All over the world, the Internet is the virus which has infected the newspaper industry. And this is a virus that defies deletion. Even giants in the industry have faltered as readers abandon print versions in favour of online editions. The slump in newspaper readership is expected to gain momentum as people increasingly prefer websites and new generations grow up, who are hooked to
the Net.
Qatar too has followed the global trend. The circulation of foreign newspapers in the country has plummeted and distributors have stopped bringing in several newspapers, while the remaining ones are witnessing a slide in sales and are gasping for air. “The circulation of foreign newspapers in Qatar has fallen by 60 to 70 percent in the past few years,” says Santosh Mathew, Distribution Manager at Arabian Establishment for Commerce.
Among the dailies which distributors have discontinued include The Guardian, and several Indian newspapers in various languages like Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam.
There is a tangle of reasons for the fall in circulation, and Internet is the most obvious one. People are able to read their favourite newspapers online, instantly, and free of cost. And there are several other sources of news, all of which are free: news websites, television channels, radio and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.
Secondly, there is a waiting period for the foreign newspapers to reach the hands of readers as they are brought by air. The delay varies from country to country. While newspapers from India are generally available by the afternoon, British newspapers are circulated here the next day. “We distribute The New York Times on the third day and British dailies are available the next day,” adds Santosh. By the time the paper reaches the hands of the reader, it’s only worth the paper it’s printed on.
Third, costs have been going up steadily for distributors due to soaring freight charges and other expenses. When they try to pass the increase on to readers, they stop the subscriptions. A single copy of the New York Times costs QR49, and its Sunday edition costs QR 111. The Gulf News, which is published from Dubai, now costs around QR 1,400 for an annual subscription, while it was around QR400 a few years ago. The Khaleej Times, another leading UAE daily, is not available in Qatar, because, according to market sources, the potential distributors find the freight charges too high and unsustainable.
Fourth, the logistics of newspaper distribution is daunting. Smaller distribution companies say there is a shortage of newspaper salesmen for home and shop delivery because there is a reluctance to take up the job due to the hard work involved, especially during the scorching summer. Salaries too are low because the profit from newspaper sales is not high. The Peninsula
