Newspaper is a printed publication appearing daily. It contains news, advertisements and articles on various subjects. Newspapers play an important role in a democracy. They act as bridge between the government and the governed. Everybody, except a few read the newspaper everyday.
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Different people read it for different purposes. Newspapers keep the people aware of the activities of the government. They mobilize public opinion. They play an important role in fighting the menace of corruption. In a democracy, there should be an efficient and fearless press. Press is he mirror of the society. The first newspaper published in India was the Bengal Gazette. Information is fed to newspapers by a number of amenities like PTI, UNI etc. Newspapers should concentrate on giving only the true picture of the society.
Everybody except a few read the newspaper everyday. One reads it with exciting curiosity every morning. Different people read the newspaper for different purposes. Young graduates scan the job-advertisement pages. Lottery addicts pour over the lottery results. The school boy looks about the detailed happenings in cricket and other sports. The head of the household reads about government matters and other events. Business entrepreneurs go thought the business news. housewives look for topics like cookery, health and beauty care tips etc. Casual readers look for sensational topics like loot, murder, kidnapping etc. Others go though the daily predictions of the zodiac. There are others who are interested in the articles and the letters to the editor. Those who love the glamour world read the pages on fashion, movies and film stars.
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India is a developing country. Most of the people are poor and illiterate. For democracy to be successful, all the citizens should be ilterate. Politicians with selfish motive deceive the poor and illiterate with false promises. Newspapers help in spreading public opinion. They keep the people aware of the activities of the government.
In a democracy, there should be an efficient and fearless press. Press refers to newspapers, magazines, the news section of radio and television, and the journalists who work for them. Press is the mirror of the society. It acts as a watch0god of democracy. it is the duty of the press to watch the activities of the government. Its duty is to highlight the failure of the policies of the government and pinpoint its lapses.
The first newspaper published in India was called The Bengal Gazette. The Bombay Samachar is the oldest existing daily newspapers. It was first published in Gujarat in 1822. Anand Bazaar Patrika, Punjab Kesri and The Times of India are old newspapers.
Newspaper give us the latest information on local, national and international events. They serve as a platform for discussion on public issues. Newspapers focus on social and political evils prevailing in the society. Some of these evils are unsociability. dowry, drinking, gambling, drug addiction etc. Newspapers can exhort the people to root out these evils.
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Newspapers make people aware of every field of society. Once in every week, every newspaper publishes vacancies in all fields. Job seekers get much benefited thought this. A weekly matrimonial supplement is also published with almost every newspaper and its related news and events. Newspapers also contain the schedules of Television and theaters. It helps people to plan their day accordingly. News related to sports becomes very important nowadays as it fetches large amount of revenue. So almost all the newspapers publish the sports-news with elaborate pictures and charts. People get informed about weather forecast, railway and airport time table.
In the present age, corruption is present in all walks of life. Newspapers play an important role in fighting against the menace of corruption. The people can be made aware of the corrupt practices prevalent in various departments of Government and other agencies.
Newspapers act as a link between the government and the people. They make the people ware of the policies, programmes and activities of the government. They also make the government aware of the problems, being faced by the people.
Information is fed to the newspapers by a number of agencies. The Press Information Bureau gives information to the Press on the government’s policies, programmes and activities. It receives feedback from the people. India has four major news agencies – Press Trust of India (PTI), United News of India (UNI), Samachar Bharit and Hindustan Samachar. The newspapers are published in English, Hindi and other regional languages.
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Newspaper could make a great impact on its readers. So, they should concentrate on giving only the true picture of the society.