Newspapers'demands

Leaders of Newspaper Owner's Association of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Sangbadpatra Parishad and Journalists Union demanded exemption or reduction of tax on imported newsprint, and increase in the rate of government advertisements. We do not know how the government would respond to the demands but a question has come to my mind, maybe it would arise in the minds of most of the readers. Will the leaders of the said associations take any step to reduce the prices of newspapers if the government accepts their demands? The reason behind the question is that I consider publishing of newspaper as a profitable business in Bangladesh nowadays, as I see more than 50 percent space of a newspaper is filled with advertisement and the total costs of advertisements are enough to bear the expenses in connection with the publishing of a newspaper. On the other hand, readers are being compelled to buy advertisement prioritised newspapers at a high price which is fetching a big amount of money for the publishers. So, I do not think the tax is burdensome for them and they are incurring loss due to low rate of government advertisement.

The publishers should think of reducing the prices of newspapers if the government meets their demands and the government should look into the matter if they respond to publishers' demands.