Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) Rajya Sabha MP, Ramkripal Yadav while appearing before the Fact Finding Team said that the state government’s pressure on media could only be gauged from the fact that even the advertisements containing some critical facts and figures which seem to be going against the state government, are not carried at all. He said that during Kosi Floods’ 2008 - his party had booked an advertisement exposing the state government through an ad agency which was not even carried by any of the newspaper house of the state but for the exception of a small newspaper Nav Bihar. He too cited a similar example of non-publication of an advertisement booked by an outfit Kisan Mahapanchayat. He said that the newspaper houses ‘management of the state denied publication of the Kisan Mahapanchayat advertisement. So much so that when the same Kisan Mahapanchayat advertisement was booked through a Delhi based ad agency it was inadvertently carried in a split edition of the Hindustan Hindi daily. But as soon as it was brought to the notice of the Hindustan management the same Kisan Mahapanchayat advertisement was immediately removed from the paper in the rest of the editions and the same advertisement amount was returned to the Delhi based ad agency which had booked the same advertisement. If there is even an iota of truth in this matter it certainly points towards a greater malaise prevailing in the state.

Now come to the new advertisement policy adopted by the state government in the year 2008. Section 4 of the Bihar Advertisement Policy, 2008 reads as: “The Empowered Advertisement Committee keeping in mind requirements, the practicality and the state interest, may recommend such newspapers/periodicals, from those applying for enlistment in the approved list, as it may deem fit. It would not be binding for the Committee to include in the approved list, any newspapers/periodical in the approved list merely because it fulfils the eligibility criteria. The Committee shall have the freedom and the competency to delist any listed Newspaper / periodical in the interest of the state or work, from the approved list.”

The fact that the Empowered Advertisement Committee of the state government would not be bound to include in the approved list, any newspapers/periodical in the approved list even if it fulfils the eligibility criteria. Meaning thereby, it could be concluded that in its advertisement policy itself the newspaper management has been left at the mercy – rather on the whims and fancies - of the state government officials through the IPRD for the government advertisements. The fact finding team consider this clause to be totally against the principles of “freedom of press and media”.

It is also not without any rhyme and reason that there is not even an internal arrangement in Bihar newspapers to see to the readers’ complaints related to violation of journalistic ethics, editorial contents and of neglect of public issues. As it is found uncomfortable for those running the newspaper publications as per their self-styled version of journalistic ethics they pursue.

It is also of serious concern for the fact finding team that the Bihar Advertisement Policy-2008 has
given undue emphasis on circulation of a newspaper. The policy reads as: “(e) The circulation for Hindi newspapers should not be less than 45000, for English newspapers it should not be less than 25000 and for Urdu newspapers should not be less than 20000. For periodicals the minimum circulation would be 20,000. Regarding circulation, the certification from ABC or other standard organizations would be necessary.”

This provision of the state government advertisement policy may be detrimental for the development of small and medium newspapers in the state as it is tilted towards the big newspapers/ periodicals.

This Team would like to emphasise that the topmost priority in country as well as Bihar too should be to help all the newspapers to develop both in terms of circulation and also in terms of quality.