The government understood that in a young democracy, sustaining diverse and independent media voices is not a privilege- it is a necessity. Thus, the proposal was supported.
However, last week, the country’s only daily paper, has questioned the support, apart from suggesting that rich owners of newspapers should invest; that the fund is probably being misused and even spoken as an advocate of the radio owners.
Business Bhutan already responded to Kuensel’s story and editorial, pointing out mistakes of the article and editorial. But what lurks inside us is why is Kuensel even objecting to the MEDB, when the paper also receives government subsidies, directly and indirectly. At most times, a day’s advertisements in Kuensel are more than what private media gets in a week. If the argument is about reach, due to technological advancements, online and pdf copies are send by private media to thousands of people. Further, a bulk of printing works is given to Kuensel directly.
Kuensel may feel that they have the right to question the MEDB and influence policies. If so, the private media would be more than willing to do away with it and request the government to implement its own 2015 Report and Strategy called the Private Newspapers Sustainability Report, commissioned by the then Department of Information and Media (DoIM) in 2015. The report says advertisement is declining and most advertisement is given to state media. In other words, as most advertisements are given to Kuensel, the private media is dying.
The solution proposed by the report to help private newspapers is reengineering the distribution of government advertising funds through an Advertising Placement Board (APB) which would decide how much funds should be allocated between state owned media and private media. Advertisement would then be given based on reach. Today, there is no level playing field in policy as Kuensel gets direct printing jobs and most of the advertisements.
While we have been dubbed as a paper with “rich owners,” the ones who own 49% of Kuensel’s shares are not poor either. While Kuensel said that private media owners should invest, a question is if the 49% shareholders have invested or are investing in Kuensel. What everyone should know is that private media owners invested a lot when they started the business. On the contrary, shareholders of Kuensel, got almost everything free as everything was there.
Kuensel’s article has mentioned that even radio should be provided support. There are several kinds of media getting support. If owners of radios put up a proposal to the government, they may get the support, too.
If there is a problem, it is the 1% owned by the government – due to which government has to support etc. As mentioned above, a level playing field is required. The best way to do this is to privatize Kuensel. Let us sail on the same boat and let the fittest survive!
MEDB has helped keep private papers like The Journalist, Gyalchi Sarchog and even us floating. The owners are passionate people, sticking to the media, despite loses, thinking about national interests, like media pluralism and the national language. And I believe, it is the government understands of this important aspect that the MEDB is being given.
Ugyen Tenzin from Thimphu
